Interesting winds today

We had a 12 hour gap of nice weather today between waves of storms
that have been pummeling Iowa (it's thunderstorming to beat the band
again, as I'm typing this.). So, we took advantage of it, and went
for a flight.

Winds on the runway were minimal -- 120 at 5 knots. We took off on
Rwy 12 and climbed through 1000' AGL, being roundly buffeted all the
way. It was surprising, given the minimal surface winds.

Then, at 2000' MSL, the turbulence stopped, and we were on top of a
low haze layer. It was absolutely as smooth as sitting in your
Barcolounger, and we settled in for a nice flight, climbing to 3000'.
We could see the weather crap approaching from the South in the
distance...but it would be no factor for a few more hours.

I happened to glance at our GPS and was surprised to see our ground
speed was just 79 knots. That's a 60 knot headwind -- yet it was as
smooth as a baby's bottom. I then checked our outside air
temperature, and was surprised to see that the temperature at 3000'
was fully 15 degrees warmer than on the surface -- quite a temperature
inversion for this time of year.

Just for fun, I turned directly into the wind, and put Atlas into slow
flight. I was able to get our groundspeed down to just 28 knots --
and then, turning 180 degrees back the other way, we almost instantly
rocketed up to 180 knots! Again, there wasn't a ripple of turbulence
throughout the maneuvers -- very unusual!

And fun, of course...

:-)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"