"Jay Honeck" wrote in message news:JSmGc.14184$JR4.8572@attbi_s54...
She went on to say that about 15 miles out, just past the nearby town (and
airport) of Tipton, IA, their windshield had gone completely white -- and
then almost immediately totally black. It was at this point where she
covered her eyes in fright, and couldn't look.
...
Uncomfortable silence followed this revelation, as we realized how close to
dying this poor woman had come. Not wanting to scare her any more than
necessary, I asked what Cedar Rapids had done. She replied that the
controller had asked what their intentions were, since conditions were
rock-solid IFR with thunderstorms from their present position all the way
into Iowa City. She said her husband had announced his intention to land in
Iowa City, and that the controller then gave them a vector towards the
airport.
...
I told them both how lucky they were, and left it at that. After all, they
were here for a good time, and it wasn't my position as innkeeper to be
lecturing my guests. In fact, I didn't even mention the "Tipton Towers" --
twin TV transmission towers that reach some 1700 feet into the sky right
near Tipton.

Jay,

I understand your reluctance to 'lecture', but I think a comment or two
about a similar situation you were in and what you did, can sometimes
provide large amounts of "positive reinforcement" to do the right thing
next time.

ie, something like "yes, a couple months back there were some fast
moving summer thunderstorms over Iowa City at the end of a trip. It
was frustrating to all of us to land at Tipton and wait it out, but
these kind of storms normally move through pretty fast and we were
able to get back in the plane and press on in about half-an-hour. I
have about 2000 hrs in the air, and a half-an-hour wait is worth it
to me to stay safe for the next 2000"

I think sometimes new pilots run into a few pilots who land under
a tstorm (or for all we know, have a CFI who did something like that
as a 'lesson', but who took the wrong message from it) or do other
risky things, and they think they need to get into a macho cult where
"real pilots" don't worry about pesky things like tstorms (low weather,
icing, you name it).

I think there's a big difference between lecturing and just recounting
your own experiences. I know I've learned a lot sometimes from a
clearly more experienced pilot's calm "well, something like that happened
to me, and this is what I did..."

Best,
Sydney
(who spent 2 hrs sitting in the airport lobby in company with about
10,000 hrs of experience Monday am, while Mother Nature ran the
deluge system)