WxWorx gets a workout

Yesterday was one of those sopping wet, unstable Gulf Coast spring days
and I needed to get an Angel Flight couple from Mobile to Jennings, LA
(3R7, west of Lafayette) in the afternoon. By the time we were ready to
leave BFM at noon, the NEXRAD on our route looked like a cheap Hawaiian
luau shirt - lots of gaudy red and yellow flowers on a green background.

On course heading was about 265, but immediately after takeoff I asked
for a 350 heading to go north around a pretty big cell west of Mobile.
Right away the strategic value of the WxWorx display was evident because
it showed going south around the cell would have put a bunch more cells
in our path that were further west. The north deviation was so large
that the Gulfport controller became nervous that we would penetrate
R-4401B. To keep him calm, I turned more westerly and skirted the north
side if the cell pretty closely, right under the "eaves" of the CBU. I
wasn't worried about getting so close because I'd been watching the
storm develop on NEXRAD. There had been no new lightning strikes for 15
minutes and the cell wasn't growing; this wasn't a real magnum boomer.
WxWorx gave me the confidence to do this because, even though abundant
towering CU blocked the view in all directions, I knew I wasn't flying
into a box canyon of thunderstorms.

After we passed this first one, I started angling more to the southwest.
The ride was pretty bumpy in spots as we flew through some big CUs that
were towering well above 10K'. By now I had a very good idea of the
orientation, development and movement of storms in southern Louisiana.
There were lots of them, some with plenty of fresh lightning strikes
depicted. They biggest were loosely strung along an east-west line from
Baton Rouge to the TX/LA border. Particulary large, nasty ones were
squatting directly over Baton Rouge and Lafayette and just north of
Jennings. The whole mess was drifting slowly north.

Due north of Lafayette it was decision time. For the whole flight I'd
had plenty of good "outs" to the north of us. Now, I needed to decide
whether I should go south through a 10-mile gap that showed between
Lafayette and Jennings, swing around and get into Jennings from the
south. It was either do that or land at St. Landry and wait. By now I
had a very intimate knowledge of the history and movement of cells in
the area. Everything I could see out the windows agreed with what
NEXRAD was telling me and I new once we were through the line there was
plenty of room to the south to go somewhere else, so I went for it.

It was pure ice cream. A thunderstorm had passed through the area a
half hour before, so the energy was gone from the local atmosphere and
we had a beautifully smooth ride. By the time we got to Jennings, the
last of the rain had moved north and we splashed down on rwy 8 in calm
winds.

We made a perfect rendevous with the next leg pilot who landed two
minutes after us after flying from Palacious, TX. Bert was worried.
The radar on the DTN terminal showed lots of stuff popping up on his
route from Jennings to Corpus Christi. I was NOT worried. There was
still plenty of colorful fun between me and Mobile, but I knew I had a
powerful weather avoidance tool that had proven it was accurate and
timely enough to use for strategic *and* tactical weather avoidance. I
flew a bee line between cells home to Mobile and left all the nasty
stuff behind west of New Orleans.

This was a flight I might not have attempted without the WxWorx gear.
Thunderstorms were too numerous, unpredictable and widespread to trust
ATC and Fligh****ch to get us there. (Even with WxWorx, I would not have
continued the flight unless I always had a solid plan B to land safely
somewhere before the destination.) I feel I have added a notable
increment in capability to my airplane. This thunderstorm season I look
forward to flying with a real picture of what the bad boys are up to,
instead of flying virtually blind as in the "old days."
--
Dan
C172RG at BFM