"Stealth Pilot" wrote in message
...
Getting caught in cloud isnt incompetence or stupidity it just happens
because of the rapidity with which metrological conditions can change.
it probably takes a tenth of a degree change in temperature to change
cold saturated clear air to opaque cloud. Ive seen a cloud face streak
through saturated air at over 200knots without any perceptible
turbulence or wind.

My favorite "changing weather" story is the time that a ground fog popped up
under me when I hadn't been airborne more than five minutes. Now normally a
ground fog would not be a problem, except that I was in a training glider doing
a student solo, and I suddenly couldn't see the ground under me! Due to the
lack of either an engine or natural lift, waiting it out or flying to a
friendlier airport was out of the question.

As it turned out, an airplane scouted an upwind hole for me. I was able to
spiral down and then barely made the runway from that vantage point.

Yes, weather does sometimes change without notice and can do so faster than
we can escape.

Vaughn