Philosophical question on owning & IFR rating

CriticalMass wrote:



C Kingsbury wrote:
For me, .... the number of days where thunderstorms are an issue has been
pretty limited.


Well, that's anecdotal, isn't it? For others, it's a much bigger risk
factor. But, the point made was, T-storms and ice are show-stoppers for
us bottom feeders in the aviation food chain. The point stands.

It all depends. I live in PA and flew my Skylane through the eastern
part of the US, summer and winter for more than 6 years. It had a
Strikefinder, and was well equipped in avionics-wise. I flew for both
business and pleasure and made a lot of flights that would not have been
possible, or at least not wise, VFR. I never found staying current a
problem in the northeast. I filed IFR for almost every flight,
regardless of the weather. I found IFR to be helpful at night in
particular, as I live in the northcentral region of PA where there are
large expanses of state forest with few lights on the ground. On a
moonless night, with an overcast, if was pretty much IMC. I believe the
instrument rating adds a complete new dimension to your flying skills
and greatly increases the precision with which you fly, be it IFR or
VFR. A very useful rating to obtain, IMO, even if you don't use it
later on.

I cancelled maybe one flight in 6 years due to icing concerns and never
cancelled for t-storms, even a couple of flights to Florida in the
summer were not a big deal. The Strikefinder made this possible.
Without it, I agree that thunderstorms and IMC can be a dangerous mix.

Matt