Well, this week was a bust. My Wednesday lesson was canceled because I had a family emergency. I went to my 5:00 PM Thursday lesson knowing that thunderstorms were moving across the area to the north of the field. I went out to the airplane and started the preflight hoping the bad weather would stay to the North. While out of the ramp (and I must say it was the opposite end of the ramp from the school), I noticed the dark thunderclouds to the North. As I made my way around the airplane, I noticed the skies were getting darker to the West. I was checking the fuel when I saw cloud-to-ground lightning to the West just a few miles out. I immediately got back in the cockpit, put the flaps back up, put the control lock back in, grabbed the key and flight bag, and headed back to the school. I started to walk, but then ran when the thunder and lightning worsened. I just made it back into the school when the rain began to poor.
The storm that came through the area brought high gusting winds (greater than 40 knots!) with hail. It lasted for almost an hour. I sat inside with my instructor talking about various topics related to my lessons. Finally, the storm passed and I was able to go back to the airplane and get my flight bag and headset. The winds were changing direction every few minutes and still gusting, so I made a judgment call and decided not to fly. It was already late anyway, and I wanted to go over my pre-solo test.
I spent another hour going over the test with my instructor and discussing some ground school topics. I made another 100% on this test. My instructor endorsed my logbook for the pre-solo knowledge test.
On Friday, I had a lesson at 5:00 PM. Yes, another late afternoon lesson -- prime time for latent heat thunderstorms. The weather was looking good on my way to the airport. Then I saw the dark clouds to the North. It was almost like they were following me. As I walked into the flight school, my instructor said "Looks good today." I told him not to be so sure. I was being followed. Five minutes later the phone rang. It was the owner requesting that the instructors tie down all of the planes on the ramp due to a severe thunderstorm warning just issued for the area. Not ten minutes after the instructors returned from the ramp, the skies became dark and the rain began to fall. My luck was just not good this month. "May" must have been short for "mayhem".
My next lesson is schedule for June 5. The schedule was already full for next week, so I could only get on the schedule for the week after. That's okay, because I was able to schedule a morning lesson. The morning weather is much calmer with a better chance of never seeing a thunderstorm. I've scheduled my three lessons for in the morning. Maybe, just maybe, I will actually get to solo in the next couple of weeks. I've been out of practice, so I'll have to get "warmed up" again.
