People who could fly airplanes had an elite reputation in my mind; one that seemed too far-fetched for me to consider. So my teenage years were filled with school, sports, and summer jobs outside occasionally interrupted by the distinct hum of an engine passing overhead.

During your instrument training, you routinely fly instrument approach procedures to “minimums” under simulated conditions. The more likely scenario when flying under instrument flight rules (IFR) is the option to complete the flight under visual flight rules (VFR), flying a visual approach procedure, or flying an instrument procedure in which you acquire the runway visually well above the charted “minimums.”

I determined from this experience weather is as forecast only part of the time. Sometimes it may be better but other times it will be worse, so assume forecasts are more like opinions than facts. “This is what license to learn means,” I thought to myself as I was bumping along in the warm summer air. No, the big lesson was yet to come.