Cross winds and grouchy me

So following on from the last post, I said I’d let you know what I decided to do.
It wasn’t an easy decision. I was kind of hoping that the winds would make the decision for me as I was still having a hard time gauging how sick I felt.

The winds looked sucky 15 gusting 25 knots @ 260°. These figures are sucky for all kinds of reasons. First thing, those are reasonably strong winds but not impossibly so, hard to make a firm decision just based on the numbers. They are also pretty much straight down the runway, so no nasty crosswind to factor in.

Bob, in an attempt to force me to develop some decision making skills, left the call down to me. You see at the start it was easy. If Bob said it was safe to fly, then flying we went. Now I need to figure out how to make the call.

That in itself is very hard for me. I know that I am hyper conservative, but at the same time I know that I need to push my limits enough so that if I do find myself caught out by less than ideal conditions, I can cope. So basically I’m left with “challenging but not impossible, your call”

After texts from Bob and discussions with RTH, these are the thoughts that went through my head

·         I’m still not feeling 100% but I think I’m well enough to fly

·         The conditions are challenging

·         I think that a tough lesson would frustrate me rather than provide a meaningful challenge at the moment

·         I don’t want to destroy my newly gained confidence

·         I don’t want to pay $300+ to have a crappy time

·         I’m worried that I should be pushing my limits more – so maybe I should fly

·         I hate cancelling lessons

·         Bob wouldn’t let me fly in dangerous stuff

·         If I fly and I’m not well, will that push back my 100% recovery?

·         Someone please decide for me!!!!!!

Long story short, I called it off. I think I made the right decision. Bob texted me to say he thought it was the right choice. I’ve just looked at the current winds and they are 18 gusting 23 knots with a 15 knot gusting crosswind. Nasty nasty stuff. I’m happy I did the right thing.

I recall this phrase from somewhere “better to be on the ground wishing you were in the air than in the air wishing you were on the ground!’

So true but not flying leaves me grouchy!

As an end note, two days after I was meant to fly. I'm still not feeling right. Have a hacking cough that I'm sure would sound great to ATC over the radio