Flying VFR in Marginal Weather

If you're not instrument rated, you naturally can fly only under certain weather conditions using Visual Flight Rules. But the weather does not always provide an easy, cut-and-dried answer to the question of whether it is safe to fly that day, or even whether VFR or Instrument Flight Rules apply. A decision may have to be made - and this book will make it easier. If you've ever had an urgent need to fly, only to be faced with a deteriorating or uncertain weather outlook, you'll really appreciate the solid help this book can give. This is not a dry treatise on weather and meteorology, although you get enough info on the subject to understand how weather conditions affect flight, and why nearly 40% of all serious general aviation accidents are weather-related. Instead, it's a well-written, fully illustrated discussion which covers such specific subjects as flying VFR "on top," flying between cloud layers, handling turbulence and wind, flying the mountains, how to deal with emergency situations, and more. Twenty-six chapters present the subject in an exciting manner by re-creating actual VFR flights in marginal conditions. Structural icing, turbulence, fronts, air currents, and other phenomena are explained for the average pilot, ensuring that you'll have a thorough knowledge of what you're dealing with. It's all based on the author's 25 years or more of experience in all types of cross-country flying under all conditions, and it adds up to useful, practical advice that no VFR pilot can afford to be without. Paul Garrison is a longtime pilot and author on aviation subjects. He lives in Santa Fe, N.M., with his wife Marianne.