Don't see this every day...
- Thread starter jesse
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Areeda
Pattern Altitude
Was VSI pegged?
jesse
Touchdown! Greaser!
Nope. I was getting 175 knots in level flight. Very windy today.
jesse
Touchdown! Greaser!
I flew the same route back - just a quick stop and return - a long flight home.If you had been going the other direction your ground speed would have been much lower, but the heading would have been the same.
ScottM
Taxi to Parking
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iBazinga!
That would have been one of those fun days to practice minimum controllable airspeed and see if you could get a negative ground speed.
RyanShort1
Final Approach
We have a Cherokee 180 here at Boerne that I fly 3-5 times a week with students. I really love that bird.
Ryan
Ryan
steingar
Taxi to Parking
Never hit winds strong enough to hover my Cherokee, but I wouldn't be averse to trying. The one problem is that if winds are that high at the altitudes I can reach, they'll be dangerously high on the ground.
jesse
Touchdown! Greaser!
It would have been easily possible yesterday with 60 knot wind aloft. Surface winds were in the mid 30 knot range.
steingar
Taxi to Parking
If surface winds are at 30 knots, I don't fly. No way, unless someone puts a gun to my head. If they change direction, I have to land well past factory specifications. I can and will at need (if I'm up, and the wind kicks up and that's what I have to do), but only at need.
EdFred
Taxi to Parking
What factory specifications? Demonstrated crosswind is NOT a limitation. Just happens to be the windiest it was when they certified it.
Best to keep those skills sharp though. I think you may find with some practice and application of good technique they aren't the doom and gloom most crack them up to be and it could add flying days to your calander. In Nebraska its common place for the wind to be like that so its a must have skill in this part of the woods.
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steingar
Taxi to Parking
I land in crosswinds all the time within the demonstrated limitations of my aircraft. Not a big fan of being a test pilot. Can I? You bet. I landed my Cessna 150 in a direct 24 knot crosswind on one occasion. I did it because I had to.
If winds are that strong, I don't go. I am not a pro pilot, and don't fly when the conditions don't suit me. If crosswinds are beyond the demonstrated level of my aircraft, conditions don't suit me. They shouldn't suit any of you either, unless you are flying for a job. There is no need to take on more risk than is already present in flying, at least not for us hobbyists.
By the way, I've seen some airports that resemble a spider out your way. Easy to land strong winds when the runway's likely pointed in the right direction.
jesse
Touchdown! Greaser!
Actually a whole hell of a lot of them are less than ideal. Most of the small-town airports only have one runway and it's often very much a north/south for some reason.
Lincoln has 18/36, 17/35, and 14/32. A 270 crosswind is still 50 degrees off the runway. Omaha has 18/36 and 32/14(L & R). Etc. Etc. A strong east or west wind means a crosswind landing.
That's a decision for everyone to make on their own. I've never canceled a flight because of wind and as a result it doesn't really bother me.steingar said:
Oh I wholly agree with you. Everyone has to have their "limit" before taking off , but its good to stay sharp if you didn't mean to come across those conditions that might be at or near that limit. I like to think of it as "crosswind currency".
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steingar
Taxi to Parking
Dah, and it was a 5k foot landing. Had the runway been 4500 I might have had an excursion. But I did it, and I had to. There were thunderstorms in every direction that had cropped up suddenly on a hot summer's day.
Where I am we have such winds on occasion, and it isn't that big a deal to stay out of them. I imagine one has to have a thicker skin to fly where the winds are stronger. But I wouldn't be a bit surprised to hear that plenty of aircraft had been pushed clear off the runway by those winds.
Tarheel Pilot
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This thread reminds me of the one time during my training, I was in a Cherokee 140, and the winds were so strong, at one point we were flying sideways! Luckily we were able to get down safely, and while it was fun, I'm not sure that'll be something I want to repeat.
VTC_WS6
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VTC_WS6
Just got through landing with my highest cross wind this past weekend on my X-county solo. Back home they were using rnwy 5, but with ATIS calling out the winds from 090 @ 14 G19. Cake to you pro's i'm sure, but for a sub 50-hour greenhorn, well, let's just say my hands are still cramping lol.
Figures I actually made some damn nice greasers all day with the highest cross winds to date, and my CFI is never around when the best happens..
Figures I actually made some damn nice greasers all day with the highest cross winds to date, and my CFI is never around when the best happens..
bigred177
Cleared for Takeoff
My x-wind limit as a student was higher than a lot of people's no-go down in Austin. It had to be or we would have never been able to fly.
Mtns2Skies
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Mtns2Skies
to be fair, technically you fly sideways in a 1 kt xwind, thus crabbing
Tarheel Pilot
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Well you fly diagonally in xwinds, here I'm talking about very little forward motion and alot of sideway motion.
Arbiter419
Cleared for Takeoff
Tristar
Pattern Altitude
Rental power + strong tail winds = hauling ***
jesse
Touchdown! Greaser!
At 7,000 pressure turning 2575 RPM I was putting out about 70% power which is where I'd run it if I owned it. That works out to about 119 knots true with wheel pants according to the book. I don't have wheel pants so subtract a few knots then add the 60 knot tailwind and you get 175-ish knots. Add some speed during the descent and that's how you get 192 knots.
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timwinters
Ejection Handle Pulled
Thanks, I can rest assured now knowing that someone who doesn't know me at all can somehow knows exactly what I'm capable of and what I'm not. Same goes for my aiplane. She thanks you also.
FWIW I have landed across 100' runways a couple of times when the winds were strong enough. Of course, I was cheating a bit. It was 100' wide paved runway crossing a grass runway.:smile:
In the real world, you can take out a significant portion of the crosswind component by landing diagonally on wide (100') runways.
My tolerance for winds, whether crosswind or runway aligned, is directly proportional to the flatness of the terrain in the vicinity of the airport. I have landed in 40kt winds in Liberal KS and it is a non event because it's "flat as a flitter" and kicked up nary a bump. In hilly areas my desire to avoid being beat to hell down low keeps me on the ground long before my fear of exceeding my crosswind skills would. 40kts anywhere close to home (in the Ozark Mtns) would be a no go. Heck, 30kts is a no go. Take off and go somehwere else? Maybe, but probably not. Land? Hell, no.
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timwinters
Ejection Handle Pulled
You'll probably find that to be true during all of your flying career. I tend to make my best landings when the winds are the strongest. Maybe because I concentrate much harder and stay on top of things? Maybe because a landing on one tire is smoother than landing on two? :wink2:
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flyingcheesehead
Touchdown! Greaser!
If private pilots were to never exceed the demonstrated level of their aircraft, they'd pretty much never fly at all in places like Kansas and Wyoming.
Most GA singles have a "demonstrated" crosswind component of 15 knots or so. I've landed in over twice that in the 182, and haven't run out of rudder yet. So, I've "demonstrated" that the 182 can do better than 30 knots, isn't that good enough?