Well I picked this week to add onto the Labor Day Holiday, and take some vacation days. Needless to say, the weather in the Southeast has not been all the great the last few days, so traveling somewhere was ruled out. I decided, instead, to do my favorite thing lately, and that is stay home and fly the 737.. I just joined the Delta Virtual Airline and thought this might be a great time to rack up some flights. I get up in the morning, have breakfast and hit the skies. With Active Sky fired up, the weather effects are just great. I have been flying between Palm Beach and Atlanta and up to Raleigh, NC. Two to three hundred foot ceilings, turbulence, rain on the windsheild, crosswinds that will make your hair stand up straight on approach, I even hit some wind shear tonight from KRDU to KATL. The wind shear that started with some heavy turbulence as I was flying over a cell with lightning , caused the 737-800 to drop about 4,000 feet in about 15 seconds, accompanied by some pretty wild airspeed fluctuations. Needless to say, ATC was having a fit, but eventually the plane climbed right back to the original altitude. Later on the Active Sky Radar showed some really bad cells that I was approaching, and I could see lightning flashes all over the place, and hear the thunder. As I taxied to the gate in Atlanta, I was thinking " Am I having a great vacation???" You bet I am...

Bob-And when we get weeks like this "on the line" we look forward to vacations without cells, lightning or (gasp!) 4000 foot deviations from altitude!Glad you are enjoying the airplane!Better plan for two weeks on your next vacation... the 744 holds quite a bit of gas!