…enjoy a bit of extra “groundschool”
After long weeks of either rain, hard wind, low clouds or thunderstorms, finally the weather is just what you want and expect in summer: blue skies, mild winds – the perfect setup for a good flying day. But oh yes, you are stuck in the office and simply cannot wait to finally reach the weekend and manage to reserve one of the rare time slots when a plane is finally free.
I felt just like that and was seriously annoyed when opening my curtains to yet another rainy grey sky and a not so tempting METAR. 
However, I had an appointment with a friend taking flying lessons as well. Plan was to practise navigation planning and execution, so that I can concentrate on flying while he has a go at navigating me along the route I had already set up yesterday myself. When Mansur then also reported that it looks better already in the South and having nothing better to do than cleaning the house, I headed off to the club. While waiting for improving visibility (the rain had stopped by now), we prepared our nav log together based on actual wind corrections. Seeing the formation team coming back and instructors taking off with other students gave additional hope, so we filled up our Robin and got ready for departure. No, I was still not completely convinced: the rain was gone and visibility was better, but now the wind had picked up considerably. Not a problem if it would be staying on main direction 240, but surely it came in variable blast and was gusting up to 21 knots.
The agreement between Mansur and me was clear: if we – and this means me as PIC even before him- have doubts when “up there”, we would simply turn back. The actual ATIS gives new confidence: 10 km visibilities, few clouds 1.600 ft – let’s go!
Lining up after our checks we are delayed for another 5 minutes by a 373 landing and another one taking off. They really want to test my patience today, but somehow this just increases my determination. And finally it is time to say “PH SVU cleared for take off RW 24 and Hotel departure”. With the wind right from the front we take off in no time and it is not as bumpy as expected. Juchuu, we are in the air again! In good spirit I do my after take-off tasks and we climb nicely to our departure altitude of 1.000 ft…or so I thought. Already at 700 ft the visibility gets quite misty and the previous announced 10 km visibility seem to be a bad joke. At 800 ft Mansur and I look at each other and seem to communicate without words: no risk no fun does certainly not apply when flying. We were looking for fun, nice views at the coast line and some nav experience for him, but in this weather we will certainly experience nothing of that. “Rotterdam, Tower, PH SVU request to return to the field due to very poor visibility”.
We have been in the air for exactly 6 minutes, with taxi and waiting time of a total of 19. Tower asks us for a weather update and we report of the misty views and that we have not even been able to see half the way to the coast line which is less than 10nm away. A minute later a rescue helicopter reports over Hotel a cloud base of 1.200ft and by the time we reach our parking spot at the club again the sky looks once more beautiful and blue. It seems that we have just hit the last 15 minutes of bad weather when we finally took off.
So we settled down for some paperwork and coffee when others join our table as well. And a bit later we find ourselves in a discussion with more experienced pilots and one of the instructors for unusual attitudes and aerobatics. We forget the time and simply listen, question, discuss….and learn. Eventually I remember that I have a dog at home and expect visitors, so I check my watch and am surprised to see that nearly 3 hours have passed. Definitely time to go if the house has not been cleaned by magic and dinner cooked by somebody else. Sitting on my sofa later and contemplating over the day I am feeling content: being a very careful pilot, I still tried to push my limits. I made a fast decision and reacted quickly and safely when turning back and landing while still “in the take off mode”. Spending time at the club and talking to others was not just fun, but also a very good learning – which I would probably have missed if not for the spot of bad weather we very obviously hit. So is bad weather always really bad? Probably not … if you are able to let go of original plans and enjoy whatever comes along instead.
And something else we take with us from the day: Never underestimate the fun you can have when just stopping by at the club for a coffee. There are always people around to chat, to learn from or to make plans for your next flying adventure with. And sometimes these experiences are even more valuable than just a “round around the church”!