Jay, good VFR is common in the Midwest. Storms and front
pass by quickly, giving time for a nights rest at the Inn or
just a good meal. But in the NE, MVFR and IFR are more
common, leading to longer delays since the mountains and
ocean tend to hold water vapor, dirt and pollution around
longer.
If you fly a J3 at 80 mph, 1 sm gives time to see and avoid
towers and such, if you fly at a higher speed, like 120 mph
you only have 30 seconds to see and avoid. If you fly at
180 mph (Bonanza class) you have 20 seconds to see the tower
and guy wires, You take evasive action and hope there isn't
another tower in that direction.

VFR is OK, but if you are needing to travel on a schedule,
IFR is essential anytime the weather is MVFR and you can't
see the ridges or the towers.


--
James H. Macklin
ATP,CFI,A&P

"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
ups.com...
| I now have the time to train again, and actually thought
about it for a
| while, but there is no benefit to VFR GA in the
Northeast, unless you
| need a hobby.
|
| Well, it's a damned good hobby. And we've used it for
tranportation --
| all VFR -- for almost 12 years now.
|
| And I don't think you can convince me that the weather is
worse in the
| Northeast than it is in the Midwest. To say there is no
benefit to VFR
| GA is just wrong.
|
| Bottom line: If you really want to fly, you will learn to
do it. If
| you really don't want to fly, you'll find every excuse
imaginable not
| to.
| --
| Jay Honeck
| Iowa City, IA
| Pathfinder N56993
| www.AlexisParkInn.com
| "Your Aviation Destination"
|