They get taller and move nearer to highways

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The weather is not going to get better in another five miles.If you are trying to scud-run, the weather will get worse.Towers and power lines are affected by weather: They get taller and move nearer to highways, railroad tracks and airports when the ceiling gets very low.You are most likely to discover an unlighted tower when you are trying to fly low because of weather.Power lines are invisible against backgrounds other than blue sky. Scud running used to be a reasonable method of getting to one’s destination in the flatlands of our country. Now, with the stunning proliferation of towers—particularly near highways—it is foolish. To do it with any regularity is suicidal.

One close encounter with a tower or a set of power lines appearing out of the haze or fog when scud-running, or going below minimums on an instrument approach, will give you years of the most hideously vivid nightmares you can imagine.

It’s not the smartest thing in the world to duck under the glideslope after breaking out of the clouds so as to land short. Many more airplanes crash in the approach lights after an ILS than go off the far end of the runway. There are no prizes for the shortest landing following an ILS.There is less gas in the tanks than you hope.The worse the weather, the more likely it is that you will have a vocal passenger insisting that you go.

When you really, really want to make the trip, the weather will always be just a little worse than either your capabilities or those of the airplane.It is invariably better to be fervently wishing you had flown than had driven.The posters on the walls in Air Force Flight Ops rooms were right: There is no reason to fly through a thunderstorm in peacetime.When making a decision regarding weather, an effective tool is to ask oneself if this might lead to looking stupid in the NTSB report.

Being introduced to flight in ice by an instructor under controlled conditions is hugely valuable and is far, far better than trying to learn about it vicariously or as you start getting ice on the airframe for your first time without an instructor next to you. Oddly, unless the airplane is approved for flight into known icing, that smart practice is illegal.

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