Diversion!

Today everything didn't quite happen like in the movies. So, in the morning I planned a cross-country flight to Hanko aerodrome (EFHN) and from there to Nummela and back to Malmi. It was actually the exact same route I flew yesterday but then it was very windy and the flight was thus quite unpleasant. Somehow I felt I wanted to fly the route again, since today's weather was absolutely calm and the wind was light. Also, I was in a bit of a hurry and now I didn't have to plot a new route. At the morning briefing we discussed a little about the probability of CB-clouds and possible rain showers in the afternoon but all in all there was nothing too special to expect and all stations read "CAVOK" in the whole country.

"Cleared for take off runway 09 right turn!"

Cruising at 2400 feet, heading to Hanko.

The flight to Hanko was incredibly easy. It was so calm that I hardly had to touch the control yoke and could make slight adjustments just by leaning a little to one side on my seat. Soon I was there already and making a touch and go landing to EFHN, heading then to Nummela. I checked out the weather situation and Helsinki was totally fine. Slight rain showers were present somewhere in the north and I flew near the side of one but all clouds were above 4000-5000 feet and visibility was quite unlimited. No problem!

A little rain shower presents no harm, although it isn't so easy to see forward. Just go to remember to put the pitot heat on.

At Nummela I made another touch and go and then headed to my final 25 minute leg back to Malmi. At about halfway through I noticed some stratocumulus-type clouds building up near the shoreline, nothing too special and I expected their bases to be at about 2000 feet. Then suddenly when I had proceeded over Espoo, already having an arrival clearance to Malmi, the clouds seemed to be at about 1500 feet and descending rapidly. I still thought I could easily manage to Malmi since the weather looked like it'd be a bit better over the sea and I noticed that the clouds were "few" and above the layer there was a uniform "broken" layer, so the ceiling would still be quite high.

A few minutes later I finally undestood that I had no hope of continuing... The clouds were building up rapidly and I had to immediately turn back to escape the descending ceiling. After making sure I was flying towards the better weather and maintaining VMC I contacted tower and informed them about a diversion back to Nummela airfield. The decision was at first hard to make since I had so little of the flight left and experienced a slight "plan continuation bias" but I'm glad I still realized it was the only option and didn't continue to IMC conditions.

@ EFNU

So I landed in Nummela and soon found out that another of our school's Cessna was also diverting and I was lucky to get some company. We parked our planes to the apron and went to have some coffee at the local Air Hotel waiting for a ride home, which then came after about an hour. Both of the planes were left to Nummela to be collected later, since the other one didn't have enough fuel left and my plane only had a little time left until the next maintenance so it had to be flown back by a maintenance personnel.

On my last leg to Malmi, cruising at FL0 over the highway.

All in all, I think I got my first diversion experience before any practise flights. At least I now know what to expect. And I learned a lot about the sea and how it can very quickly blow clouds and bad weather to the nearby land. What a day!