Foggy and grounded

KDAB 301353Z 36005KT 1/2SM -DZ BR OVC002 19/18 A3023 RMK AO2 SFC VIS 1 1/4 DZB20 SLP236 P0000 T01890178

This was yesterday's METAR. As you can see, visibility 0.5 miles, fog/mist and overcast @ 200 feet. We could barely see the buildings on the streets!
I have to say that was very beautiful to see the big jets taking off and instantly disappear in the fog, only leaving their roar behind. I am so mad I am not flying, I could get some actual instrument time! The problem is I am in stage 1, and stage is only VFR and "under the hood". We can fly IFR only from stage 2 on... So I've been grounded for the last 3 days because of weather. We all know how does it feel, don't we?
So, I've been walking around the airport area, and I found out Embry Riddle Aeronautical University is just across the street. I went there for a walk, I had some time free now because of the weather. Very big university, beautiful, and they have many many planes. Most of them C-172s with garmin G1000 glass cockpits and Diamond DA-42 twin stars also featuring glass cockpit and leather seats. It's a very expensive school, but anyone of you that can afford to study there I would strongly recommend. They not only have a flight school, but they offer degrees in many aeronautical areas like weather forecasters, meteorology, aerospace engineering, computer sciences, airport infrastructures, air traffic controllers and much more. They also offer some graduate programs, best thing to do is to check their website


I happened to find that nice picture on the Internet, that is what happened at Embry Riddle's fleet last winter... since then they bought all glass-cockpit airplanes. Now I think I know why they are so expensive: it's just about the insurance they pay to their planes.