Plans and back-up plans

Today was supposed to be sunny and warm, so I'd planned to fly. My plane's been sitting over at the repair shop for almost a week now, waiting for me to fly it out of there. But alas, the winds today were gusting over 25 knots.

Still, the winds were almost down the center-line of the runway. I remembered a conversation I'd had last time I was at the airport with an old fellow who used to fly Navy carrier planes and he'd said that as long as it was a headwind, you could always take off and land.

Well why not? If he says that I can do it...

Just to be on the safe side, I called my "common sense lifeline", aka the head flight instructor at the airport. I put the question to him. Still my call, he said, but he had just canceled classes set up for a couple of commercial pilots due to the winds, and he said that he personally would not try to fly a Cessna 172 in those winds.

Then I recalled that my carrier pilot friend was flying significantly more capable aircraft and had a lot more training than I have.

So the million-dollar questions arose: Is it worth possibly bending the airplane up just for a flight that I really don't need to make? And if I did, could I convince my insurance carrier that it wasn't negligence on my part to fly under those conditions?

Damn, I hate it when common sense gets in the way of stuff that I really want to do. The plane's still at the repair shop as I write this. Maybe a dawn launch might work tomorrow before the winds pick up again.

So instead of flying, I took two friends to the dog park.

And they ran their paws off playing with each other and two dozen other dogs.
A good time was had by all.

And now they're both crashed out while I contemplate cooking and enjoying dinner in peace. Got some burgers, got the grill on the deck, got beer. Life's good.