"Journeyman" wrote in message
. ..
In article , tony
wrote:

If you're current, if the forecast at your destination is well above
your
personal minimums, if you have a solid gold alternate, no imbedded
thunderstorms, no icing, no unusual turbulence reported, why whouldn't
you go?

Strawman. It's an easy go decision in this case. It's harder when
things are pushing your minima, where the weather might become worse
than forecast, where you might be flying over rough terrain, where your
routing is over land but ATC might vector you over water.


IFR in those conditions is a lot easier IMO than VFR.

Okay. IFR can simplify flight planning and navigation, but we're
talking about the go/nogo decision making process. More things
to consider. Go/nogo is less obvious as go point and nogo point
converge. Clearly, even for IFR, there're obvious gos and obvious
nogos. Furthermore, what might be an obvious IFR go might be an
obvious VFR nogo.

Point is, with more things to consider and the added utility of
the instrument rating, the go/nogo decision isn't as simple in the
general case.


Morris

I would disagree. Having an instrument rating just moves the actual no-go
point farther to the right. I don't see why the no-go decision would get
harder. The only difference an instrument rating makes is to reduce the
*required* visibility and ceiling. You don't *have* to change your personal
minimia. When I earned my instrument rating, I lived in SoCal and flew a
Turbo Lance. The instrument rating allowed me to depart from Santa Monica
with the typical morning marine layer and it allowed me to be more
comfortable at night, particularly over unlighted terrain. I didn't use the
rating to fly approaches to minimia or weave around embeded CBs. When I
moved to the mountains the IFR rating again helped me at night but I had no
illusions about flying in IMC at the 16,000' MEAs. To fly IMC over the
mountains required more and better equipment, not more skills.

In short, I think the average pilot stays within his/her comfort range
whether they have an instrument rating or not. The instrument rating just
provides a few more flyable days each month. This leads to a few less
unexpected hotel stays and perhaps a couple fewer missed work days each
year.

Mike
MU-2