Too Hot to Fly?
Sunday was another hot day but it did not keep me from going flying. The day was not as nice as Saturday for flying (Sunday was more hazy) but I was aching to go flying. Because of bad weather or travel, I had not gone flying for over a month! Given this and the hazy conditions, I opted to practice landings at West Houston and at Weiser. For the most part, the landings were uneventful except for one landing where my feet somehow slid on the pedals on touch down causing me to hit the brakes. You can imagine I was checking the tires to make sure they were not flat.
The most eventful part of the flight was my passenger. As some of you already know, any time you want to go flying with me, just ask. But, I always caution people of going up with me in the summertime when it is hot and sometimes bumpy. These conditions make it too easy for some people to get motion sickness. More importantly, I tend to discourage people from coming along when I am practicing landings in the summertime unless they are pilots themselves because it can be very easy to get sick. Well, Sunday a friend insisted on wanting to go flying despite my cautions. For the most part, she did well. What finally did her in was her trying to take pictures of her home as I circled overhead – she may have been OK on a cool day but not in this heat. We headed back to West Houston after she got her photos.
On the way back she asked if there was a way to recline the seat in the Cessna 172. I know I had a perplexed look: I have never had a need for this – how would I see out? I once had a passenger recline her seat in an Arrow and sleep on the way back on a cross-country flight so I guess it can be done. I had planned on checking out the seat after landing. Of course, once I shut the engine and tied down the plane, I was anxious to get inside the FBO and enjoy the nice cool air conditioning.
