Update

I finally got 2 flights in this week for the first time in I don't know how long. Was out of town for a week last week and had a string of bad wind in the afternoon. I flew Monday... and did ok, but had a couple of not-so-hot landings. I was pretty discouraged. I flew yesterday and had 8 in a row that were perfectly safe and acceptable.. that's a very good sign. I just need to demonstrate that consistency before I can solo and move on. God knows I have likely made a lifetime of crappy landings already, so maybe I am over the hump. I need to evaluate the finances after I solo. If the cross country work is as challenging as the pre-solo work, I may be in trouble. For now though, feeling good. I am glad the CFI told me at the outset that this would be hard. If he had told me it would be easy, I would have quit 2 months ago.

May as well be in Idaho Falls

This is what I have been dealing with for the last couple of weeks or longer. Cancelled more flights than I did all last winter. Times are Zulu so subtract 7 hours. Line 3 says that from 1900 (noon) winds will be from the northwest at 24 knots, gusting to 35knots. That won't change until line 4 kicks in at 11:00 tonight. 1 knot equals 1.15 mph.

TAFBOI TAF KBOI 141132Z 141212 30008KT P6SM VCSH SCT030 OVC045
FM1600 31015KT P6SM SCT040 BKN060
FM1900 32024G35KT P6SM BKN060
FM0500 32012KT P6SM SCT060 BKN100=

SSDD

I flew Monday and did fairly well after the first one. Still close to solo. I will likely not get to fly until next week because of scheduling issues.

Wind, broken plane

Windy yesterday.. didn't fly. Broken plane today. No fly. Next chance is Monday.

weather and marginal landings

We tried on Monday. Gusty winds. Fought for them all. No solo. Today--no flying. Lousy weather. Try again tomorrow.

que sera sera

No solo yesterday. My flying was not quite "on." By the end I was doing great again, but the week and a half off showed at that start. A really crappy day at work didn't help. CFI likes to do 2 or 3 landings. Then a couple solo. I wasn't ready until about 5 or 6. Pilots like to stick to patterns...and will tell you that when they deviate, things always go awry. We were out of his pattern. After the first couple, I knew it wasn't in the cards. My son, Alex, was standing there when we got done, hoping I had made it. Very nice of him. He said he watched my approach and landing from the end of the runway. Very cool. Hopefully next week. I know I can do this when the time is right.

Four Strong Winds...

...that blow lonely (Ian Tyson). Too windy again today.

29017G27KT

Translated winds from 290 degrees at 17 knots gusting to 27 knots

Trying again on Thursday.