Wednesday September 06, 2006

Extraordinarily fickle weather. We check the weather forecast a few times a day, and it rarely (except for wind direction) seems to match what's actually out there. Even more odd is the range of different weather occurring within just the area we can see. One side of the sky is dark and brooding, the other relatively clear. Then it reverses. An hour later a fierce thunderstorm may drop 3 inches of rain in an hour, yet 2 miles away it's dry. Trying to schedule the end of this trip is tough.

After observing the speed with which the weather changes near the coast, we've decided to change the staging point from Summerville. The reason is time. The flight from Summerville to the USS Yorktown will take between 45 and 60 minutes. Around here that seems to be a lifetime weather-wise. Although conditions for the carrier landing may be good when I lift off, that may change in an hour. The shorter the time between lift-off and landing, the better.

After surveying the sectional, East Cooper (LRO) jumper out as the logical choice. It's only a 20 minute flight, greatly increasing the odds that the weather will stay the same. If it does change it's only a 20 minute flight back. Sounds good.

Originally I'd planned on flying to East Cooper tomorrow morning, but after an early evening test flight unexpectedly showed winds aloft of 10 to 15mph, I decided to go for it.

Tomorrow we'll consult the forecasts again, our ouija board, perhaps read some tea leaves and tarot cards, and try to nail down a landing date of the carrier landing.