Jay,
I am very sorry to hear about the accident, my deepest sympathy to
you, Mary and all the friends and relatives of the pilots. The
accident touched me deeply because John and Sheri sounded just like
us, another couple who share the love of flying.
We may never know the cause of the accident whether it was
something mechanical or weather related. Since the Horns were
experienced pilots, I had no doubt that they had prepared well for the
flight but something unexpected had happened.
The anticipated 'unexpected events' happened to us in our flight
last Wednesday from NY to MI. We monitored the weather continuously
before the trip. All the TAFs had predicted good VFR weather at our
destinations. In anticipating unpredictable weather, we planned for
three different routes, printed out approach charts for dozen or so
airports along the way, and picked out several alternate airports for
each stop. The front appeared to move out East much faster than
predicted. We were in solid IMC with light to moderate rains and
light turbulence for most of the trip. The headwinds were also much
stronger than forecasted with the ground speeds dropped to 75/80kts
over Canada. We got off ATC frequencies several times to check the
weather ahead. Each time the weather briefer asked us to confirm that
we were flying IFR.
Approaching our final destination, we learned that the ceiling in
Muskegon was down to 300' but Grand Rapids area was improving with
ceiling lifting from overcast at 1000' to scattered at 1400' and
overcast at 2300'. Although we love shooting ILS approaches and had
done few down to minimum (with instructors onboard), doing the KMKG
ILS 24 approach with 300' ceiling would require more efforts than I
was willing to try after bouncing around in IMC for 3.5hrs! It was
an easy decision to head to Y70 near KGRR instead of KMKG. The
scattered layer lifted up to 1700' for an easy radar-vectored VOR A
approach. We cancelled IFR while on RWY 27 final.
My weariness evaporated instantly the moment the wheels softly
kissed the paved runway. It was a challenged flight but I felt elated
in accomplishing the mission. John and Sheri must have felt the same
way many times before. It is tragic that they did not complete their
last mission. We, their flying brethrens and sisters can only take
comfort in the fact that they spent the last moment of their lives
together doing something that they both loved.

Hai Longworth