May 2004 – Our Dumb Blog

Who says I can’t fly in the rain?

Thu 27 May 2004

I’m not exactly sure why Joanna thought I wasn’t allowed to fly in the rain… Around here I need 3 miles of visibility, and I have to stay 500 feet below, 1000 feet above and 2000 feet horizontally from all clouds. I also need 3 miles of visibility. The ceilings were above 12,000 feet, there was better than 10 miles visibility, and light rain today. We flew. Actually, D. didn’t think I could fly either. “I dunno about the weather,” he told me. By now I’d already bicycled there. I’d gotten a weather brief. The briefer said, yes, there was…

Oh, where, oh, where has he gone?

Thu 27 May 2004

It’s 8 p.m., and I have no idea where my husband is. He can’t have gone far. I came home to find him and his bike missing. This isn’t unusual… they both disappear quite often to go flying. (Well, Berck goes flying. The bike stays on the ground.) But it’s raining today. Berck can’t fly in the rain yet. We only have one phone between us, and Berck supposedly has it. I got online and asked Nathan to call Berck’s phone. Berck didn’t answer, so Nathan left a voice mail. I’m guessing Berck and his instructor are doing things that…

Day to Day Sleeplessness

Wed 26 May 2004

I have an unfortunate tendency to stay up quite late. “Around here.. we stay up very, very late…” (Counting Crows) I get involved with something, don’t notice that I’m getting tired, and soon it’s 4am. And then I sleep until it’s afternoon. And then I stay up even later, and so on. Left to my own devices, I tend to go to bed when the sun comes up and get up late afternoon. Unfortunately, the rest of the world seems to be very morning-centric. Lately I’ve been flying in the afternoon. But Jonah works. And I when I can’t sleep,…

Cross-country flights that don’t.

Mon 24 May 2004

While I was dutifully studying for the private pilot written exam, my telephone rang. D. wanted me to plan a cross-country flight to Shawnee (SNL), then Paul’s Valley (PVJ) and then back to OUN. “Get the weather, plan it, and we’ll fly it.” I downloaded a standard weather briefing for the route from Duats, skimmed the OKC TAF, and a few local METARs which indicated that it would be getting a bit more cloudy, but the ceiling would stay pretty high. Winds were around 20 knots and were supposed to stay that way. I jotted down the winds aloft forecast…

Solo II

Sun 23 May 2004

Jonah’s been feeling bad all day, and has spent most of the day in bed with a headache. My phone battery died and I didn’t notice until about 6pm. When I replaced it, there was a message from my instructor, which he’d left at 4:30, saying “There’s no wind! Call me!” I called him even though it was now much later, and he told me to meet him at the airport so we could practice my landings. The wind had picked up to about 15knots, and it was still ridiculously hot even though it was evening. After doing the engine…

Month: May 2004

Who says I can’t fly in the rain?

Oh, where, oh, where has he gone?

Day to Day Sleeplessness

Cross-country flights that don’t.

Solo II