Finally got an opportunity to get in the air on Saturday, April fools day. We've had a really windy spring so far, not much flying lately. Saturday was forecast to start the day with winds out of the southeast at about 8 mph and shift south with the wind building to 15 mph +.
I arrived at the Texas City dike about 8:45 a.m. with the clouds still pretty thick, and the bottom layer at about 2,500 feet. Several pilots were there already and more started to arrive as I launched for the first of two flights.
The first flight was about 45 minutes and uneventful, just some nice flying, chasing pelicans around as the wind continued to build.
About 10:45 am the clouds started to break up. I quickly re-fueled and launched determined to fly up through a break in the clouds and get some nice photos. I checked the altimeter watch and saw I was climbing about 300 feet per minute straight into a south wind blowing at about 15 mph. When I reached 2,600 feet I made a 180 to fly with the wind. My GPS read 44 mph with the wind at my back. I made it about 3/4 the way to the north end of the levee and turned again 180. I was now above the clouds at about 3,300 feet. I snapped some photos and took a glance at the GPS. The speed indicated 0.0 mph, which meant I was flying into about a 25 mph head wind. I quickly stowed the camera and let the trim tabs all the way out and pulled a B line stall to lose some altitude. The wind decreased some as I descended and I was now penetrating forward at about 3 mph. I thought to myself "Whew, looks like I'll make it back to the LZ". I made it down and then did a few low passes pulling left and right wing overs while Andy McAvin put on a show for the onlookers. It was a fine day of flying but maybe next time I'll keep an eye on the winds above a little closer.
CP.
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