Eventful flight today !!!

[Houman]

Had a long and my most eventful flight in a long time from Pittsburgh to Montreal Mirable today, 1st over western NY had to participate in a bit of search for a US Army airplane gone 7600 and try to reach them and look for them, since they were in the same path and area as me, then had to land with a cross wind of 18G28 and drifting snow at my intermediate (customs checkin airport ), almost went off the side of the runway, scary moment but all ended well, Then surprise visit from Canadian Customs, usually here we just call them and get an authorization number so my son and I are both CanPass, so it was quite a surprise. With all of that, decided to leave the plane there and not chance it at my home airport 5 minutes from there, with a much smaller and shorter runway and same crazy gusty winds and drifting snow.

What a 2h30 flight, glad to be home and no dammage to the plane or anyone hurt !!!

[Mcstealth]

Did they find the missing plane?

[Houman]

Yep, they had restarted their radio and contacted Saracuse since they were not hearing rochester... but it had taken a while for all that while I was looking for them and calling them on the Rochester's frequency as asked by ATC...

[Mcstealth]

How well did you and the plane handle the cross wind? Did you have rudder left?

[Houman]

to be honest, I have been bugging my friend CFI to give me cross winds training, I used half flaps and came in very slowley, so it worked out at the end, but once on the ground, I had a lot of trouble keeping it straight, crabed in all the way and probably brought it back a bit too late, but still was pushed to the outside...

I really need more cross wind training...

[Mcstealth]

did you keep your wind side wing low?

[ryoder]

I need more crosswind training also and I wouldn't have landed with a direct crosswind of that magnitude. I won't push 12 kts direct.

[cbarry]

At the risk of stating the obvious, one of the "after rollout" items that's natural to leave out is to roll aileron input into the crosswind--the action is just the reverse of takeoff. Early on, my instructor forced me to remember that flying starts and stops when the plane is in the hangar.

[Marauder]

I find dealing with a sustained high crosswind easier to deal with than a gusty one at lower speeds. My Mooney will handle a lot more crosswind than the 11 knots shown in the POH.

[robert7467]

Not recommending this, but I come in 5mph faster with no flaps during X-Winds and it works out fine. I know it’s due to my inexperience, but one time I came in full flaps and since the wing is “cupped” with full flaps it seems that the wind pushes me off to the side as well. Plus I like the stability of the extra airspeed and don’t have to worry about a sudden stall in the event of a wind shear. That’s just my +2 and I understand I need to dip the wing down into the wind. Just need more practice.

[Seth]

Cross wind wise, mine too handles more than 11 knots demonstrated.  However, the rudder was made bigger sometime in the 1960's.  The earlier smaller rudder does not have as good authority and thus may not handle as well as the F model and up.  It was the C and E that got the bigger rudder at some point during production.  1964?1965?

 

In crosswinds I usually come in at half flaps.  Not full.   For gusty winds, I do add some speed, and remember, I landing is always a surprise - be ready to go around as that's what's expected.

 

 

-Seth

[carusoam]

Seth,

My 65C had the short rudder. The fuselage ended with a somewhat pointy end below the rudder...

Best regards,

-a-

[jlunseth]

I also increase speed and come in no flaps in strong crosswinds, particularly when gusty.  The skittering across the runway is a problem though.  Full airleron into the crosswind does not help much because the plane is not flying once both wheels are down.  I always land on the upwind side to anticipate any skitter.  At some level of crosswind it is unavoidable.