I have decided prior to flying what my personal minimums are. I hope I stick
to them and do a 180 anytime I see things are below those minimums.


Trip

In article , says...

Good day,

I got caught in some weather the other day and had to 180 outa there.

Punched up goto nearest on the Lowrance, put the Love Boat down, called
wifey for a ride home (three hours by car), and the airplane still sits at
the unscheduled stop waiting to finish the flight, probably tomorrow.

My question is this;

Why do you 180 instead of pressing on? What are your motivations? What goes
through your head?

Here are mine for this particular event in order of priority more or less;

1. I didn't want to embarrass myself by having to put down on a road or
field and causing a big scene.
2. I didn't want to bend the airplane by having to put down on a road or
field.
3. I didn't want to die in a CFIT (closely related to the first part of
number 1 above).
4. I didn't want my wife to be without a husband.
5. I didn't want my dogs to be without a Dad.
6. I didn't want to inconvenience my wife.

I know there are steely eyed pilots out there who will flame me for having
to come up with so many arguments for the 180 but these are the things that
went through my head. You'll notice dying was actually number three.
That's kind of interesting in that it reveals something about my ego. If it
had come right down to the moment however, things probably would have
switched around a bit.

Thoughts?

BillC