Wind Minimums

2 weeks ago the winds were really up around here. For me, anyways. I went up early sunday, before the winds really got up. Cruised over to another field, getting smacked around at 2500'. Fueled up with cheaper fuel, headed back. But by then the atis as 14G23, almost direct crosswind. Good learning experience, or a good refresher. My instructor took me up on some days I would have rather been on the ground, and it paid off. Wing down into the gusts, little rudder as needed. I still need to work on getting the wing dipped and rudder in faster, and I gave it a little too much throttle when in the flare the gust died. Caused me to float too much, but I learned quit a bit in those few minutes. Landing was... firm... but didn't bounce.
 
Just passed through 300 hours Sunday night. I am in a similar boat. A little earlier on I often found that I'd landed just fine in a wind I probably wouldn't have taken off in. Getting my tailwheel endorsement really sharpened my handling of the plane and made me feel much more comfortable in crosswinds. The windier days don't appeal to me due to the strong headwinds and bumpy cruising. Swithing back to the trike now has made me much more confident during landing.

It has indeed been a gusty fall, but the summer was amazing, so we can't really complain. Where in MA are you flying? I'm at Mansfield. Plan on going to Windham on Saturday for lunch.
 
PilotRPI said:
Just passed through 300 hours Sunday night. I am in a similar boat. A little earlier on I often found that I'd landed just fine in a wind I probably wouldn't have taken off in. Getting my tailwheel endorsement really sharpened my handling of the plane and made me feel much more comfortable in crosswinds. The windier days don't appeal to me due to the strong headwinds and bumpy cruising. Swithing back to the trike now has made me much more confident during landing.

It has indeed been a gusty fall, but the summer was amazing, so we can't really complain. Where in MA are you flying? I'm at Mansfield. Plan on going to Windham on Saturday for lunch.
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I am based at KCEF(Westover) in Chicopee MA. I go into Windham a couple of time a week. Usually frequent the Aero Diner or New England Pizza. I live less than 2 tenth's of a mile from my hangar and I fly pretty much every day even if its just a half dozen around the pattern. I will shoot you a PM with my cell. Hit me up if you want to do a fly in one of these days.

Tomorrow morning I'm making the journey out to Logan to pick up a friend who is coming up from Tennessee. Should be a great day.

James
 
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Busflyer said:
I think my minimum would have to be zero.
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For me, minimum wind would be around -3 knots. Unless it's a very short runway, a slight tailwind component is acceptable.
 
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