On 11-Apr-2004, "Richard Kaplan" wrote:

What I meant (and though I made clear) is that I have only once had to
abandon my airplane away from home base due to weather. (I have had to
do
it a couple of other times due to mechanical problems.) A much higher
number of trips were cancelled (before leaving home base) because of

That makes a lot more sense. So what you are saying is that you have
abandoned a good number of trips and that you have delayed your return on
others. People need to experience this and see how it realistically fits
with their family lifestyle before buying an airplane. Maybe they will
decide to just rent. Or maybe they will decide to save up for a known-ice
Mooney. Or buy an airplane with weather datalink already installed.
Etc.
Etc.


Well, in 30 years the number of trips I have cancelled due to weather has
been "a good number", but on average I'd say maybe one or two per year.
Usually it's due to widespread icing over the Cascades.



I have also had any number of delays, some for hours. But I
have also had similar weather delays when using the airlines.

The dispatch rate flying commerical is way, way higher than my airplane
which is well-equipped for IFR by GA standards --- known-ice, radar,
spherics, weather datalink. There are advantages afforded by the speed,
service ceiling, climb rate, and redundancy of a transport category
airplane that I simply cannot compete with.

Weather delays in airline flying are common, not because the airplanes and
crews can't handle the weather but because ATC and airport capacity at the
few hub airports are constrained when thunderstorms and/or low ceilings are
an issue. For most of my missions, ATC capacity is not an issue, so delays
are at my discretion. The good news about flying your own plane is that it
is ready to go as soon as weather permits. No missed connections. And of
course you have the flexibility to select a route that bypasses limited
areas of bad weather. United can't decide to change its hub to Indianapolis
when a line of thunderstorms causes massive delays in Chicago.



If you are getting dispatch rates with a piston airplane which come
anywhere close to that of an airliner then you are flying trips you
shouldn't be
flying.


Depends upon how you define dispatch rate, given the vastly greater schedule
flexibility of flying your own plane. If I suspect there may be weather
delays I can leave earlier than planned. Can't do that on the airlines. I
can often choose a route and/or fuel stop that avoids weather. Can't do
that on the airlines. I can take a 3 hour lunch to let a line of storms
pass. The airlines may be forced to do that, but it will usually mean
missed connections. All that said, the airlines still offer higher
reliability of safely getting to where you want to go more or less when you
want to be there, but if you use the flexibility inherent in flying your own
light airplane (NOT a rental!), the difference isn't all THAT huge.



crews in heavy turbine equipment. However, I also think that the "gap"
in weather conditions that can safely be dealt with between VFR and
"basic"
IFR is substantial, and encompasses the majority of days in most places.

A lot of this depends on the mission.

Based in the Northeast my dispatch rate on week-long family vacations with
a fudge factor built in for departure and arrival is almost 100% -- I once
cancelled a trip due to a double-hurricane coming up the east coast.

My dispatch rate for weekend trips is about 90%.

My dispatch rate for business trips when I MUST be there at 10AM is about
50% -- the risk is too high that fog will not clear or I will need to go
missed and divert etc. Get-there-itis pressure is too high.

If I MUST be there by 10 AM and there is a possibility of morning weather
problems I go the day before. I would do that on the airlines as well if
there was a possibility of widespread fog in the morning that will keep even
the airlines on the ground. You are right about the need to take steps to
reduce "get-there-itis" pressure.

--
-Elliott Drucker