Weather and Computers, Oh My!

Charlottesville weather happens to be notoriously strange and unpredictable.  I was supposed to fly this afternoon and everything was looking perfect when I went into class at 2pm.  Re-appeared at 3:15 to find clouds everywhere, no-go for flight.  I got grumpy.  I can't fly below a ceiling of about 2000ft if I want to practice take-offs/landings, 3000ft is the limit for "normal" flying.  This is because to fly VFR (visual flight rules) I have to be able to stay a minimum of 500 feet below clouds and 500 feet above ground.  That right there is 1000ft, but you want another 500 feet minimum of maneuvering room.  This past weekend there was broken (about .5-.75 covered) clouds high enough to allow me to fly, but scattered (puffies here and there) around 1000feet.  Made landing rather difficult because I seemed to always line up my turns to the runway when I was going through them.  Needless to say, turbulence ensues.  But, once again, I realized I know how to handle those situations and kept cool and did just fine.  This whole thing might actually turn me into a calm person...go figure.

Another weather aspect I've had to deal with, twice now, is wind.  While wind makes an airplane fly (ok, physics nuts, not entirely, but you get my point), big winds makes flying, well...difficult.  I remember the third or fourth time I went up there was a really strong crosswind and winds in general.  We were *right* below the limit I can fly in, 15knots/10knot crosswind, and were checking the winds even at the end of the runway to make sure we were still legal.  Back then in the olden days, my instructor would take off and nearly immediately hand over the controls.  He had JUST handed over the controls when we went over a ridge and suddenly the wind was coming from every direction, including under us.  We gained 100ft or so of altitude then dropped like a brick right back down.  Quite possibly one of the scarier moments, but Tom pointed out that if I could survive that I could survive any turbulence.  Go figure.  Now, a month and a half later, I got to experience heavy winds again.  I knew it was going to be a day of trouble when we watched a Lightsport plane (think glider with a mini engine) get bounced around trying to land.  Now, landing a plane in winds is difficult, I've found.  End up landing on one wheel at first, then the other, then nose gear.  All while using rudder and ailerons (back steering with feet peddles and ailerons are the wing portions that turn, using the yolk).  And my brother thought I couldn't speak and walk all at the same time...hah!

As for this weekend, apparently the computer scheduling system has hiccuped and people got bumped from schedules and some planes appear full even though their not, so I may or may not fly.  DRAT.  But, the good thing is that I'm first on the list according to the head-man of the place, so once they work everything out, hopefully I'll get a call.

Will be doing some research on Charlottesville's runway tonight while doing some communications (class deals with radio towers and signals and such...flight stuff and that class actually complement each other and I've learned quite a bit about radars/navigation beacons/etc).  Apparently they wanted to construct the runway in a direction where crosswinds would be virtually non-existent, but some politician wanted to save some beetles and they built it the way it is.  She also got blocked from flying in/out once due to crosswinds, so, paybacks are a pain.  Runway post might be next...