What is too windy for training in a 172?

Henning said:
Half the cruising speed of the airplane would be nice for a training flight, especially after hour 20 or so when you have a better grasp and understanding of things. We did a couple of my training flights in 60+ kt winds when the Santana's were blowing, kinda cool to do a hover landing in a 152. A couple of good high wind flights should be in everyone's primary training.
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That is almost a hurricane!! Here in Florida I like to have my airplane either gone or secure in a hangar when the hurricanes come!:hairraise:
 
Henning said:
Half the cruising speed of the airplane woul be nice for a training flight, especially after hour 20 or so when you have a better grasp and understanding of things. We did a couple of my training flights in 60+ kt winds when the Santana's were blowing, kinda cool to do a hover landing in a 152. A couple of good high wind flights should be in everyone's primary training.
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:yikes: my main concern would be ground ops with those kinda winds. Ive watched a 210 nose over in winds gusting to about 50. My personal rule of thumb is that when the winds get up to 45 or so, I make sure the plane is tied down tight and drink a cold beer.:wink2:
 
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Out here I have heard of ranchers flying in a cub in 40-50 and "hovering" till someone can come out and be wing walkers.

I like to make sure the students can land with it gusting to 25 or so. We make sure to practice it and our normal flights are often up to 22. That's just how it is here so, well, that's how we fly. I try to wait till its no more than 15 for first solo.

And, yes, taxiing is the big concern
 
Sandy Lambert is a friend flew L-19's in the Pacific Islands before taking over the family's sash and door business. He had a photo sequence that had been taken by the base photog during a hover-down onto his tie-down pad. He said it's almost better to be a tad long and then be blown back over the target than to try to add enough power to ooch forward.

Jeanie said:
Out here I have heard of ranchers flying in a cub in 40-50 and "hovering" till someone can come out and be wing walkers.

I like to make sure the students can land with it gusting to 25 or so. We make sure to practice it and our normal flights are often up to 22. That's just how it is here so, well, that's how we fly. I try to wait till its no more than 15 for first solo.

And, yes, taxiing is the big concern
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I feel safer in the air in high wind conditions than on the ground. I'd set reasonable personal limits within which you are comfortable. Then, when a day pops up that is outside of those limits, call up your CFI and go train until that becomes your new limit.

Pushing yourself is never a bad thing, but don't ever do anything that you're uncomfortable with - it's all about state-of-mind IMO.
 
GCA319 said:
:yikes: my main concern would be ground ops with those kinda winds. Ive watched a 210 nose over in winds gusting to about 50. My personal rule of thumb is that when the winds get up to 45 or so, I make sure the plane is tied down tight and drink a cold beer.:wink2:
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THAT is exactly why everyone should have a couple training flights in high wind conditions, that is preventable by using the correct control positions (climb into the wind, dive away from the wind) while taxiing. Fly the plane from tiedown to tiedown is the lesson learned.
 
Wind tolerance is something that must be learned and practiced. More than just getting it on the runway there's a need to learn to read the terrain and gain the situational awareness to expect what's going to happen. Unexpected down drafts on short final can be quite a problem.

Even here in New England the winter weather is often 20-30kt with a 10+ knot gust with mechanical turbulence added in. For students who learn to fly during summer this can be quite daunting, but being unable to handle it can be deadly.

With unexpected IFR you can usually get down at a nearby field even if with an ASR/PAR approach, being unable to land in a stiff crosswind or being unable to handle a stiff headwind (x-wind on base) you may not be able to get down within safe fuel range. Its worse yet if the runway is wet/snowy/icy since hydroplaning becomes more of an issue.

Build the skill and confidence to do this well, if your instructor can't teach it to you find someone who can even if its only to work on that specific task.
 
LDJones said:
It depends on where you are in your training. Presolo it's probably not all that productive to train in strong, gusty winds. Down the road I'd consider it a plus to have a challenging day.
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My exception to this general rule is that I will take a student out on a day like this presolo and do ground reference maneuvers :yes:.

Ryan
 
Henning said:
THAT is exactly why everyone should have a couple training flights in high wind conditions, that is preventable by using the cor control positions (climb into the wind, dive away from the wind) while taxiing. Fly the plane from tiedown to tiedown is the lesson learned.
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Correct control positions are important, but once the wind gets to a certain point, they're not going to do a whole lot for you. I have a story to back this up, but I wont post it on here :wink2:
 
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