Crosswind

[ncdmtb]

Last Saturday I flew to Pula, Croatia (from Augsburg, Germany).

 

I crossed the Alps at FL160 in my 1964 M20E and had a smooth ride. When I passed through FL080 during the approach, the "bora" started to hit me. The "Bora" is a "mountain wind" in the Adriatic region. I landed on 09 in Pula. A nice long (10,000´) and wide (150´) runway - so plenty of room. When I landed the wind was from 04 at 25knots gusting to 33knots; so a 19-25knot crosswind.

 

I only have about 150hours in the Mooney and it was the strongest crosswind I encountered yet. I was "tense and focused" and was concerned if I was about to exceed my limits. I know my POH has 15knots as max "demonstrated". The landing went well. When I took off the wind was not much better. Even when I was flying about 100mph, the stall warning was going due to the gusts (both on approach and departure).

 

I was "extremely tense", but confident in what I was doing.

 

I had one passenger, who is also a pilot. If I would have had a "non-pilot"/"nervous passenger" - I would have diverted to another airport.

 

I would like to hear what others have flown in crosswind wise?

 

Was this "foolish" of me? Or is that a normal part of "testing limits"?

[Joe Zuffoletto]

All's well that ends well. Sounds like everything but the wind was in your favor: giant runway, another pilot onboard, etc. I'd say you were probably pretty close to the edge of your Mooney's crosswind envelope, so now you know what it's like.

 

Similar conditions are common at my airport here in Denver. We fly with 5-15 knot gusting crosswinds quite a lot. We have big runways too, and that helps. But anything gusting perpendicular to the runway more than about 15-20 keeps me on the ground.

[Danb]

i don't think it was foolish of if you have been practicing your crossing landings and knew when to abort..my worse crossing was in my 201 landing in n myrtle beach i was approaching runway with my wingtip aiming down the runway i was giving it one try then divert like you i was tense needless to say it was one of the best landings iv made..something to concentrating on our numbers and technique..

[MooneyBob]

i don't think it was foolish of if you have been practicing your crossing landings and knew when to abort..my worse crossing was in my 201 landing in n myrtle beach i was approaching runway with my wingtip aiming down the runway i was giving it one try then divert like you i was tense needless to say it was one of the best landings iv made..something to concentrating on our numbers and technique..

And some of the worst landing happend during ideal conditions when we just got too comfortable, unfocused and lazy.

[N201MKTurbo]

Great job! I have not found a cross wind that the Mooney cannot land in. There comes a point where you run out of rudder, but in those situations your forward speed is so low you can land at an angle unless the runway is real narrow. I landed in Laramie WY. once with a 60 KT cross wind (the cross wind runway was down for maintenance). It wasn't gusty and I basically hovered down to the runway.  

 

Two things, these exploits were 30 years ago when I was young and foolish, and the Mooney is better in cross winds then most people give it credit for.

[MooneyBob]

Last Saturday I flew to Pula, Croatia (from Augsburg, Germany).

 

I crossed the Alps at FL160 in my 1964 M20E and had a smooth ride. When I passed through FL080 during the approach, the "bora" started to hit me. The "Bora" is a "mountain wind" in the Adriatic region. I landed on 09 in Pula. A nice long (10,000´) and wide (150´) runway - so plenty of room. When I landed the wind was from 04 at 25knots gusting to 33knots; so a 19-25knot crosswind.

 

I only have about 150hours in the Mooney and it was the strongest crosswind I encountered yet. I was "tense and focused" and was concerned if I was about to exceed my limits. I know my POH has 15knots as max "demonstrated". The landing went well. When I took off the wind was not much better. Even when I was flying about 100mph, the stall warning was going due to the gusts (both on approach and departure).

 

I was "extremely tense", but confident in what I was doing.

 

I had one passenger, who is also a pilot. If I would have had a "non-pilot"/"nervous passenger" - I would have diverted to another airport.

 

I would like to hear what others have flown in crosswind wise?

 

Was this "foolish" of me? Or is that a normal part of "testing limits"?

If you tried with " I will go around with first sign of trouble " I wouldn't call it foolish. Good job.

Anyway, I have been in Croatia ( by the car and boat, not flying) many times. What a beautiful country. Did a lot of scubadiving there. Really deep ones too. Long before I got my PPL.

[PMcClure]

I say ok as long as you keep a solid out if conditions are more than you can handle.

[PMcClure]

I say ok as long as you keep a solid out if conditions are more than you can handle.

[Jerry 5TJ]

The Bora winds are similar to the Santa Ana winds in southern California, both are I think a type of Foehn winds -- strong downslope flows.   In Southern California, when the Santa Ana blows, look out for rotors, strong crosswinds, and impressive low level turbulence.  As the winds come from unusual direction, they often make for cross winds on runways designed for the prevailing breezes.   Lots of GA stay on the ground when Santa Ana winds blow.  Good experience when tested carefully. 

 

Raymond Chandler wrote memorably of those winds, too:

 

"There was a desert wind blowing that night. It was one of those hot dry Santa Anas that come down through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch. On nights like that every booze party ends in a fight. Meek little wives feel the edge of the carving knife and study their husbands' necks. Anything can happen. You can even get a full glass of beer at a cocktail lounge."
 

(from Red Wind)

 

[Bob_Belville]

I'm liking the part about a '64 E @ FL160! 

[FloridaMan]

One thing to be careful of is after you land and the rollout. Make sure you don't get lazy with your aileron input after touchdown and crosswind taxi. I have around 600 hours in my Mooney; a couple weeks ago I landed on a gusty night and on roll-out it was like it rolled up onto the nose and one of the main wheels. and started towards the side of the runway. Fortunately it was a 150ft wide runway and I recovered, but I have never experienced anything like that. I remember thinking that if I had been in a taildragger, I believed I would've ground-looped it before I knew what happened. 

[AndyFromCB]

Great job! I have not found a cross wind that the Mooney cannot land in. There comes a point where you run out of rudder, but in those situations your forward speed is so low you can land at an angle unless the runway is real narrow. I landed in Laramie WY. once with a 60 KT cross wind (the cross wind runway was down for maintenance). It wasn't gusty and I basically hovered down to the runway.  

 

Two things, these exploits were 30 years ago when I was young and foolish, and the Mooney is better in cross winds then most people give it credit for.

 

Good old Laramie. 40 some knots so far is my record there (seemed like 0 gusting to 40). I thought I was going to lose my lunch on that approach. I had a ton of power in all the way until right before touchdown and it still felt like landing a helicopter. Doing about 75 to 100 indicated all the way down to the runway (seriously, no reason to even look at your airspeed), pull the power back in flare, almost instant, gentle touchdown.

 

[Jerry 5TJ]

... allegedly heard on a West Texas ATIS  "winds light and variable, gusts to 40"

[jlunseth]

37G54, 50 degrees to the runway.  Wasn't that bad.  Would not do it again though unless I had to.

[rbp]

if you want to get real good at flying crosswinds, go get a glider add-on. landing on one wheel improves your crosswind technique immensely.

[ryoder]

I would have picked a different airport or waited for the wind to change. But then that is me and I have lower minimums.

[AndyFromCB]

I would have picked a different airport or waited for the wind to change. But then that is me and I have lower minimums.

 

Correct, but out west, many a day you'll take off with the TAF calling for light and variable at your ETA and out of nowhere it's gusting to 35…And different airport might be at least 100 miles away if you're looking for different conditions.

[N201MKTurbo]

Well, when you have work to do at your destination, that's where you go. I probably would have gone somewhere else if I couldn't make it after the fourth or fifth attempt. That day in Laramie there was a Beech 99 full of passengers on his third attempt to take off.

[AndyFromCB]

Well, when you have work to do at your destination, that's where you go. I probably would have gone somewhere else if I couldn't make it after the fourth or fifth attempt. That day in Laramie there was a Beech 99 full of passengers on his third attempt to take off.

 

A lot of times, that's the trick, just catching the win at the perfect moment for the few seconds right before touchdown…My record is 3 go arounds due to wind, landed on the 4th, at Joe's home base, KAPA