Bored.

RotorDude said:
I guess by not drinking beer (or any alcohol to speak of) I am not a PILOT.
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Oh c'mon, I said that in jest, well, kinda. But no, you don't have to drink beer (or any alcohol) to be a pilot of course. :rolleyes:
 
Pilots drink water too. Usually when re-hydrating after alcohol, but still.

Someone mentioned windsocks - I admit that I only started looking at them recently. But now I'm religious about it. Funny how my landings got better when I started doing that.
 
I might be guilty of not checking the windsock enough. I check the runway and my alignment with it, which to me is a much better method of telling me what the wind is doing.
 
eman1200 said:
I might be guilty of not checking the windsock enough. I check the runway and my alignment with it, which to me is a much better method of telling me what the wind is doing.
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I usually get a good sense of the wind this way as well, and rarely check for a windsock. True story, I was training on a jet sim at Flight Safety International and thought there was about a 10 knot cross wind. Turned out the guy running the sim had put one in by accident.
 
Windsocks are useful for detecting changes in wind between the airplane and the runway before you encounter them. On Wednesday we were on a short final approach and had four conflicting wind indications: The airplane itself, the AWOS report, the main airport windsock (which is near the arrival end of the runway), and the windsock at the departure end of the runway (which we did not see until we were rolling out).
 
steingar said:
I usually get a good sense of the wind this way as well, and rarely check for a windsock. True story, I was training on a jet sim at Flight Safety International and thought there was about a 10 knot cross wind. Turned out the guy running the sim had put one in by accident.
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How does your alignment detect whether you have a headwind or a tailwind?

ATIS can be up to an hour old, and the wind can be blowing right up your tail. The windsock will show this, but you'll still be aligned with the runway.
 
In Idaho we get some interesting winds at times. I have landed a couple of times with the socks on the approach ends standing straight out 180 degrees from each other. I have flown downwind with a 25 kt tailwind yet the sock was pointing the other direction at about 10kts. There was one hell of a wind shear at about 500ft. I have also watched the windsock change direction several times while on downwind, base and final. The windsock will tell you instantly what is happening. Don
 
MAKG1 said:
How does your alignment detect whether you have a headwind or a tailwind?

ATIS can be up to an hour old, and the wind can be blowing right up your tail. The windsock will show this, but you'll still be aligned with the runway.
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indicated vs ground.
 
eman1200 said:
indicated vs ground.
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That's not alignment, and GPS is not required equipment even for IFR. It's quite possible that the next aircraft you rent may have no way to measure ground speed. The windsock is still the best way to do it even if you have the equipment, as you can tell at a glance. With your eyes outside the airplane on final like they should be.
 
MAKG1 said:
That's not alignment, and GPS is not required equipment even for IFR. It's quite possible that the next aircraft you rent may have no way to measure ground speed. The windsock is still the best way to do it even if you have the equipment, as you can tell at a glance. With your eyes outside the airplane on final like they should be.
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thanks captain obvious. I never said don't look at the windsock. in fact I specifically said I don't do it as much as I should. I'm saying there are other ways, definitely other ways besides only listening to old atis.
 
MAKG1 said:
That's not alignment, and GPS is not required equipment even for IFR. It's quite possible that the next aircraft you rent may have no way to measure ground speed. The windsock is still the best way to do it even if you have the equipment, as you can tell at a glance. With your eyes outside the airplane on final like they should be.
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Trees, water, flags, smoke..etc:, There are lots of ways to determine speed and direction without looking at a windsock. Most of the strips I went to in northwest Alaska didn't have windsocks, or what was left of them was not usable, or they were frozen in place.
 
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Congrats! This is going to be a wonderful weekend. Block Island on Sunday, not sure about Saturday yet. As for next steps, head to Sterling for glider flights or even better, a Stearman or Cub lesson! The Stearman is beautiful, just restored, and the rate is amazingly reasonable (for a Stearman). Where do you fly out of?
 
MAKG1 said:
How does your alignment detect whether you have a headwind or a tailwind?

ATIS can be up to an hour old, and the wind can be blowing right up your tail. The windsock will show this, but you'll still be aligned with the runway.
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I cheat. These days its pretty easy to check airspeed vs. groundspeed, to get an independent idea of which way the wind blows. Good enough to tell you which way to land most days.
 
There are times when I fly enough to get tired of flying, but it never lasts!
 
Cajun_Flyer said:
Yeah, I don't see my husband ever flying with me. Maybe, but very doubtful. Got him to go up with me and my instructor once, but think that's as good as it's going to get. The good news is that he doesn't give me a hard time about flying anymore and seemed genuinely happy for me yesterday.
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Easy fix. Just start finding a random cute guy at every stop and take a selfie with him and send it to hubby. He'll be joining you in no time.;)
 
Better yet, tell your husband to get his license. That way he can fly you home when you come drink beer with us.
 
If you make that Lafayette trip for gumbo someone suggested, I'm coming with you!
 
If I go down that way (or, should I say, dat way), my weight and balance must be calculated for the amount of crawfish I plan to transport back. I can take a couple folks down there, but then you have to figure out your own way home. This woman has her priorities.

So, sad to say, I was unable to take my father up as my first pax the other day. I've been knocked down sick since Friday and seem to be getting worse by the day. I am still considering Catalina next week while I'm in San Diego, but definitely bummed that Sunday didn't work out. No idea who my first victi... er, passenger will be now. Dad went back south and everyone else I know is too chicken. Maybe my cat would enjoy a Martha's Vineyard trip.
 
Cajun_Flyer said:
If I go down that way (or, should I say, dat way), my weight and balance must be calculated for the amount of crawfish I plan to transport back. I can take a couple folks down there, but then you have to figure out your own way home. This woman has her priorities.
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Completely understand about the crawfish. I'll only have to walk across MS to get home to AL, should be a nice day's stroll. Maybe I'll do that Forest Gump thing and attract a crowd. ;):D
 
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