“Check out the photos on the camera” I told my wife as we pulled out of the California Airways parking lot.

My alarm starts screaming. I stand up out of bed, walk to the dresser to turn it off. I’ve never woken up well with alarms, placing my phone across the room forces me out of bed, greatly increasing the probability that I’ll wake up. It’s miserable. My eyes sting from tiredness.

I’ve fallen a bit behind on my flight-related writing recently. Believe it or not, blogging tends to fall lower on the priority list than things like sleeping or eating.

After my less than desirable landing performance the day prior, I set out this past Sunday to get some needed practice on my own. Since I’m cleared for solo pattern work at the field, what better way to start a Sunday than with some circuits?

After a brief hiatus, this past Saturday my instructor and I embarked on the next part of my flight training: cross-country flying. Up until now, everything has been within 20-30nm (nautical miles) from Hayward (KHWD). I originally planned a flight up to Santa Rosa, but an airshow this weekend caused me to look for alternative destinations.

With increasingly foggy and overcast weekday mornings, my flight instructor and I have had a few missed lessons due to clouds. This past Tuesday he decided to file an IFR (Instrument Flight Rules) flight plan to get us out of Hayward and to another part of the region with clearer skies.

After a completely stressful week filled with project deadlines and a summons for jury duty, this past Saturday I finally managed to get back up into the air. Like the weekend before it, which I neglected to blog about, I was flying in yet another plane in the California Airways fleet. With a couple planes of the fleet in for annual maintenance, the only bird available was 733PV

Wiping the crud from my sleepy 6am eyes, I shut off my alarm and grab my tablet off the nightstand. As is becoming increasingly common, my days are starting with weather before I even leave the bed. I open up the forecast for Hayward: clear skies, winds at 0 knots.

After almost ten days of foggy mornings and scheduling mishaps, I was finally able to get back up into the air this morning, in 738VU. Unfortunately the Ugly Duckling has been having its annual maintenance done for the past week, leaving the California Airways fleet one plane short, and forcing yours truly into a less welcoming bird.

Thus far I’ve never received a dual lesson with my instructor on a Sunday, as it’s his only day off. Today we managed to get up in the air on a Sunday afternoon for some instruction covering steep turns, stall recovery and spin prevention.