High winds and ground operations

genna

Pattern Altitude
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Another day and another canceled trip due to weather. As you may know, we had a massive storm here on the east coast over the weekend. Locally, this translated to high sustained winds with pretty gnarly gusts: 25-50kts+ at times. The weather was supposed to improve by Sat morning, but the winds never really died out enough(still gusting around 40). So I ended up canceling the flight. But for a while I was seriously contemplating to go.

My destination was pretty peaceful and at the departure the wind was practically down the runway. Take-off would probably be uneventful(rotate at 85), although if i had to return, the landing would be really sporty. But frankly, my biggest worry was getting the plane out of hanger and taxiing. I would be alone and i was not comfortable leaving plane unattended in these winds.

So what's POA wisdom on this? Other than the obvious, "stay on the ground".

Sidenote, even if you have a non-refundable hotel booked, it does not hurt to call and ask if they'd cancel reservation with a refund :).
 
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Are you flying by yourself or taking other people? If I was by myself, I’d probably go. If I was taking other people up, I’d stay on the ground, especially if it’s there first time flying in a smaller plane.

Edit. Just saw that you’d be alone.
 
I fly an LSA and wind is always one of my concerns. If it's a little breezy at all I always try and park the plane facing into the wind and chocking the tires. At my home strip I even bought a couple of the screw in dog stakes and some ratchet straps so I can park the plane any place in the yard and not worry too much.
 
I’ve departed in 30+ in the Skylane to get out of a windy area that wasn’t forecast, and you’re right. Getting to the runway is the most difficult part. If you managed that without bending metal you’ve handled more than 50% of the chore.

As far as your scenario goes, I would say I don’t purposefully put myself at the start of the accident chain for something that’s supposed to be pleasant and isn’t a job, if I can avoid it. Just not worth it.
 
Are you flying by yourself or taking other people? If I was by myself, I’d probably go. If I was taking other people up, I’d stay on the ground, especially if it’s there first time flying in a smaller plane.

Edit. Just saw that you’d be alone.

Passengers(at least non-pilot) would absolutely be a no-go. It just wouldn't be pleasant for anyone. And while I had enough confidence that i'd be OK taking off -- even if i don't think i ever did in quite this much wind, I didn't have as much confidence in how this plane will behave on the ground especially while i'm trying to get in it.
 
You would think that something the size of the Navion would be immune from ground winds but in truth it has enough sail area that if it's not coordinated with the wind you're going to use a lot of pedal to get it to track straight. Even while parked it will roll over chocks trying to weathervane into the wind. I remember me and other pilot sitting with the engines running turned into the wind waiting for things to die down enough that we thought we could taxi.

Make sure you use the proper yoke inputs while taxiing.
 
One rule of thumb is to use 60% of stall speed as a wind limit for ground ops. It may be a little conservative but it isn’t horrible for safe ops.
 
One rule of thumb is to use 60% of stall speed as a wind limit for ground ops. It may be a little conservative but it isn’t horrible for safe ops.

That gets difficult in my STOL airplane. Ha.

Seriously. I often think “this wind is halfway to rotation speed” or more, for my wing with the fences and cuff and stuff and the POH addendum.

I won’t pre-configure flaps after run-up in winds like that... Just asking for trouble having them extended.

Of course if I make it to the runway in one piece, then turn into the wind and extend them, ground roll is REALLY short as soon as you add power. It’s usually count to two and pull, if it hasn’t hopped off the ground in a gust on its own.

LOL.
 
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