Gusty crosswind at 47N-part 1

[beaky]

Had four hours booked in the SP today, but barely did 1 1/2. Low ceilings with worse wx along my planned route, pax cancelled, got there late, needed fuel... and the wind. Oh boy. 350-ish; 10 kts gusting to 15 or more. Across Runway 25. Good practice, I figured.

I shot some video- just wedged the camera up on the glareshield, so these caps are not high-quality. the camera was right of the compass and tended to swing left from the vibration, but you can see here what kind of correction i was using. that screw nearest the camera is on center. Takeoffs and flying the legs were no problem, but landing properly in that devilish wind was challenging.
Did five circuits, went around twice, took a break, decided it wasn't going to get better, and had at it for three more attempts, with one more go-around. I did reasonably well, but decided to quit while I was ahead... it was just not fun after a while.

Anatomy of a botched approach: starts out well enough...
     

Then it went all pear-shaped about here, so I went around.








Next attempt, I went with a little more power and a shallower glide... still coming in high over the fence, but keeping things within limits...besides, with the tree at the approach end, a downdraft could mean trouble.

     


All over the place here... trying to land with plenty to spare, but she needs a moment... I ride it out.

Actually made a good full-stall touchdown on that one, but  a bit longer than I wanted and (obviously) off-center. Been a long time since full, and I mean full, crosswind correction was needed on rollout... wow!

     


Once more on downwind... I decided to check to make sure the camera was recording. Red light: check. I think I look... concerned. I wasn't.  I was a little scared.

     


But having taken off again, I have to land. Not many airports close by with runways aligned north/south, and besides, it's bumpy as hell at altitude, with unpredictable clouds barreling around.  A little shallower this time, and power for airspeed more than pitch. I'm happy with the approach...off-center, then back on... bump, whoosh, bump...oh no, you don't... grrrr...

     



Got it now... power back earlier than last time... might make the numbers beyond the displaced threshold... steady...

     




At about 20 feet AGL, the stall horn goes off; just a yelp. I loosen up just a hair on the back pressure, wait a sec while battling to stay on-center, then flare for another full-stall, just past the numbers. Cool.



This is when I parked for about 1/2 hour, to think things over. I think what got me to go back up was being totally "owned" by a student on a dual flight in "Casper"... see part 2.

[Omag 2.0]

Looks like serious fun/brown trousers moments! What an Idea to flie under these conditions... but it's good entertainment for us lot...  ;)

Seriously, you need the practice ofcourse, so well done!  :)

[Mictheslik]

I like the grainy action shots

At least you got down in one piece, which is what matters

.mic

[Mobius]

Looks like fun.  On one of my instrument flights a couple of weeks ago, the Madison METAR was reporting 21kt, gusting to 25kts out of the east (080), so I figured we weren't going flying that day, but my instructor decided to practice some ILS approaches on runway 36 at Madison, so I could get a feel for the crosswinds under the hood.  All the approaches were fine, but on the second approach, the instructor had me do a touch-and-go to show off to the F-16 pilots that were taxiing out to go flying (::)), it wasn't my prettiest landing, but with almost full aileron and full rudder, I managed to smash her down without breaking anything.  

Going out and practicing is one of the best thing you could have done.  Practice, practice, practice, as long as you felt comfortable with it.

P.S.  Are you going to post the video?

[beaky]

Looks like fun.  On one of my instrument flights a couple of weeks ago, the Madison METAR was reporting 21kt, gusting to 25kts out of the east (080), so I figured we weren't going flying that day, but my instructor decided to practice some ILS approaches on runway 36 at Madison, so I could get a feel for the crosswinds under the hood.  All the approaches were fine, but on the second approach, the instructor had me do a touch-and-go to show off to the F-16 pilots that were taxiing out to go flying (::)), it wasn't my prettiest landing, but with almost full aileron and full rudder, I managed to smash her down without breaking anything.  

Going out and practicing is one of the best thing you could have done.  Practice, practice, practice, as long as you felt comfortable with it.

P.S.  Are you going to post the video?

I'm sure the fighter jocks were impressed:

"He crazy?"

"Either that, or just stupid..."

 :D



It was indeed good practice... but just about on the edge of my comfort zone. I had to push it, just a little.
I will eventually post the clips, but right now it's too much of a pain rendering them for upload on this machine. Part of the problem is that Premiere doesn't like the QuickTime files my camera makes- I have to pre-render everything, etc. Very time-consuming.


As for those conditions at Madison: Oooh, that's so hard, on a 9000x 150 runway... scary...  

The runway at 47N is 3500x50...  :o

Just kidding: your x-wind was worse, and when one is trying to land properly, it doesn't matter how long or wide the runway is: you've got just one little place to touch down. Sounds like you did OK.

[Mobius]

As for those conditions at Madison: Oooh, that's so hard, on a 9000x 150 runway... scary...  

Ahem.....well..yes....that's why we went to Madison to do it.  I think it'd be safe to say those fighter jocks were thinking, "when the hell is this idiot going to get off our runway...?", instead of being impressed or anything.  That landing was probably the hardest landing I've had in the last two or three years, but at least I didn't break anything. That 150 ft really helped on the approach though, watching a sea of concrete come at you, I could probably have landed perpendicular to the runway, straight into the wind.  That probably would have impressed those Air Force folks a little more. 8-)


I know what you mean about that 3500 x 50ft, I learned on a 2927 x 38ft runway, and cross-winds there got hairy, and I definitely had a few scary ones there.  If you asked me a couple months ago to go up in 10-15 kt crosswinds, I would have said no-way, but since I've been flying two or three times a week for instrument lessons, I can really see how much doing it over and over again can really help.

[Canuck.]

you should post the video on youtube!!