Wall Of Weather

Mike Hart got this shot as he was flying paralleling the Lemhi Range in the Idaho backcountry.

Plane & Pilot

Friday, November 12, 2021 at 09:11 AM ET

Verified

Key Takeaways:

Pilot Mike Hart captured an impressive photo of a cloud front mirroring the Salmon River while flying VFR in a Caravan EX, attempting to outpace building rain clouds.
The flight involved navigating an "impenetrable" wall of weather, making it challenging to stay ahead of the conditions.
During the flight, ATC asked Hart to investigate an ELT report on the other side of the cloud front, which he could not do due to the severe VFR limitations.
The ELT turned out to be from a small plane that landed hard at a private backcountry strip, with no damage presumably incurred.

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Mike Hart got this gorgeous shot of a cloud front mirroring the bends of the Salmon River as he was flying a deadhead leg in a 2019 Caravan EX north along the river “trying to beat the rain clouds to the airport. It ended up a tie.” Hart was flying VFR from Lemhi County Airport in Salmon, ID, from Friedman Memorial Airport (Hailey, ID) after a charter. He chose to fly VFR to stay ahead of the building weather. He added that the flight had some drama associated with it, when ATC asked him if he could check out a reported ELT going off on the other side of the cloud, but the wall of weather was, he said, “impenetrable (VFR at least).” The good news was the ELT turned out to be a small plane that landed hard (presumably with no damage) at a private backcountry strip.

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