Erroneous Terminal Area Forecasts
Hale County airport reporting VFR Our flight from Aero Country (T31), our home airport near Dallas, to the Hale County airport (KPVW) in Plainview, TX hasn't been very pleasant. There have been low clouds, forcing us into 1,000 ft AGL flight. Not to worry. There are no nasty obstacles or troubling magenta areas on our route. All airports along the route are reporting at least marginal VFR, with ceilings predicted to rise, so ceilings cannot come suddenly down and trap us. The news ahead is even better. Hale County has been reporting VFR for the past hour, with ceilings rapidly rising. But Hale County is just the first stop of the day. Following the excellent advice of C. Sullenberger, the famous pilot of the miracle landing on the Hudson, we look ahead every 30 minutes and examine the weather-reporting airports right up to the final destination of the day, in this case the Grants-Milan airport (KGNT). We have been particularly concerned about the Clovis AFB since it w...