The Portal Through….

Sometimes, you just get that lucky gap.

On a recent flight, we found ourselves trying to go west through a big wall of thunderstorms climbing to altitudes over FL400, definitely higher than we could fly in the Twin Cessna. So, the first plan was to go east and around, adding nearly an hour of flight to the distance. As we flew, we had ADS-B weather being delivered to the panel and our iPads, so it definitely helped the plan, and looked like the following.

Getting closer, we “thought we might have a hole” between some of the cells.

Working with ATC and some leniency to “deviate as necessary”, we found ourselves in VFR-on-top conditions between layers at FL200 looking at one of the coolest passages between weather I have seen and just had to share it.

The tunnel to clear weather ahead was welcoming, and welcome that it stayed open as we headed through!

In the end, this is how it looked on a FlightAware track after the fact. Not my most technical blog post, but I just through it was kind of a cool experience to share and an example of how sometimes with a little work you can make flights happen safely, well, with a little luck also.

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About Jason Blair

Jason Blair is an active single and multiengine instructor and an FAA Designated Pilot Examiner with over 6,000 hours total time, over 3,000 hours of instruction given, and more than 3000 hours in aircraft as a DPE. In his role as Examiner, over 2,000 pilot certificates have been issued. He has worked for and continues to work with multiple aviation associations with the work focusing on pilot training and testing. His experience as a pilot and instructor spans nearly 20 years and includes over 100 makes and models of aircraft flown. Jason Blair has published works in many aviation publications with a focus on training and safety.

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