Down wishin' I wuz up

[Ed_Wischmeyer]

So Thursday, I spent six hours sweating in the hangar, helping a man load up and waterproof (with tarps) a set of ultralight wings he bought from the EAA chapter. Yesterday, I was completely wiped out and missed the 10 AM break in the weather, having decided I'd rather sleep at home than in the airplane in flight. A really good call.

This morning, up early to get going before the thunderstorms got their second cup of coffee. Did that, however, the morning fog decided to sleep in -- 200 and a quarter as I write this.

And big storms blocking the route to Oshkosh, too. The one just north of Atlanta is moving ESE at 40 knots, and another storm a few hundred miles west is moving at 50 knots. FSS confirms that shooting the gap, wide as it is, is a really bad idea. And if I did make it through, I'd have 30 knots of headwind heading north, on the nose. Being instrument rated and current isn't going to help much today.

So maybe in a few hours, I'll head off towards, say, Raleigh-Durham area, then zig west to get past the weather that's supposed to come to visit for a while in Indianapolis. Hopefully I'll be able to get far enough west so that I won't be stuck somewhere for a few days.

Driving is a two day pain, especially going through that storm. And there are two reasons for really wanting the plane at Oshkosh. But I might get desperate and burn some airline miles, dunno.

Life would be so much sweeter if Van would only decide to build a 250 knot, twin turbine airplane. I wouldn't need six seats, two would do. And I could actually afford the gas for it, too, maybe five hours per year...

[snopercod]

Yeah, what's with this weather in the SE, anyway? I've lived here for 19 years and don't recall thunderstorms every flippin' day. Like you, it's really hampering my flying. Maybe I should just do my condition inspection a little early?

[1001001]

Originally Posted by snopercod

Yeah, what's with this weather in the SE, anyway? I've lived here for 19 years and don't recall thunderstorms every flippin' day. Like you, it's really hampering my flying. Maybe I should just do my condition inspection a little early?

Solar minimum -> more cosmic rays reach lower in atmosphere -> more cloud formation -> increased storms? It is a possibility.

This solar minimum is going to be a very low one. The Sun is currently in a very long stretch of 24 days with no sunspots. See spaceweather.com for more info.

[BillL]

OVC011 from here to OSH. Just heard on live ATC at Fisk the first official arrival to airventure 2018. Pretty quiet on that frequency. I am 1.9 from Phase II and 1.1hrs from OSH. Just one good day . . . . or 4 good hours.

I just heard a plane come over under the layer 1600'.

[M McGraw]

I live in the SE also, Tennessee. My wife and I decided to leave on Thursday and get ahead of the weather. We have the RV in a hangar in Waukesha WI just waiting for Sunday to dry out OSH. The weather has been lots of rain and wind since about midnight Thursday.

We rented a car and went to the Great Lakes Distillery tour and the Harley-Davidson museum. Today we have an Italiana (sp) festival and another museum and the Air and Water show in Milwaukee.

This may be my most expensive Air Venture ever. 😊

[Ed_Wischmeyer]

Looks like the airlines are going to be the winner on this trip. If I were to fly myself, it would be lots of detours and lots of uncertainty. Don't need that!!

But boy is it hard to navigate the web sites to book a trip on miles, let alone find a good car rental. I'll spend more time on the web searching than I will flying...

[grubbat]

At 7am, beautiful morning, nice blue sky's south to Pine Mt, I think I'll make a fuel run. All that talk about bad weather was simply crazy. Walk out the door at 7:55 am and to the south, the rich smooth blue sky. To the north about 1000yds, treetop black clouds......what??? This don't happen here during the summer. Our weather is supposed to be the afternoon buildups, not some squalline in the morning..... am I in Georgia in July? Good grief....

[vic syracuse]

The SE really has been horrible this year. Constant thunderstorms. Usually by this time of the years the grass is beginning to burn out. Not this year. Everything is a lush green.
We made it here to OSH Thursday ahead of the weather, just barely. It has been low hanging with rain on and off since then.
The whole week is supposed to be marvelous though, so be patient and eventually you will get here. A 1 or 2 day delay is nothing that you will remember in the long run. For those who can fly locally, if possible I would go out and practice some cross wind landings. It?s going to be windy here Sunday and Monday, typical of frontal passage up here.

It?s raining here now as I write this, but just remember, OSH isn?t OSH without you here, so take the time to get here safely. Make the journey fun too. 😀

Be safe!

Vic

[Robert Anglin]

It is a bad year for the guys to the east of here. be careful if you are to the east.
we were going to come in on Sat., but looked at the weather early in the week and changed our plan to Thur. That turned out to be a good call, because the rain started about 4:30 locale. The winds are gusty for much of today and tonight. It is suposed to start clearing from the west tomorrow evening. I hope everyone trying to get here Monday and Tues. well be extra carfull as the controlers will be jambed. I would exspect to fine a beg crowd trying to get in around then. We are in HBC for the first time this year and everying there is up and running as of 8:00 AM locale time. See you here if you can come. Yours R.E.A. III #80888

[airguy]

I made the decision on Thursday to push our dates one day further down the line, we're coming in Sunday afternoon now and departing Wednesday. Looks like the weather will be breaking up to clear skies about noon on Sunday.