Patience

I'll be the first to say that teaching or learning in May in northern Arizona has its downfalls. 1st is the insain time at which you have to get out of bed after working all week just to get in a few flights before the wind turns on or the thermals come out and scare the @#$%^& out of ya. Then there is the weather liars. Yesterday classic example of how evened trained professionals with years of school get it wrong. Its sad because they are usually correct when it comes to the wind. It was supposed to be light winds a good change as it has been the windiest spring I can remember. My student Greg and I set up on the north side of Sheba in a 10-15 mile an hour breeze with hopes of him getting his first soaring flight. BEWARE Murphy and his infamous Law are always at the hill. The second Greg finished hooking in the nice soarable breeze gave way to a 25-30 mile an hour wind that sent us to the truck and down the hill. The moral of the story is don't get discouraged! No matter how bad Greg wanted to fly and how much I wanted him to get his first long flight we have to remember one thing that I think all pilots have a hard time with. If we were meant to be out there we would have been born with feathers and wings, so don't get discouraged when the weather doesn't work out. Greg and I drove down to the mailbox LZ and kited for a good 45 min in a very demanding breeze which I feel taught him more than 20 minutes sitting in a seat pulling on those little strings. We had a good time and came home with a smile on our face and all our goods where they belong. Don't get discouraged because when its good and we get that flight that lasts for hours we realize how special it is when mother nature lets us ground bound bipeds take to the sky.