Springing

Low clouds and high winds took out my two students for today, but that was okay because I ended up catching up on a good amount of other work that needed done around here.

I've just been in contact with the ABS (American Bonanza Society) guys about the Spring formation clinic, and it will be in April, which is only about a month away. This kind of excites me, as one of the first harbingers of Spring. This will be the...fourth? fifth? year that we've hosted them in Nathan's hangars. I've said it before, and I'll say it again. This group of pilots is professional, takes the formation clinic very seriously, is highly organized, and when weather permits, they will fit in 4-5 sorties per day, mixing up two-ship, three-ship and four-ship flights depending on your experience level and needs, with a full groundschool on Friday and part of Saturday morning. They do full pre-briefs and post-briefs. They make sure everyone gets flights in constantly-there is no sitting around and watching other groups fly, there is no arranging sorties yourself ahead of time with people you don't even know yet or you'll be out of luck. The warbird group(s) tend to poke fun at the "Spam Can" formation groups, but I'll tell you what--that "spam can" group is far more organized and professional than the warbird clinics I've seen thus far. I look forward to having them come to OKK in a month or so here. :)

Speaking of Spring, I really enjoyed the thunderstorms last night. Although we did end up with a lot of flooding in the area from it, hearing the rain pour down and the thunder roll was actually quite soothing. Besides, I'll take flying in thunderstorm season over icing season any time. I can go around storms...ice is just a deal-breaker. I don't like deal breakers. ;) Glenndale will dry out one of these days, and then we've got some taildraggers to break out, man. Let's go!