Dealing with weather in the mountains is not always easy. People think that since I am a Bush pilot in Alaska I must fly in horrible weather … truth is, the regulations nor environment allow it. I don’t fly around in bad visibility because there are lots of rocks hiding in 1 mile visibility. The regulations actually allow more than I am willing to do in many occasions. The photo above shows a pretty standard day of working through the hills. You can see the sun shining on the other side of this ridge, but depending on prevailing wind, direction of flight, current weather patterns, and a host of other variables it may not be the smartest thing in the world to go bailing over that ridge.
It’s really easy for me to turn around at times like this. Why not go home and eat some nachos back at the house? The stress is simply not worth it. One of the great things about flying a Super Cub is that I can land in thousands of places when the weather gets bad, and simply wait it out. I’ve done this on a number of occasions and I usually pick a spot where I can go on a hike. Usually it is horrible hiking weather, but it beats sitting in the cub. I love my sat-phone because I can call home so nobody worries. I’ve been in the air wishing I was on the ground and the opposite is much more agreeable.