bahama flier
Pre-takeoff checklist
Yes another interesting landing in the Bahamas. Bahamas flying is not for the weak of heart, three towers for 625 airports, the rest are all using the same radio frequency, sounds like the CB traffic on the interstate.
I lifted off with a weather report from Florida-Miami Center, a wind forecast of 25 knots where I was going, but my Cherokee Six is rated at 23 Knot cross wind, so no problem, says a dumb ass.
My normal ground speed is 125 knots, and I noticed when I turned East of Florida, my ground speed increased to 160, nice speed I thought.
I made my normal approach but my cross wind was more than 25K's, turning into it and near the touch down, I had turned into it so hard my right wing was extremely low, thinking I would level off just before touch down maybe stay on the runway.
Just as I started to try to level off, a 40 Knot wind hit me head on with a 25 knot from the crosswind. My nose went up, my right wing was heading for the ground, my pucker factor maxed out, I went full power to get my wing up, just did and the head wind had stopped my forward speed and I stopped with a slight bounce on the runway and only rolled about 50 ft. My three passengers thought this was just the way you land in the Bahamas. I couldn't speak , just wanted to get the brown out of my undies. No normal landing in the Bahamas.
I lifted off with a weather report from Florida-Miami Center, a wind forecast of 25 knots where I was going, but my Cherokee Six is rated at 23 Knot cross wind, so no problem, says a dumb ass.
My normal ground speed is 125 knots, and I noticed when I turned East of Florida, my ground speed increased to 160, nice speed I thought.
I made my normal approach but my cross wind was more than 25K's, turning into it and near the touch down, I had turned into it so hard my right wing was extremely low, thinking I would level off just before touch down maybe stay on the runway.
Just as I started to try to level off, a 40 Knot wind hit me head on with a 25 knot from the crosswind. My nose went up, my right wing was heading for the ground, my pucker factor maxed out, I went full power to get my wing up, just did and the head wind had stopped my forward speed and I stopped with a slight bounce on the runway and only rolled about 50 ft. My three passengers thought this was just the way you land in the Bahamas. I couldn't speak , just wanted to get the brown out of my undies. No normal landing in the Bahamas.
