I was on the schedule to fly at 1030L this morning. My CFI sent me a text message: “try to get to the airport a little early and we can get a flight in before the weather moves in.” My response was simple, “I’ll call the weather briefer and then I’ll be on my way.”

I was nervous the first couple of times that I called the flight service, but then I got the hang of it, so I don’t get nervous anymore. It’s like talking with ATC, no reason to be nervous, they’re there to help you. Plus, when I call the briefer and tell them my plans for the flight, I say things like “staying within 30 miles of the airport, going to the practice area to do some student pilot training” or something like that. They deal with student pilots every day.

The weather briefing was not promising. An occluded front was passing through and wind gusts were going to be jumping up over the max within two hours. Wind sheer was a problem at the moment but that would have subsided before my flight time, turbulence was moderate below 12000, but visibility to the west was down to 3 miles and lower and the system was moving east.

Looking outside it looked fine, but it wasn’t going to be fine for very long. My gut told me not to fly today. I had a hunch my CFI was letting me make the call.

My text message response to him: “My comfort level says it’s dicey. Am I being overly cautious?”

His reply, “Nope, not at all. Your call … good job!”

My response back: “Crap. I was afraid of that. *grin* I want to fly dammit! Let’s hope for tomorrow.”

So no flight today. However, there’s ground school tonight and we will be covering the weather services and such, so the timing of this is perfect for tonight’s discussion.

While I was really eager to fly today I just knew that while conditions looked favorable at the moment, it wasn’t going to last. Winds were shortly well over the max for crosswind landings, so I know I made the right decision.

I’m more eager to become an old, old pilot.