They aren't kidding, today.
When we took off out of Kokomo this morning the winds were already gusting up to 23 knots. Grissom routed us way over by Lafayette because of their "hot" (active) Military Operating Area (MOA). We saw groundspeeds of 83-93 knots, numbers that I have Never seen so low on that airplane straight and level. We get routed around all over the place, we finally get clear and headed towards our airport, and the controller calls out that the MOA is cold now. Good grief.
We were routed all over for airspace and for traffic (typical Chicago), and we were tossed around in turbulence like an angry child was shaking a toy. As we descended into Chicago Executive airport, the turbulence got worse, until both the student and I just started laughing at the ridiculousness of it. I had my seatbelt as tight as it would go, and I felt like I needed to check some of my fillings in my teeth. Best sustained turbulence I've seen in years. You couldn't even change frequencies or hit any buttons in there, because you couldn't hold your hand still long enough to get it close, and the plane would just go wherever it was tossed, and you'd wrestle it back. I could have used sports safety equipment... I quit laughing as it was time to come in to land, considering their weather reporting on field was warning about potential Low Level Wind Shear, which is not very funny. They routed us in on the ILS for a landing on Runway 16, when the winds were from 250 gusting upwards of 30 knots. That's a direct crosswind, with a very large gust factor (over 20 knot gust factor at times, meaning the winds went from 17 up to 37 in a flicker, which like I said, is a lot), so I said no thanks, and requested a circle to land Runway 24, which was much better. ;) There was a Cirrus who landed before us who said he got plenty of turbulence but no wind shear. Good deal, we're next. Student did a fantastic job, and I just helped a little at the end. That was a pretty hard core flight on multiple levels for someone new. I was hoping to get my kidneys back in place before our trip home, as we now have winds gusting up over 40 knots on the ground. At least if we're lucky we'll have more of a tailwind this direction!
While waiting to come home today I was reading an aviation newsletter, and saw the following blurb: "TSA outreach program to target general aviation airfields"
"The Transportation Security Administration is launching an outreach program to share best practices. The agency says it hopes to visit at least 30% of general aviation airfields this year as part of the mission." Oh, great, the TSA hopes to visit all our little airports to "share" the best practices for airfield security. If they make it out to little ole us, this ought to be good.
When we took off out of Kokomo this morning the winds were already gusting up to 23 knots. Grissom routed us way over by Lafayette because of their "hot" (active) Military Operating Area (MOA). We saw groundspeeds of 83-93 knots, numbers that I have Never seen so low on that airplane straight and level. We get routed around all over the place, we finally get clear and headed towards our airport, and the controller calls out that the MOA is cold now. Good grief.
We were routed all over for airspace and for traffic (typical Chicago), and we were tossed around in turbulence like an angry child was shaking a toy. As we descended into Chicago Executive airport, the turbulence got worse, until both the student and I just started laughing at the ridiculousness of it. I had my seatbelt as tight as it would go, and I felt like I needed to check some of my fillings in my teeth. Best sustained turbulence I've seen in years. You couldn't even change frequencies or hit any buttons in there, because you couldn't hold your hand still long enough to get it close, and the plane would just go wherever it was tossed, and you'd wrestle it back. I could have used sports safety equipment... I quit laughing as it was time to come in to land, considering their weather reporting on field was warning about potential Low Level Wind Shear, which is not very funny. They routed us in on the ILS for a landing on Runway 16, when the winds were from 250 gusting upwards of 30 knots. That's a direct crosswind, with a very large gust factor (over 20 knot gust factor at times, meaning the winds went from 17 up to 37 in a flicker, which like I said, is a lot), so I said no thanks, and requested a circle to land Runway 24, which was much better. ;) There was a Cirrus who landed before us who said he got plenty of turbulence but no wind shear. Good deal, we're next. Student did a fantastic job, and I just helped a little at the end. That was a pretty hard core flight on multiple levels for someone new. I was hoping to get my kidneys back in place before our trip home, as we now have winds gusting up over 40 knots on the ground. At least if we're lucky we'll have more of a tailwind this direction!
While waiting to come home today I was reading an aviation newsletter, and saw the following blurb: "TSA outreach program to target general aviation airfields"
"The Transportation Security Administration is launching an outreach program to share best practices. The agency says it hopes to visit at least 30% of general aviation airfields this year as part of the mission." Oh, great, the TSA hopes to visit all our little airports to "share" the best practices for airfield security. If they make it out to little ole us, this ought to be good.
I ran Kaylee to the library to pick up some new reading material. I didn't want to go to the library, and at first I said no, but good grief, I know what it's like to be out of reading material, and that's just no good at all. ;)
A quick stop for chili dogs for dinner, a stop at the post office, a little bit of going over Kaylee's math for a test tomorrow, and I could go to bed right about now!
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