I guess I picked the right night to fly

Yesterday was a far better day to fly than today turned out to be. And it's not looking any better for the rest of the week.

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Speaking of flying, here's a screen capture of the record of last nights flight:

It looks like I was flying a nice straight line doesn't it?

I will tell you that the path I flew wasn't quite that straight.

The air traffic control system only "sees" the plane once every few seconds. Hell, sometimes it doesn't see the plane for almost a full minute if there is interference.This means that the system actually extrapolates the position the plane was in for those times it didn't see it. What you are seeing is a refinement of the actual path.

I made the flight back "under the hood" which means I flew using only the instruments because the hood blocked my few out of the windows.

It was the third time I've flown using only instruments and I gotta tell you, it's kind of taxing. Imagine driving a car only looking at a compass, the speedometer & a map and you get an idea of what it's like.

Fortunately the aircraft all have GPS in them so I get to look at that but the GPS doesn't tell me if my wings are level or if I'm climbing/descending. I have to study the gauges to determine that.

Staring at gauges is no fun but it's a skill I need to acquire. Clouds are funny little things that pop up on their schedule and if I end up in one, I'd like to know how to keep my aircraft straight and level.

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As promised, here are some links:

• Ho, ho, ho, dude.



• Key phrase in this story: "...roughly the diameter of golf balls."



• Hey, at least he let her out of the car...



• Huh. She seems like a nice stable woman. I wonder why he dumped her?



• Don't Eat Your Weed is a follow-up to their previous smash hit, Please Shut Up.



• Best line from a judge ever: "Bugs Bunny, the Pink Panther and Dracula walk into a bar."



• Pffftttt.... Rich people....



• I wish someone would go back to the moon.