Flight Lesson 4

Cold Front approaching

Thursday started out like every other day that week; foggy and raining. By noon, the fog had lifted, but the clouds and rain remained. At lunch, I downloaded the area weather off the Internet. The outlook was perfect for IFR training. The ceiling was expected to be 2,500 feet with a freezing level of 6,000 feet; good experience in the clouds with little risk of icing conditions.

As the time for the flight approached, I could barely withhold my excitement to get in an airplane. Susan called when she arrived to pick me up. We drove to the airport and I did a check of the airplane’s weight and balance, then did a preflight check of the airplane; N174GF. Everything looked in order, so I went back inside to file a flight plan.

The Seattle Flight Service Station operator read me the same weather report that I had downloaded earlier. He also read a few pilot reports that had been logged. One report indicated winds from a heading of 260 at 40 knots at 1,600 feet over Bremerton. That’s a serious wind, and not very far from Seattle. He also reported a cold front moving into the area. Cold fronts normally bring severe weather from their initial arrival until three hours after passage. This caught my attention.

I finished filing my flight plan from Boeing Field to Paine Field and back, then we all went out to N174GF to prepare for flight. We pulled the plane onto the flight line with its towbar and started getting ready. I got my charts together, put my flashlight in a handy location, plugged in my headset, and adjusted the seat position. Once set, I pulled out my light and glanced at the instrument panel. I was surprised at what I saw. The attitude indicator was placarded with the following message: UNRELIABLE – Use in day VFR conditions only!

We could have changed planes and continued, but with the cold front on the horizon, I decided to listen to the big voice in my head that was saying, “DON’T GO!”