With todays technology, one would think that weather related delays or cancellations wouldn't occur so last minute especially when it comes to military operations. Recently a squall of thunderstorms moved through our area, which lasted a few days. Well one morning in particular around 0730 our station was getting hammered with wind and rain, to the point visibility was probably less than a mile. We hadn't been pre-briefed on any sort of weather issues during the morning meeting (Other than knowing from the news and seeing it was pretty ugly outside), so we assumed that either the weather would pass, or that us and the other squadrons on base were still clear to fly. So that morning we operated with the assumption they were going to fly for the day, we went outside in the cold and rain did our daily and pre-flight maintenance checks, aircraft arm/safe checks, and made sure everything was good for the planned flights. Probably not more than 5 minutes after getting back inside and starting to dry off, we get word that the flight schedule was getting pushed back an hour, okay great no big deal. Then 30 minutes later another call, flight schedule was getting pushed back another hour. Then the final call 30 minutes after that, flight ops were cancelled for the day, so just as we started to dry off we had to go back out in the rain and de-arm. Moral of the story, we have the technology to know that the weather was going to get bad and stay bad. So either cancelling from the get-go or at least pushing back pre-op checks while flight schedule moves as well.
Now to be clear, flights that day were cancelled not because the aircraft couldn't handle it, but for the pilots safety and the aircraft safety while being flown. An F-18 most certainly has the capabilities to fly in the weather that day, since there was no demanding need for flights to occur, those flights were cancelled mainly as a precaution out of safety. I think a lot of weather delays or cancellations ( not all) are indeed for the same reason, and I used to think that weather cancellations were because the aircraft just couldn't fly or handle the weather conditions. But after dealing with military aviation for the last ten years and considering some things we've gone over in this class, I think weather related cancellations are more for safety related to the human factors of flying. Now obviously if there's a tornado tearing up an airfield or a hurricane right on top of an airport with 180+ mph winds, an aircraft definitely cannot take-off, fly, really do anything in those conditions.
Because aviation safety is such an important aspect of flying whether its commercial, military, personal, etc. there is no real need to fly an aircraft in conditions that exceed an acceptable amount of risk. Even when delays cost airliners thousand of dollars or cause military pilots to miss out on essential real-world training, safety is at the forefront of operations, and if flying cannot be conducted safely it's probably better to not fly at all or postpone a flight. And as annoying as it might be to get delayed, cancelled, or re-routed due to weather ultimately it is a safety issue and it is happening in the best interests of everyone involved.
Also, who doesn't like carrier ops, especially in foul weather. Just for reference on visibility, the flight deck is about 1,100 ft. long. *Volume warning*
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