My flight instructor was prepared to send me solo today, but the weather wasn’t cooperating. Winds were at 12 kts (about 14 mph), gusting to 20 kts (23 mph) roughly 20 degrees off the runway. There’s a line of trees west of the runway which was causing some interesting turbulence right around the 1,000 ft mark which is where we want to touch down.
We spent some time practicing maneuvers before coming back for pattern work. The first landing was ok. The second was more than a little scary. After we got airborne again, a flock of birds decided to use the same airspace we were in. There wasn’t much we could do. We were fortunate that the flock broke up and none of the scattering birds hit us.
We had to come around for a third and it was just about perfect. That’s when we decided to count our blessings and call it quits.
It looks like it will be a couple of weeks before I can get back in the air, but if the weather is good, I’ll finally get to solo.