View Full Version : Bleedin' weather
stickandrudderman
2nd Jul 2007, 18:17
Just felt like saying that!:*
Gertrude the Wombat
2nd Jul 2007, 18:27
Too right.
I'm already telling people that my plans to fly to a family party on 29 July are almost certain to be cancelled due to the weather.
Nah, it'll be all right.
In the spring, the Met Office were saying that all the signs for a long, hot, dry summer were in place.
A couple of days ago they revised this to report that their current opinion was that the wind and rain would continue for the next few months.
Shorts, sunnies and flip-flops from next weekend it is, then. :ok:
proctor
2nd Jul 2007, 19:09
I need to say it too: BLOODY WEATHER!
That feels slightly better.
J.A.F.O.
2nd Jul 2007, 19:57
AAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH H!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :(:(:(:(:
You're right, letting it out helps - a bit.
modelman
2nd Jul 2007, 20:16
Thought when I got my licence last year that flying would be regulated by wallet not this crap weather.:{
MM
Kerosine
2nd Jul 2007, 20:24
Take a holiday to some far flung destination where the weather's better, that might help your bulging wallet problem along with giving you more opportunity to fly.. perfect
:ok:
BackPacker
2nd Jul 2007, 20:48
My flying club has five slots for the Duxford show coming weekend. One of which is for me, VFR in the DA-40. Not sure we're going to make it... Can't afford to be fogged in or something on Sunday. :(
davidatter708
2nd Jul 2007, 20:52
Ive got to stay in current and im off on holiday in a week :*
Dave
Fuji Abound
2nd Jul 2007, 20:55
The weather has been poor, but not that poor.
I was flying on Friday, Sunday and today. (Saturday was best avoided mind you!)
Today was good enough for VFR beneath and at 4,000 it was blue skies above.
The wind strength puts off more than a few and as ever it is worth investing in an IMCR or IR, however when the aiports are quite, the flying if often good, and if you are not happy with the conditions it is a perfect opportunity to go off with an instructor - all their lessons will have been cancelled, all the booked aircraft will no longer be booked and you will enjoy the experience.
Blueskyrich
2nd Jul 2007, 21:35
Recently back from the US from an hour-building trip and all days bar one very stressful and eventful day was a blue sky affair. Has been a bit different since I arrived back.
Got to get another 20-odd hours in over the next month and I've got an aircraft booked for tomorrow to start. I may be a bit rusty with UK forecasting procedures, but I'm pretty sure that tomorrow isn't looking that likely... :(
A small high may turn up later in the week though so it may not all be lost yet for this week.
WildDart
2nd Jul 2007, 21:41
I have to agree, down here every day has been cross winds from the coast!, so no flying for months for me!
Furthermore we are meant to have a good summer, starting mid/late july, which is great timing due to my summer hoilday starts, so until then i've got my fingers crossed and hope for 1 month of sunny weather so i can enjoy flying to the max!
neilmac
3rd Jul 2007, 01:36
I am spoilt at my airfield so went up and did some IF approaches to stay current and a bit of practice!!
Dont worry just around the corner will be the hosepipe ban and eco peeps reminding us about global warming.
I find having a rant about the weather then sitting in a dark room calms you down..................if you dont mind the patter of rain on the window!
:rolleyes:
NM
It is my fault.
Last Wednesday I bought some astronomy binoculars, (they are huge and really powerfull) and it has rained since!
I reckon I have had about an hours use out of them, last wed night/thurs morning at around 0230 it was clear for a bit. Has been cloudy and rainy since.
I should send them back, you watch then the sun will come out and clouds disapear....... :ugh:
proctor
3rd Jul 2007, 06:35
It is my fault.
Nope. Our neighbours bought a huge blow-up swimming pool just over a week ago, and they've got about half an hour's use out of it. I blame them.
waldopepper42
3rd Jul 2007, 07:58
Just tried shouting "bl@@diing weather" at everyone in the street outside, and you're right - it made me feel better. Not too sure it helped everyone around me in the office though....
Last month I bought a share in a very nice single seat permit aircraft (IMC not allowed - no instruments) and the weather has been lousy ever since. Can't wait to play with the new toy, and getting more and more and more frustrated....:( :*
Thinking of taking up flower collecting or butterfly pressing....
Hamish 123
3rd Jul 2007, 08:14
Got my PPL in February, hardly having missed a booked lesson over the previous 18 months due to weather.
Since then . . . . I've had to cancel week after week. My currency is shot to pieces. I'm meant to have a regular 28 day check with the flying school (dream on), and I have a six month check coming up as well.
I've managed 3 hours since February.
Obviously, flying in Northen Europe, the weather is a constant challenge, but this is ridiculous!
J.A.F.O.
3rd Jul 2007, 08:51
It could be my fault, I bought a new garden hose the weekend before last.
I've not unwrapped it yet.
Obviously, flying in Northen Europe, the weather is a constant challenge, but this is ridiculous!
The trick is to be able to get up there during the week when there is a window in the weather. Even a 1hr flight once a week does wonders for currency - it's far more than most PPLs do.
ChampChump
3rd Jul 2007, 09:24
One grabs the odd local flight, but the sense of triumph, after much waiting around and trying various psychological tricks on the weather gods, is heavily moderated by the frustration of not being where one should be: roughly in the middle of the annual tour de France....
Indeed, I repeat: bloody weather.:{:ugh:
Slopey
3rd Jul 2007, 09:37
You should try it up here. For the last 3/4 weeks the few good days we've had have been blighted by a wall of harr sitting on the coast - which happens to be 2 of the 3 VFR exit/entry lanes. Inland is clear of harr, but with a cloud base of circa 1500-2k feet for the last 2 weeks, and some big hills, it gets fiddly.
Today just sums it up - lovely, bright, hardly a breeze, SCT012TCU - nuts, and a TAF which looks like the world is going to end - or at least I'm going to get very wet.
With work et al (even given that I can sneak off when wx permits), keeping any semeblance of currency is a nightmare :(
Tell me about it! I was planning to have my skills test in May, except then between the end of April and the end of May I didn't get any flying done.
So I was planning to have it in June, except then I hardly got any flying done.
My exams expire at the end of July, except I've not got any flying done and it doesn't look too good for this weekend either.
In the inestimable words of Mr. Flanders and Mr. Swann:-
January brings the snow
Makes your feet and fingers glow
February's Ice and sleet
Freeze the toes right off your feet
Welcome March with wintry wind
Would thou wer't not so unkind
April brings the sweet spring showers
On and on for hours and hours
Farmers fear unkindly May
Frost by night and hail by day
June just rains and never stops
Thirty days and spoils the crops
In July the sun is hot
Is it shining? No, it's not
August cold, and dank, and wet
Brings more rain than any yet
Bleak September's mist and mud
Is enough to chill the blood
Then October adds a gale
Wind and slush and rain and hail
Dark November brings the fog
Should not do it to a dog
Freezing wet December then:
Bloody January again!
DBisDogOne
5th Jul 2007, 14:15
Take heart Dop, the trick is to make certain your CFI/Examiner knows you are primed and ready to drop everything and do your skills test as soon as there's a half day wx window. If this means bunking off work, C'est la vie. I'm lucky in that being someone who works shifts it was easier, but my CFI knew how desperate I was to complete and made himself available whenever there was a possibility of going for it.
It worked for me, After a couple of false starts :ugh:(the usual story, it was fine at my place, the forecast was OK, you get to the field, start planning and the wx closes in.... arse x10) we got the skills test in one go in a morning. Ironically, the next day, I went back to the club to finish some paperwork, once done, I joined several of the instructors in the clubhouse bar, 'congratulations' they said, along with 'You are one lucky :mad: with the weather' comments as we looked out across the runway with the rain hitting the window horizontally and the windsock attempting take-off!! It turned out to be the only day suitable for the next ten or so, so grab the opportunity when you can if at all possible, if you have a decent boss, chat to him/her about it, they may be sympathetic and let you dump work at short notice (if you don't have a decent boss, disregard this advice and pull a sickie).
The only other thing to do is 'Chair-fly', go through landing/take-off chks, HASSEL/HELL chks, stall configs and recovery, any procedures etc., yes, you will look and feel like a total tw@t doing it (so do it in private ;)) but believe me, it really helps when you aren't actually airbourne. It works for the RAF, they encourage this practice.