Once I attained an instrument rating, it really became obvious on how
limited these planes really were. Everyone said that an instrument rating
would INCREASE the airplane's utility. I found that it did nothing of the
sort. Flying in the clouds in winter often means icing and in the summer,
thunderstorms. Adding in all sorts of modern gadgets may help you stay out
of trouble (if you actually use them and heed their information), but you
still end up on the ground waiting out the weather. So, safety can go way
up but UTILITY is still not there. Sure, you can now see the pretty
satellite downloaded image of the weather in your path, but you still have
to fly around it. Given the high possibility of not making the planned
flight, many choose not to go. For those who like "adventure" and are
willing to sit in an airport for several hours or days to complete a
flight, have a ball.

Well put, Mike. This sums up exactly how I feel about VFR flying, the IFR
ticket, and aircraft ownership. At our level of aircraft ownership (Spam
can), instrument flight adds little utility to flying.

However, unlike you, we *are* willing to sit in an airport for hours (not
days) to complete a cross-country flight. Because we happen to really enjoy
airports, this relatively rare occurrence (it's happened only a hand-full of
times in eleven years) has become an acceptable -- even a delightful -- part
of our many cross-country journeys.

In fact, I dare say that we have often had *more* fun at our unexpected
stops (3 days in Nashville come to mind) than we've had at our intended
destinations! Remember, with personal flying, it's the journey, not the
destination, that is important. Once you understand that, getting there
isn't so important, and the stress simply evaporates.

Our way of getting around the conundrum of unreliable weather is to simply
plan three separate flights for each planned vacation. We routinely do
this, and don't decide until the morning of our departure which way we're
going to fly. Our entire decision depends on the current weather and prog
charts, and -- since we really don't care *which* vacation we take -- we
usually end up flying with great weather!

Remember, personal flying *is* an adventure. Trying to make your airplane
into a "personal airliner" is, IMHO, a huge mistake, as it is not only
doomed to fail, but simply not any fun.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"