You summed it up very nicely Stef! When I was a charter pilot I would have days EXACTLY like this!
Snow is lovely to watch coming down, but when you have to fly in it the snow obscures not only the ground beneath you but also the clouds it comes from. It is within those clouds that the real terror lies... ICE!
Not really a problem if you are in a turbojet or turboprop where you just punch through it on your way to higher (ice free) altitudes, but if you are in a non-pressurized piston airplane you have to slog through it. Then you get to hunt and peck your way up and down a couple thousand feet at a time... searching for an ice-free zone, praying your deice boots are working properly (if installed) and hoping you don't find a layer of freezing rain that'll coat your entire airplane in a lift-destroying glaze.
Even when everything works, you may find conditions so bad that your airplane will no longer climb. Now is the time you wished you had called in sick and stayed home in bed, or at least told the boss to go to hell.
Good stuff fellas!
RC
