Roy Smith wrote:

Matt Whiting wrote:

I asked him where the airline guys were diverting. He said Richmond.
I said "I'll take it."


I don't mean to second guess your decision, but it occurs to me that
going where the airline guys are going may not always be the best pick.
They're looking for an ILS leading to 6000 feet of concrete, and
possibly other criteria driven by business and/or opspec issues. A spam
can may find a 2500 foot runway that's 30 miles closer and still VFR a
better alternative.

Well, I knew roughly where I was and Richmond wasn't far away (I think
less than 30 miles, but I'd have to run a flight plan to know for sure)
and it was almost directly opposite the incoming storms. Also, I wanted
a restaurant for me and my colleagues to eat in while waiting out the
storm as it was approaching supper time. There might have been a
slightly closer airport, but I was in in solid IMC at the time, it was
getting dark fast and the Strikefinder was talking to me. A decent
sized airport with large runways and an ILS was rather appealing all
things considered!

We had the airplane tied down and just got inside when the rain began.
We got to the restaurant before the hail started. I was afraid of
damage to the airplane, but fortunately it came through fine. After two
hours in the reasonably nice restaurant at Richmond, we completed an
uneventful night flight back to ELM.

We talked earlier about delegating tasks to ATC in certain situations.
For me this was an obvious one. ATC had a bigger picture view than I
did of where the nasty weather was and where it wasn't. It was obvious
that this line of storms was forming up much faster and more intensely
than the forecast I'd received a couple hours earlier before departing
Wilmington. I was in IMC and it was getting dark fast ahead. This is a
case where it seemed to me prudent to delegate a little bit to ATC.
Also, I took advantage of CRM! The CRM of the airliners who had two
pilots to figure out where best to divert! :-)

The diversion to Richmond got me headed away from the storm, got me into
a well equipped airport, and let me watch the excitement from the safety
of a decent restaurant over a steak dinner courtesy of my expense
account! The storm was magnificent to watch. It doesn't get any better
than that!


Matt