Why people hate weathermen (and…weatherwomen?)

As my time in Michigan comes to a close, another door is opening quickly.  Inside that door is excitement, exhilaration, boredom, monotony, healthy fear, and anxiety.  And the name plate on that door reads: “Fly your airplane across the country for the 6th time, by yourself, for 15 hours.”  Yes, I am that crazy.  And although I still have a week before I leave, the biggest source of anxiety right now is weather.  Everytime I go flying, there are many variables that can all come together to make a very enjoyable flight, a very unenjoyable flight, a very dangerous flight, or…no flight at all.  Most important of all of those contributors is weather.  It is one of the only things pilots simply cannot control (save the fact that millions of dollars will get you a plane that can fly over and outrun inclement weather).  We can have perfect training, perfectly maintained engine and airframes, but when it comes down to it, weather is unpredictable and will laugh in your face if you ever say “weather won’t be a factor today” before a flight.

So here is my dilemma; sift through multiple different outlets for predicting and reporting weather and make a decision on when is the best strand on two days to start my flight.  Include factors like 1. Having to leave the love of my life behind in Indiana 2. School starts on August 25th, no excuses 3. there must be 2 days in a row that are flyable 4. heavy headwinds can severely slow and alter my entire flight plan 5. finally, weather never matches up with forcasts.

So that brings me to my point, weathermen and weatherwomen have a horrible job.  How can anyone keep a job that they know each day, their forecasts will never match what happens out there?  Recently in this area, there has been some really poor weather predicting.  There have been days with rain and thunderstorms that should have been sunny, and days that are beautiful and called for a downpour.  It gives my little faith at all in forecasting.

At these times I wish I did it like early aviators, “Just get up there and see how it looks.”  And I have to admit that on some legs flying to Michigan in years past, that has been the mantra.  But then again, the life expectancy for early mail pilots was one month…maybe looking at forecasts is not the worst idea.

So lets just hope I don’t run into this on my way home next week…

time to turn around....

or this…

no thanks...

or this either…

At least there is a nice rainbow....right?

So next time the weather isn’t what was forecasted…don’t blame the weatherman/woman…blame this guy …

Scary... :-0

- Never let the keychain hang straight down

– The Aerobat

High Winds and Abortion…

 

Banner over ND

I am sure you are wondering how these two elements go together in any way but I assure you they do.  Today, I finally got back in the saddle and was able to fly the good old Aerobat.  Oh how sweet it was.  I had missed flying her so much this semester. 

 

You may have heard about this guy that is coming to speak at a certain university in the South Bend area and it is supposedly a big deal or something.  So much of a big deal that a group has paid a banner plane pilot to fly a constant orbit around said university’s campus all day for the last 2 weeks.  Today that the good old Niles airport, they got a big city taste of politics in a small town.  The banner plane, a Cessna 150 juiced up with a Cessna 172′s 180 horsepower engine for towing, had taken off just before me and and was circling around to pick up his goods for towing.  After a close try, he missed and had to go around again.  Blasting down the runway about 10 feet off the ground, the hook caught the banner and slowly peeled it off the ground as the plane pulled up steeply.  In front of my eyes I saw a horrifying picture of an aborted baby in which I will go into no more detail along with the words “ABORTION IS TERROR” sailing off into the sky to supposedly shame everyone and convince them their pro choice view was on par with terrorism.  While I tend to agree with pro life supporters, I believe these shock tactics are really the wrong way to go about doing it, especially to go so far as to pay to have an airplane plaster the skies with this claim and obscene image for 2 weeks.  Needless to say, HOW DOES THIS MAKE GENERAL AVIATION LOOK!  My gosh, if people didn’t care much for small planes before, now every time they see one in this area they will remember the horrid picture it was towing or at least remember that general aviation facilitated such a display. I don’t know…

 

The Windsock

 

 

Regardless, some of you noticed, today was a very windy day in South Bend, IN.  While I knew this is usually not the most ideal condition for flying, I knew I could handle it.  However, I soon learned that my 1,500 pound dainty little girl would have the ride of a lifetime as soon as we left the ground.  Now, my Aerobat has aerobatic 4 point seat belts that often seen like overkill for simple flights like todays jaunt to diamond lake and back just to stretch her legs.  However, I found myself cinching those suckers down in an attempt to keep my head from busting through the sky windows above me.  I kid you not, this was severe turbulence.  As my instructor once told me, before aerobatics, you tighten your seat belts until it hurts, and then tighten them more.  I was very close to that stage today.  Needless to say, it was a roller-coaster ride out there today.  

Lessons learned?  1. Don’t give general aviation a bad name by selling out and pulling a banner that will upset people. 2. If the windsock can’t make up it’s mind, don’t go flying.

- Never let the keychain hang straight down

— The Aerobat

IFR in Scottsdale

Post-rain Cloud Bank over Scottsdale

Disclaimer: For those of you who live were this kind of weather is commonplace…I do apologize and you may be upset with the following comments.

This morning I woke up to rain, 900 foot overcast ceilings, mist, and haze, 2.5 miles visibility, and 59 degrees with an indication of three letters seldom seen together in Arizona aviation weather reporting, I F R.  Instrument Flight Rules means the ceiling is less that 1000 feet above ground level and the visibility is less than 3 miles.  The pilot must hold an IFR certificate and file an IFR flight plan to fly in these conditions.  These are truly rare days in Arizona.  A recent count showed only 15 out of 365 days last year were true IFR weather days.  So I have to say, witnessing this weather is very interesting to me.

A pacific storm that had been brewing offshore finally made its way into the valley.  This was a abnormally slow moving storm as we usually see the fast, here and gone thunderstorms in Arizona.  As the ceiling started to lift this afternoon, it revealed an amazing tapestry of cumulus clouds.  The dark surrounding clouds made one particular white cloud incredibly bright (pictured above).  In person, I could hardly look straight at the cloud because it was so bright.  You  may not have been able to tell from the picture but the tops of the cloud were probably getting close to 50,000 feet.  This would definitely be a “fly around” not “fly over” cloud.

Weather is truly amazing.  Never take it for granted and NEVER forget the power that it holds.

- Never let the keychain hang straight down

— The Aerobat