Still working on my IFR but need to fly south friday

[Dream to fly]

I need to go to Huntsville TX Friday for the weekend but I am still flying VFR.  I know that the weather changes and I can't go IFR without a ticket.  So how does one navigate the weather this time of year?  My big concern is getting pushed down by clouds or getting ICE.  

[MyNameIsNobody]

By NOT needing to go anywhere by Mooney on any given date.  If weather doesn’t permit...meh no worries.  That is how I navigate winter weather. 

[Dream to fly]

By NOT needing to go anywhere by Mooney on any given date.  If weather doesn’t permit...meh no worries.  That is how I navigate winter weather. 

I understand that

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[smwash02]

I'm IFR and an hour away and wouldn't bother trying this week. Looking like sub 500' and sub 1 mile most of the week. Hopefully you can reschedule.

[Wayne Cease]

1 hour ago, Dream to fly said:

I need to go to Huntsville TX Friday for the weekend but I am still flying VFR.  I know that the weather changes and I can't go IFR without a ticket.  So how does one navigate the weather this time of year?  My big concern is getting pushed down by clouds or getting ICE.  

By flying IFR.  

Beats the summer.  Pop-up thunderstorms are no fun.  Even when there are no thunderstorms the convection gets the cumulus tops up quite high.

1 hour ago, smwash02 said:

I'm IFR and an hour away and wouldn't bother trying this week. Looking like sub 500' and sub 1 mile most of the week. Hopefully you can reschedule.

And yet this can be true.  I was going to shoot some approaches in IMC on Saturday.  Unfortunately it was OVC002  and 1/4 mi visibility at my home field and the ILS is only good for 343' and 7/8 mi.     It stayed like that for most of the day.  Some times the visibility got better or the ceiling, but even when both did it was just too close to being below minimums and could drop back down at any time.

 

[gsxrpilot]

Ice trumps both VFR and IFR. I might fly, but only if I could stay in clear air. Sometimes that's impossible, and sometimes only possible with some huge diversions around the weather... I had to go from Austin, TX to Chicago today. I'm pretty well equipped with a turbo to go high and a hot prop but without FIKI or even TKS. I'm also very current for IFR.

I let United do the flying today.

[Yetti]

So there is a trough that sits over Eastern New Mexico during this time of year.     It will mess up the weather from Texas to Oklahoma.....   This week the weather is controlled by several weak fronts that are coming in and stalling out, then going stalled, then going warm.    I have a rule about not flying across front lines.

[Yetti]

The last two saturdays have been no fly days.....    Seems like every 7 days is the repeating pattern.   We like Southwest Airlines down here.

[jaylw314]

3 minutes ago, Yetti said:

So there is a trough that sits over Eastern New Mexico during this time of year.     It will mess up the weather from Texas to Oklahoma.....   This week the weather is controlled by several weak fronts that are coming in and stalling out, then going stalled, then going warm.    I have a rule about not flying across front lines.

Up here in Oregon, the whole winter could be socked in with icing AIRMETS.  Options are limited with mountains around

[Yetti]

We have radio antennas.    I try not to have to turn on the obstacles database option

[TTaylor]

" If you've got time to spare, go by air." If you are flexible the Mooney is great this time of year, if you have to be someplace at a specific time always plan a commercial or driving back-up.  Without "known ice" capability even the IFR ticket can be limited flying from north to south this time of year. 

[gsxrpilot]

1 minute ago, Yetti said:

We have radio antennas.    I try not to have to turn on the obstacles database option

I flew 1.5 hours last week just to get in some approaches in actual. But my home field 84R doesn't have an approach. We took off and flew 15 minutes to KHYI for the ILS a couple of times, then back to 84R where it was OVC080. So we shot the RNAV 16 at 3T5 Circling to 84R. It works great but an up to date obstacles database is required.

[Yetti]

I have gone to stinson field a couple of times.  There are some flashy things out the window to be wary of.

 

[MyNameIsNobody]

New my reply wasn’t rocket-science.  I saw no other epiphanies in the prose...