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No Flying Today

It's been a very cloudy day here in Shell. We've had rain throughout the day, and even some fog. Visibility was zero almost all day. Brian needed to get up to Quito twice and should have been in the air before 8:30 AM to make that happen. He could have left here at that time, but the weather in Quito and along the route was poor. By the time the weather up there improved, it had shut down here in Shell. It finally opened up here at 4:15 PM, and it didn't take Brian long to get out of here. He lives in Quito, and spent the past two nights with us down here in Shell so he could help out with flights here in Shell. I know he was looking forward to getting home for the weekend. The reason he needed to make two trips was that he had passengers to take to Quito, and then he was going to return with a DAC inspector who was to inspect our radio shop. Finally, he would return to Quito with the inspector. None of that happened, and when he finally did leave at 4:30 PM, I don't think he had all his passengers. I think I saw one of them go out in front of the hangar at 3:30 PM and get on a bus. Bruce and Dan didn't get their flights done either. On days like this they take advantage of the all the time they have to sit at their desk and catch up on paper work. Because flights are expensive, we try to set up flights so that people are able to share the cost with other passengers. We call it a combination flight, and that way people can afford to fly. The pilots have a lot of paperwork to complete as they keep track of who was on the flight, where they flew, and who paid what amount. Bruce keeps saying it's like doing his taxes. Dan finished his paperwork and then went home early. That way he can save his duty time for a day when he can fly. The pilots have a fixed number of hours they can fly per week and per month. Even if they are punched in, sitting at the hangar just waiting for weather to clear, it counts as duty time.