No flying this weekend, and for May...

[woodstock]

sigh. we had to cancel today and tomorrow. (I still have to write about last Sunday's flight - a gorgeous day).

in May, my CFI has no free weekends, at all. none. we are going to try to sched for some early mornings during the week or after work. good times to fly at any rate, as long as the weather holds.

Brian, at this point - definitely no PPL by my birthday. I've flown 4 times since coming back from the winter - despite more intense scheduling.

 

[SkyHog]

sounds like you live in an area with pretty bad weather, eh? All the more reason to jump right into the IR after getting the PPL, it sounds to me!

Keep at it...don't get discouraged!

 

[woodstock]

the weather here is weird to say the least. I never noticed that it was actually crappy and unpredictable until I started flying. had anyone asked me before, I would have said "oh yeah, great weather, a lot of sun, gets warm early in the year and stays warm later and so on..."

that is certainly true, sometimes, and likely more often than not... but what I think happens is that there are just enough pockets of crappy weather to mess with trying to keep a schedule. and of course no one ever remembers the rainy days, you only remember the nice days when you were out having fun!

 

[Brian Austin]

sigh. we had to cancel today and tomorrow. (I still have to write about last Sunday's flight - a gorgeous day).

in May, my CFI has no free weekends, at all. none. we are going to try to sched for some early mornings during the week or after work. good times to fly at any rate, as long as the weather holds.

Brian, at this point - definitely no PPL by my birthday. I've flown 4 times since coming back from the winter - despite more intense scheduling.

That sucks, Beth. You should take two-three weeks and come down here to train. Train everyday and you'd (probably) have your PPL by the time you left! Even when it does rain, it scoots through so fast you only have to wait an hour or two at the most.

 

[woodstock]

That sucks, Beth. You should take two-three weeks and come down here to train. Train everyday and you'd (probably) have your PPL by the time you left! Even when it does rain, it scoots through so fast you only have to wait an hour or two at the most.

ya know what, I don't have the vacation time... and I'd say "hey, I could come down for the instrument training" but I'm sure the weather here is good for that!

although ya know, if I took even a 4 day wkd to go to AZ I bet I could fly 8 times, huh? 2x a day...

 

[inav8r]

I'm in the same boat. High winds and bad weather forecast for the next 10 days or so, and I'm trying to finish up and get the checkride scheduled. I'm taking this time to study for the written. I suppose I'll get that out of the way in the mean time.

 

[gismo]

sigh. we had to cancel today and tomorrow. (I still have to write about last Sunday's flight - a gorgeous day).

in May, my CFI has no free weekends, at all. none. we are going to try to sched for some early mornings during the week or after work. good times to fly at any rate, as long as the weather holds.

No weekends for the whole month? You may want to consider another CFI unless this is a one time anomaly. The best CFI in the world isn't worth considering if their schedule doesn't mesh with yours.

 

[Brian Austin]

ya know what, I don't have the vacation time... and I'd say "hey, I could come down for the instrument training" but I'm sure the weather here is good for that!

although ya know, if I took even a 4 day wkd to go to AZ I bet I could fly 8 times, huh? 2x a day...

Easily 2x a day. Start at 8am, go up for a few hours, land for lunch, go up for a few hours, land for dinner, get some night flying in. Today is a little breezy but excellent opportunity to get some crosswind landings in. Doesn't really matter which way the wind is blowing. There are plenty of airports with various runway directions to always get the chance.

Did I mention that ceilings are about 8-10K (at least north of here, it's clear here) and vis > 10 miles?

 

[woodstock]

No weekends for the whole month? You may want to consider another CFI unless this is a one time anomaly. The best CFI in the world isn't worth considering if their schedule doesn't mesh with yours.

yeah, one time. and we are going to try to fly midweek, which perversely is usually better weather around here anyway...

 

[woodstock]

Easily 2x a day. Start at 8am, go up for a few hours, land for lunch, go up for a few hours, land for dinner, get some night flying in. Today is a little breezy but excellent opportunity to get some crosswind landings in. Doesn't really matter which way the wind is blowing. There are plenty of airports with various runway directions to always get the chance.

Did I mention that ceilings are about 8-10K (at least north of here, it's clear here) and vis > 10 miles?

wow! what is it like in the fall? when is the best time to fly in general out there?

 

[Brian Austin]

wow! what is it like in the fall? when is the best time to fly in general out there?

Best time for flying is cooler weather, generally after mid-October. Late Dec. and January tend to be a little wet but not overly so (might miss a day here and there). February through early May are pretty good, with the odd rainy day and some wind. May brings on the 100's (although we've had them start in March but have yet to hit 100 at all this year), which is definitely doable but uncomfortable for mid-day flying (low altitudes (warmer) and major thermal activity). That goes into June, maybe early July. Once monsoons start up, though, it's not unusual to see a thunderstorm in the area every day (although it tends to be DIFFERENT areas each day). Tucson gets nailed harder than Phoenix. Major thermal activity and bumpy as heck. That lasts through early September.

If I was picking a time to come down to train, it would have been early March or early November. Those seem to be the gentlest periods with cool enough weather.