Route

Go or no go: how much ice is too much?

Just because the calendar says spring doesn't mean in-flight icing is no longer a concern—especially around your home base in Chicago. So today's proposed flight home from Detroit (PTK) to Gary, Indiana (GYY), might be a challenge. You are instrument rated and current, and you're planning on an IFR flight. Your Cirrus SR22 has a TKS deice system but not a "known ice" system.
ForeFlight overview

Go or No Go: VFR ahead of a cold front

It's Monday morning, and that means it's time for work. This week that means (hopefully) a one hour and ten minute flight in your Cessna 172, from your home in Greenville, South Carolina (GSP), to your satellite office location in Danville, Virginia (DAN). Read the weather briefing below and then decide whether it's a go or a no go.

Go or No Go: cut-off low conundrum

After a beautiful early fall, a cut-off low has installed itself over the southeastern United States and brought with it rain, storms, and IFR conditions. You need to get to Nashville from your home outside Cincinnati, so you've been trying to pick the right time for the two hour trip in your Cessna 182. Is this it?

Go or No Go: Cirrus vs. southern storms

You had hoped to get away earlier today, but business meetings have a way of running long and that's exactly what happened. As a result, your proposed flight will depart Nashville, Tennessee (JWN), at 3pm local, for a two hour and 30 minute flight to Shreveport, Louisiana (DTN). Read the weather briefing below, then tell us if you would make the flight or cancel.

Go or No Go: summertime in Florida

Summer in Florida means thunderstorms, but often the cells are widely scattered and easy to avoid. Will that be the case today? The mission is to fly your Cessna 172 from Orlando Sanford Airport (SFB) up the east coast of Florida, landing at Saint Simons Island (SSI). It should take about 1:15, and while you'll be able to monitor the weather with your iPad and ADS-B receiver, the flight will be VFR since you are not instrument rated.

Go or No Go: ice and storms over Montana

Today is one of those "in between" days, which are frustratingly common in flying. The weather isn't great, with some rain and potential in-flight icing, but it's not terrible either, and you fly a well-equipped airplane. The mission today is to fly from your home in Bismarck, North Dakota, to Billings, Montana, the first leg on a five-day tour of the Western United States. The flight should take just under two hours—if you can go.

Go or no go: how bad is the turbulence?

Over the last 10 years, you've gotten to know your Mooney 201 quite well, using it to travel around the central United States at 160 knots. You're hoping to do that again today, on a flight from your home in Wichita, Kansas (ICT), to Amarillo, Texas (AMA). Read the weather reports below and tell us if it's a go or a no go for you.

Go or No Go: home before the rain?

The goal today is to fly your club's Cessna 172 from Marathon (MTH) to Orlando (ORL), Florida. It should take about two hours, and with a proposed departure time of 4:15pm, you would be landing a little before sunset. But the weather you see on ForeFlight isn't exactly quiet. Since you do not have an instrument rating, this flight will have to be made VFR. Can you get to Orlando safely?

Go or No Go: over the ice at night?

Today's mission is to fly from Duluth, Minnesota (DLH), to your home in Columbus, Ohio (OSU). It's nearly 5pm in Duluth, so this flight will be completely in the dark. Your airplane is a Cirrus SR22T, with a full Garmin G1000 glass cockpit, autopilot, and datalink weather. Read the weather briefing below and tell us if you would take off or cancel.

Go or No Go: above or below the clouds?

You earned your instrument rating years ago, but you haven't been current in a long time. Now you're kicking yourself for that lapse in currency, because your VFR-only limitation is going to make an easy IFR flight into a marginal VFR flight. You're hoping to fly your 1972 Cessna 182 from your home in Middletown, Ohio (MWO), to Marion, Illinois (MWA). Will the weather cooperate?

Go or No Go: above the bumps, below the ice?

Fall in Maine is simply wonderful, as you've seen for yourself this week. The air was crisp and the colors on the trees were beautiful, but now it's time to fly home. Your Cessna 310 is fueled up and ready to make the 3.5 hour flight from Bar Harbor (BHB) to your home near Gaithersburg, Maryland (GAI). Will the weather cooperate?

Go or No Go: smoky San Carlos

The overall weather for your flight today from Scottsdale, Arizona (SDL), to San Carlos, California (SQL), looks excellent—no fronts, no storms, no ice, hardly any clouds—with one exception. Huge wildfires have covered much of Northern California with smoke. That means widespread IFR conditions near your destination. Can you make the trip?

Go or No Go: another summer day in the Southeast

Another summer afternoon, another radar splattered with red and yellow cells. After many years of flying in the Southeast, you're used to this picture but that doesn't mean you ignore it—thunderstorms are a serious threat for any airplane. The goal today is to fly from Sarasota, Florida, to Atlanta, Georgia, in your Cirrus SR22. Will the weather allow it?

Go or No Go: dodging storms in the Southeast

The mission today is to fly from your home in Louisville, Kentucky, to visit your business in Atlanta, Georgia. With the coronavirus pandemic, you're trying to do it in a day and save the hotel stay. You made it to Atlanta easily with an 8am takeoff, but now the question is whether you can make it home. As you review the weather in the pilot's lounge at PDK, ForeFlight shows some pop-up storms.

Go or No Go: heading to the beach?

After nine weeks in quarantine, your family is ready for a visit to the beach. It might involve more quiet walks and fewer packed restaurants this time around, but in your Piper Saratoga, the beautiful beaches of Gulf Shores, Alabama, are only two and a half hours away. Will the weather cooperate?

Go or No Go: low IFR in a Baron

It's a typical late afternoon flight for you, with the mission of returning your boss to his home in Lexington, Kentucky (LEX) after a day in Greensboro, North Carolina (GSO). The trip should take just under two hours in your Beechcraft Baron, which you fly professionally. Take a look at the weather briefing below and tell us if you would make the trip or cancel.

Go or No Go: a windy trip

Today's flight is one you know well, since you've flown this route at least once a month for three years, to visit your aging mother and father. It's just under a two and a half hour flight in your Cessna 172S from Charleston, South Carolina (CHS), to Ocala, Florida (OCF). You don't have an instrument rating, so you'll have to fly this trip VFR. The weather looks reasonably good, but there are a few cells on the radar and the wind is blowing. Read the weather forecast below and tell us if you would make the flight or cancel.

Go or No Go: California convection?

It's a perfect day for general aviation: your trip from San Diego (MYF) to Oxnard (OXR), California, should take just under an hour in your Cirrus SR22, which is a huge improvement over the typical 4-5 hour drive. The weather isn't great today, but at first glance it doesn't look impossible. Read the weather reports below and tell us if you would fly the trip or cancel.

Go or No Go: VFR ahead of the front

Traveling by VFR airplane means staying flexible, especially in the winter months. That's why you're at the airport today: with a huge line of rain headed for the southeastern United States, you've cut short your visit to Savannah, Georgia, to see if you can get home to Tallahassee, Florida. Is there a safe way to make this flight?

A personal Go or No Go scenario – grade my decision

I was trying to fly home to Cincinnati, Ohio, from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania at the end of 2019, and the weather wasn't great. The screenshots here are the actual ones I was looking at as I sat in the lobby in Pittsburgh, making my go/no-go decision. I'll share the weather briefing, then ask you to add your comment about what you would do. Then, at the end, I'll reveal what my decision was and what my thought process was.