Flying in the Summer

Every pilot will tell you that flying during the summer is unlike flying at any other time of year. Whether it be flying at high altitude to cool off, dodging thunderstorms almost constantly, or enjoying poor performance due to the heat, the summer always has an interesting twist to throw at you.

I am no stranger to this, and over the years, I have flown in a variety of summer conditions, each of which presented their own unique conditions. However, without doubt, the most challenging condition presents itself in the afternoon, thunderstorms.

Kitty Hawk, North Carolina, July 10th, 2021.

The flight down had been relatively uneventful, with only some minor altitude changes needed to avoid busting VFR cloud clearance requirements. However, while we were sitting at lunch, the true weather rolled in.

My friend was the first to be made aware, as his watch pinged, alerting us that a lightning strike had been detected within 30 miles of us, and from there, we moved with a purpose. Getting back to the airplane we quickly, but thoroughly, pre-flighted, hopped in, and got going. We took off with about 10-15 minutes to spare before the storms truly rolled in, and we couldn’t have been happier.

I remember the flight home being full of deviations, as we cloud dodged for about half an hour. But eventually, we made it into the clear, and flew back home without any further dramas. After we landed, I remember checking the weather back in North Carolina, and I found that it was now pouring back and thundering, on a day where the worst weather forecasted was cloudy skies.

And that is only one example of millions of summer weather changing in a matter of minutes, and forcing us as pilots to change the way we operate. So many times, pilots have found themselves in the midst of even worse weather, that has seemed to appear out of nowhere, and it is times such as these where our training truly shines.