FL20151007 - Grounded due to weather

Our optimistic preflight preparations before the weather set in. Photograph: Mat Dalton.

The warm spell had gone, and the weather the morning of our scheduled Amman region flight (Wednesday 7 October) was decidedly poor but we sat in the helicopter with the engine turning in hope. Rather than a clearance, however, the rain started in earnest and we decided to post-pone. We had hoped to take an ex-student of David’s flying, who was having a short break in Jordan, but sadly all she experienced was the noise and anticipation of take-off.

The drive back from Marka to the British Institute (in the rain initially) was one of the worst we have ever had to do; climbing the final hills up from Sports City round-about was through low cloud with visibility down to a few metres. But we made it, unlike a few other motorists that day- at least 3 died as a result of the poor conditions across Jordan.

We planned to reschedule the trip to the 8th October but a combination of factors conspired to thwart this happening; the pilot had an exam at 0900 hrs, and the weather forecast continued to not look good. So this trip has now been scheduled for our last of the season on October 14th.

Today the weather is indeed better and we are anticipating taking off for our next flight to the east as scheduled tomorrow morning (11 October).

- Robert Bewley