This morning the weather was questionable. The area briefings suggested the clouds should go away between 8 and 10 am, anytime from the start of my lesson to the end. Real helpful, huh? We decided to delay until 9am and try to fit in an hour of pattern work.
I arrived at the airport early enough to finish the preflight before Gene arrived so we’d be ready to go. However, the clouds were still hanging around 700 feet. We took advantage of the time to go over some pattern traffic details, like what to do when someone pulls out on the runway when you’re on final, or if there’s a deer, cow, coyote, truck, or other object in the way. Also, how close is too close when there’s incoming traffic and you’re waiting to take off.
We spent about half an hour talking and went to check the weather again. It wasn’t getting any better, and it didn’t look like it was going to until much later, so we just called it a day. It wasn’t entirely a wasted trip, since the information we covered will be useful for every flight. Plus, I always enjoy riding my motorcycle to and from the airport.