Squirrely winds, good practice

denverpilot

denverpilot

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Short in the pattern hop today because winds were squirrelly but manageable in front of our upcoming snowstorm tonight. Had to cancel out of an all day activity because I had too much to get done that I'm behind on, but that meant I could at least toss in a couple of hours of flying.

Good X-Wind practice. Did a few T&G, Vx and Vy departures, some close patterns some out a ways with a bit of power. Galaxy reported a 20 knot increase at 700' AGL. Tower quizzed all of us in the pattern, I reported the minor squirrelly shear I was experiencing around 400' AGL. Nothing crazy like 20 knots. Just bumps and a wiggly ASI. And later reported no shear but some mechanical turbulence off the hangars.

Left the pattern for a bit when CHTs were getting on the warm side. Went over to the practice area for a couple steep turns, power on stalls, falling leaf (well, not much leaf... just bobbed straight ahead with minimal rudder like she always does), and back for a few more landings. Was working on transitioning eyeballs down the runway since I had fallen back into old habit of looking off the nose. Landings were far nicer. Also got to work on right crosswind which isn't my favorite way to slip. A little training for my left foot which doesn't get much use in a Skylane. (Right rudder!... Until cruise...)

Put some $5.16 gas in the Skylane to get her to 68 gallons on board, and put her away it the hangar. Cleaned off the bugs, wiped down the windows inside and out.

It's now raining lightly but steadily ahead of the storm about an hour and a half later. Bring on the snow! It'll water the grass.

Annual is at the end of the month. LED landing light, taxi light, and new right side pax window with photo opening are either here or on order. Working on a small punch list of items to have looked at while she's in the shop. We're on the schedule.

It's looking like we are just about ready for Summer flying! Big fat grin on my face while I cooked a couple of Bratwurst on the grill.

Now it's time for catching up on e-mails and paperwork...
 
It's too bad most pilots don't practice in those type of conditions. You need a work out like that every couple of months to stay sharp. Don
 
Yeah, that's why I went up... just wanted to make sure to keep the skills sharp. Forecast showed the usual "pre-storm" progression and the clouds weren't lowering yet... virga in the area, but not over the airport, so ... off I went.

Most landings were good, a couple were only "passable" because they were a little flat. Too close to a "three-pointer" and I don't like doing that in the 182. Mains took the load, but I don't like feeling them all touch at roughly the same time.

Not bad, not great. We could always all use more work at it. Gusts are far more entertaining versus perfect smooth. (Well, for me anyway... unless I have pax... I prefer to give them a smooth ride unless they're up for the bouncy, bouncy, bump, bump...)
 
Good for you.
Flying before the storm is a very Dynamic thing :-)
Good practice.
After a lot of 182 and 210 flying, I'm re-learning to fly 172s.
From the right seat and up in Prescott (my new home base I guess).

Add 20G25 variable wind (mainly down the runway, but at some points it was 60*) and I was very happy to have the CFI on the left seat :)

Had to go around once when what I thought was a flare put us WAY up in the air. Those light nosed 172s...:yesnod:

I think Rationalization is my favorite defense mechanism.

Anyway, glad you have fun before the storm!
 
Storm's here! ;)

4b94241c-9281-1901.jpg
 
There can be no substitute for real weather in practice. My wife always worried when training flights were conducted in less than CAVU conditions. She didn't think it was worth the risk "just for practice". I asked her if she worried when I was working an active SAR case in bad weather, and she said "Yes, but that's your job, you don't have a choice" I explained that since most of our "business" came when weather was crappy it was safer to train in the conditions we could expect when we had to go out. Kudos to you for not taking the easy road. Reasonably pushing the envelope makes you a safer pilot.
 
24G35 at ADS yesterday. I deferred the opportunity to practice.
 
Frankly, I was more impressed that the Pitts that showed up while I was running around the pattern in my nosedragger, managed to make the landing. Tower offered them Runway 10 if they wanted it.

I've never met Dagmar, but perhaps the Colorado contingent can confirm for me that she has an accent? I think it was her. Obviously she's a good stick. I didn't note the tail number, but the tower was surprised the Pitts was up. ;)

http://dagmaraerobatics.com/dagmar_aerobatics/Welcome.html
 
Nice, sounds like it was fun. One of my landings on my ride in Aus was a cross wind that I had to add some throttle and fly down the runway @ 1' until the gust subsided. The runway was 5500' and I had plenty to land on when I lined back up. "Nice"
 
Out of all the airplanes I've flown if faced with a strong gusty cross wind I'd take the Pitts S2B or the Acroduster II over anything else. Don
 
yakdriver said:
Out of all the airplanes I've flown if faced with a strong gusty cross wind I'd take the Pitts S2B or the Acroduster II over anything else. Don
Click to expand...

Yeah I can't comment. No experience there. Just going on the Tower's quick offer of "If it doesn't work out, we'll get you runway 10" to her.
 
denverpilot said:
Frankly, I was more impressed that the Pitts that showed up while I was running around the pattern in my nosedragger, managed to make the landing. Tower offered them Runway 10 if they wanted it.

I've never met Dagmar, but perhaps the Colorado contingent can confirm for me that she has an accent? I think it was her. Obviously she's a good stick. I didn't note the tail number, but the tower was surprised the Pitts was up. ;)

http://dagmaraerobatics.com/dagmar_aerobatics/Welcome.html
Click to expand...


Dagmar teaches in the Pitts, and races in the Extra. Coming into FTG one day, the tower reminded her to slow down because she was exceeding 250 kts...she flies Young Eagles in the Pitts, too.
 
yakdriver said:
Out of all the airplanes I've flown if faced with a strong gusty cross wind I'd take the Pitts S2B or the Acroduster II over anything else. Don
Click to expand...

Depends what one is working. Over flooded paddy and dense grain, wheat/oats..., crops, I'll take a clip wing Ag Cat. Into the aileron is the best of the bunch; 285 Gallons with an R-985. Or a Weatherly with a 985, that's a sweat flying, handling plane.:yesnod: It works balls on with the best engine aviation makes. For cotton and western states work or even fire work here, I want an M-18A with the full airframe package and a real 1820 w/ 750 gallons.
 
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