Ed, You are right on the money. Who knows how many pilot were lost or almost lost by the "Just look around" syndrome just to check the weather...
In a safety article I wrote for Coupe Capers in the early 90s, We were winding it up at one of the Chicken Ranch picnics early Sunday morning and I was a little doubtful of the weather and decided to just fly up toward Chicago to "LOOK AROUND" Another Couper said he would fly out east a ways and then turn north for a look see. After 40 miles or so the weather started to go bad and it didn't look good at all. With the windows down, it started to rain. I immediately did a 180 and headed back to the ranch .No sooner did I land when I was met with bad news. My friend who was scouting the eastern route had been last seen lost in some of the valleys, seemingly disoriented and soon we got the bad news. He had crashed and died... It was several days before we took our flight home.We all learned a good lesson. Thanks Ed for reminding us of a very dangerous procedure.. If anyone is interested, I can send the date my article was printed. . Bill Coons
