anyone fly today?

flyer

flyer

Pre-takeoff checklist
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flyer
Me and a CFI were going to fly to Oklahoma today for a fun flight, but we got out about 10 miles and was hitting some good turbulence which was taking the "fun factor" out of the flight. So my CFI told me to turn back and we bounced back to the runway and made a hard landing. The winds were gusting over 22 kts and my CFI didnt want to go at all, but I forced him to, lol. Needless to say he wasnt very happy with me when we got back on the ground. He said we shouldn't have been up flying in those conditions, and he was right.


Seems like every time I want to fly somewhere the wx and winds never cooperates. Travel by 172 sure isn't very practical. Anyone else get up today?
 
22 knots...ouch. What were you in?

I had many firsts today. I flew my first tailwheel aircraft, an RV-7. I also learned some of how to fly with a variable pitch prop. I did my first spin, my first lazy eights, and my first "competition" turns (80-90 degrees of bank). I taxied the aircraft but didn't takeoff or land.
 
It looks rough up there here in Lincoln, NE. I've flown in 40-50 know winds in a C152 but it was smooth in the wind. We hovered over Flemington, NJ.

Travel by light plane can be practical depending on the mission. We canceled a load of flights to Minneapolis due to weather, but that was fine since we were playing tourist. Bad weather for flying = bad tourist weather.
 
I had the itch, but it hasn't been good all day (330-350, 18G25 or so). Maybe if it settles down a bit this evening.

I went out to the airport and puttered around a bit, but that was it.
 
Nope, same deal here in Iowa -- no flying for us. We had the afternoon off, two airplanes fueled, with three pilots ready to go...and winds gusting to 25.

If we had to get somewhere, we'd have certainly flown -- but there's just no sense in abusing yourself when all you want to do is go for a fun little hamburger flight...

Ah well -- there's always tomorrow...

:cheerswine:
 
Same winds here in Kansas, although I did go to the airport and mess around. Two helicopters and a Mooney did come into fuel. I also watched a small plane come over my house this morning that looked like it was in constant slow flight. Must of been windy up there too! There is always tomorrow!:yes:
 
flyer said:
He said we shouldn't have been up flying in those conditions, and he was right.
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I don't know where you are in your training. However it is a fact that "weather happens." I don't think much of CFIs who only want to train their students when it's nice and calm.
Before you're signed off for your practical you want to have (and need) training and some experience in cross winds, and gusty winds, and IMC, and the other stuff that makes flying interesting and challenging.
I'm glad you flew. You should be too.
 
Lance F said:
I don't know where you are in your training. However it is a fact that "weather happens." I don't think much of CFIs who only want to train their students when it's nice and calm.
Before you're signed off for your practical you want to have (and need) training and some experience in cross winds, and gusty winds, and IMC, and the other stuff that makes flying interesting and challenging.
I'm glad you flew. You should be too.
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It all depends on the level of the student when and how high winds should be introduced.

At some point winds G30+ should be on the agenda -- because you WILL need to land in those conditions at some point.

But there's not enough data to make a wholesale judgment about the CFI's opinion in this case.
 
With all due respect, if I didn't fly in 20-30 knot winds I wouldn't have completed *MANY* of my flights in the midwest.

I understand that it may seem like a lot at first--but one can safely flying a Cessna 172 in 22 knots, 25 knots, etc.

As far as the turbulence in flight, most of the time, you can get out of it. It is a lot easier if you are IFR. Generally this time of year in the midwest just getting above whatever layer of cloud there may be will eliminate it. Of course that isn't always possible VFR.
 
jesse said:
With all due respect, if I didn't fly in 20-30 knot winds I wouldn't have completed *MANY* of my flights in the midwest.
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I'm coming to this conclusion about flying out of FRM...and, like Jay, if I'd had a trip planned, it wouldn't have stopped me, but why beat yourself up for an hour's worth of what's supposed to be fun?

That said, the winds are calming down a bit, and if they keep doing that, I'll go out in a little bit.
 
jesse said:
With all due respect, if I didn't fly in 20-30 knot winds I wouldn't have completed *MANY* of my flights in the midwest.

I understand that it may seem like a lot at first--but one can safely flying a Cessna 172 in 22 knots, 25 knots, etc.

As far as the turbulence in flight, most of the time, you can get out of it. It is a lot easier if you are IFR. Generally this time of year in the midwest just getting above whatever layer of cloud there may be will eliminate it. Of course that isn't always possible VFR.
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Here along the western edge of the Alleghenies, the direction of the winds over 25 determines if a flight is a go or not.

Anytime the winds are from between 060-170 and over 30 knots at 3000, you'd best stay on the ground in a light SEL.
 
Flew an our with a friend in his PA12, winds gusting to 20, but right down the runway. At the same time 2 CFI's were giving lessons in 2 separate J3's, a straight tail C150 worked the pattern, as well as a Luscombe, and a Champ. It was surprisingly smooth as silk under an ugly gray overcast that occasionally spit on us. I also see via FlightAware that our Aztec crawled home from Branson, MO at around 130kts :(
 
dmccormack said:
Here along the western edge of the Alleghenies, the direction of the winds over 25 determines if a flight is a go or not.

Anytime the winds are from between 060-170 and over 30 knots at 3000, you'd best stay on the ground in a light SEL.
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True, but in the flat lands, this is not a concern. The biggest concern is if you'll be able to taxi it in the wind.
 
If it's right down the runway, not a problem.:blueplane:
 
jesse said:
True, but in the flat lands, this is not a concern. The biggest concern is if you'll be able to taxi it in the wind.
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I flew out of OXB (Ocean City, MD) earlier this week. Winds were 16G24.

Normally when I hear that on the AWOS around here I prep myself for a rough ride 1500' AGL and below.

But the Eastern Shore is flat as a pancake, and of course OXB is right on the coast -- that flat land doesn't disturb the wind much. Takeoffs and landings were routine, with barely a bump. But I knew the winds were strong because of the crab required to maintain the pattern.

Terrain has to factor in to the Pilot's takeoff and landing plans -- mountains, rolling hill, or high or low ridges all do amazing things to what in other locations would be manageable winds.
 
I was going to take my nephews (7 and 5) up for their first airplane ride today, but as mentioned by other midwesterners, the winds were howling pretty good today. Not ideal conditions for a 'first ride' for anyone.

Winds have just recently died down, but not enough daylight left to go out and practice Comm. maneuvers. :(
 
dang John, were you going around weather on your pnc trip, hope that wasn't an atc thing!

Fast n' Furious said:
I did. It was great. Mooney's rule.
http://flightaware.com/live/flight/N252MB/history/20080629/1237Z/F29/KBTL/tracklog
Flying is good.
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Janet and I went to 'the city' today to get supplies; its a 1 hour trip each way by viking (saves us 4hrs of car driving)
I was excited to wake up to low clouds and no thunderstorms, we had planned a later afternoon trip but I pushed it up in order to get some cloud time :)
Got tossed around a bit in showers at 12K on the way back, temp 5C. Broke out to fantastically pretty clouds periodically and then we (atc and I) were waiting, waiting for me to call the field and cancel (asos reported vfr) but we did not exit the huge bank of clouds til abeam the field and almost at the iaf. Great day!
 
dmccormack said:
Terrain has to factor in to the Pilot's takeoff and landing plans -- mountains, rolling hill, or high or low ridges all do amazing things to what in other locations would be manageable winds.
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Thats true. we have a lot of rolling hills here in MO and it does play havoc with the surface winds. Thats why I set my personal limit to 15 kt surface winds for fun local flights.
 
flyer said:
Thats true. we have a lot of rolling hills here in MO and it does play havoc with the surface winds. Thats why I set my personal limit to 15 kt surface winds for fun local flights.
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The hills...ah yes. Yesterday afternoon we had winds 350 @ 12kts gust to24kts but still right down the chute on my new grass strip at home. I thought it would be good to do a few landings on a not so prefect day. So I went into town where my plane is at now,until I get something built at home, got it up and headed for home. The strip is right on the Buffalo Ridge and I have valleys on both sides that drop down 100-150'. I like to make a low fly by first to kind of make sure the deer and wild turkeys get out of the way before I come in to land. I was prepared for the thermo up draft at the end how ever I was not ready for the down draft about 300' over the strip. I did fine and got it back up with out touching the ground and thought that it was a fluke. After cleaning my shorts out I dicided to make another pass with out landing just to see....samething happened, I decided to wait til another day. I know i will have to master that at some point to be able to use my strip and maybe if I get into the gound effect it won't happen but will wait until it's just 12-15 kt with out the gust.
 
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