Actually sat down and watched the entire 1:20 video covering Google's new Wave thingy... and was very impressed. Looking forward to the future of the web. One step closer to the thin client operating system that I wish existed.

Sadly, no invite yet.

The solo still eludes me, or, how I hate the weather.

On my way down for a weekend in Albuquerque, I stopped by the Santa Fe airport for my first flight lesson in almost a month. Now that it is getting dark earlier, I can't fly after work so my flying is restricted to weekends. This month has been a busy one for Michael, so we haven't been able to schedule anything until now.

The sky was clear, but the wind was pretty strong. We did a bunch of pattern work (15 circuits of the pattern in total), but the wind was really variable and it wasn't appropriate weather for a solo so we put it off. I did get to practice a bunch of tailwind landings and some crosswind as well. I felt really comfortable up there; it was nice to see that a month off hadn't resulted in me forgetting everything.

We scheduled another appointment for the following day, which came right at the end of my Albuquerque weekend. This time, the winds were much more cooperative and I had high hopes for soloing. There was some virga and cumulus cloud action in the nearby Sangres, but the air over the airport was clear with light winds.

My first four landings were great, and Michael said something about doing a few more and he'd cut me loose for the solo. Like clockwork, the tower called up and informed us that the wind was shifting and that it was now blowing 19 knots, gusting to 29 knots! Gah!

We switched runways to accommodate the new wind direction and did a series of high-wind landings waiting to see if it would calm back down. It did not.

The wind was so variable that we had to switch runways again, making this the first time I've used all three runways at SAF in a single flight. Eventually we decided to just land and wait around awhile and see if things got calmer.

Walked over to a hangar where Larry was doing the 100-hour on one of the Sierra Aviation 172s. Got to see an uncowled engine up close. We also walked around one of the Apache helicopters that was parked on the ramp. For whatever reason, there were about two dozen Apaches and Blackhawks parked in neat rows all over the north ramp. Never been up close to them before; it was an interesting walk-around. After a half hour of wasting time, we decided the weather wasn't improving. The storm seemed to be growing in strength and getting slightly closer to Santa Fe, so we bailed for the day.

Unfortunately, due to further scheduling oddities, I won't be flying again for at least two more weeks. Someday, I'll solo.

Update:

Michael sent me an email in which he included the hourly weather reports for SAF over the past 18 hours. I've excerpted the time and wind speed sections here:

0353Z 07KT 
0253Z 11G17KT 
0153Z 10KT
0053Z 09KT
2353Z 15G21KT
2253Z 20G24KT
2153Z 04KT
2053Z 00KT
1953Z 04KT
1853Z 00KT
1753Z 05KT
1653Z 10KT
1553Z 00KT
1453Z 03KT
1353Z 00KT
1253Z 06KT
1153Z 06KT
1053Z 05KT

It was essentially calm all day, with the highest reported wind being 10 knots. In the four hours before I flew, the highest wind was 4 knots. As soon as I start flying, it jumps to 20 gusting to 24, and stays gusty for two hours. What the hell.

I know some of my pilot friends were worried that my CFI was milking me for extra money by dragging out my training process. But seriously, this is the sort of weather baloney I've been dealing with for some time now.

Monopoles! Suck it, Maxwell.

According to the 2000 census...

Williams is the third most common surname in the United States, after Smith and Johnson.

Richard is the seventh most common first name for males in the United States, after James, John, Robert, Michael, William, and David. (Humorously, I have uncles named John, Robert, Michael, and David...)

Mouser, on the other hand, is the 11,334^th most common first name in the United States (and the 9,811^st most common surname). I wonder if there are any Mouser Mousers? If so, they're probably somehow related to Chinchilla Zest...