The Go – No Go Decision

Sometimes, the decision to make a flight or stay on the ground can be a tough one. Other times, it is an easy call. Today was one of those easy ones.

I had planned my long solo cross country to go from Waukegan to Oshkosh then to Baraboo/Wisconsin Dells and back to Waukegan. Today was supposed to be the day I would make the trip. I knew the weather was going to be questionable because I had been watching the forecasts for the last few days in anticipation of the trip. This mornings METARS confirmed what I had suspected and made the no go decision an easy one:

KUGN 261411Z 20003KT 1/2SM FGSCT034 09/09 A3013 RMK AO2
KOSH 261353Z 14004KT 2 1/2SM HZ OVC031 08/04 A3012 RMK AO2 SLP209 T00780039
KDLL 261415Z AUTO 00000KT 2SM BR OVC022 06/04 A3010 RMK AO2

The weather was bad for all the airports on my planned route making the call a no brainer. Although the area forecast is for some improvement, it is not expected to get better than marginal VFR for the rest of the day. In fact, the forecast is for crummy weather for the next several days. I rescheduled the trip for Thursday hoping that conditions might improve by then.

I did get a chance to go flying on Friday. It was a non-lesson flight with my AOPA Mentor, Robbie. It was great to get up in the air and not have to worry about how I was preforming. We flew south along the Route 59 VFR flyway under the O’Hare Class B airspace then back north along the Fox River flyway. I have only made one trip south during my training so, this was an educational trip as well as a fun one.