The calm before the storm

Whoever booked Charlie out today has been blessed.  The weather has been absolutely perfect for flying.  What a change from the rest of the week which has been grey, miserable, wet and generally rubbish (putting it politely)!  As for last Sunday, according to all weather forecasts, the devil of all storms was to come on that day, and when had we booked Charlie out?  Sunday of course! 

Restricted bookings had been lifted so we’d booked Charlie for the whole day with the intention of going to Welshpool, but that was before we saw the weather forecast. By the Saturday afternoon, we knew we’d have to change plans.  It didn’t bode well – low cloud, low visibility, heavy rain and gusts averaging 40mph were all on the cards.

Early on the Sunday morning we were up, scanning the day’s weather forecast, the local Meteorological Aerodrome Report (METAR) and the Terminal Aerodrome Forecast (TAF) just in case anything had changed.  Having done that, the choice was between driving to the airport and making a decision when we got there, or cancelling altogether and mooching around the house wondering if we should have gone after all.  After a quick breakfast, we were in the car and on the motorway. 

The weather forecast, once we got to the airport, hadn’t changed much but we realised that as long as we were back on the ground by midday, we’d avoid what was to come.  By 10.30am the wheels were up and we were heading east, in the opposite direction of the weather front.

Our decision to go up was well justified.  We could see for miles, cloud base was high, there was very little wind and the skies were unusually quiet of traffic – the forecast had obviously put a lot of people off.

An hour later we were back on the ground.  We pushed Charlie back into the hangar, finished the paperwork and got in the car to head back home.  Ten minutes later the heavens opened.  The predicted weather had arrived…..