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Gusty winds, crosswinds and landing distances


JimB

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12 hours ago, PeteMc said:

@JimBGetting back to the 45 degrees G35 for a minute...

If you're not used to strong crosswinds and gusts up to 35kts, just remember if you're not happy, go around and try it again.  I had one heck of a time the other day with the winds 20 something with G35.  It took a lot of rudder to keep straight.  All was good until I was a few feet above the runway and...   the Gust stopped Gusting!  Dropped and got a good bounce!

It was a nice long runway but this was not a day I was going to try and save it with those gusts.  Second time around I still had to work for it, but the landing was fine.

 

Thanks Pete. Completely understand. I am watching the weather this week and going to decide what our plan is a bit later. If the weather doesn't cooperate, we may head out Friday afternoon and stay at another airport Friday night then get up early Saturday and fly to our destination. Our ultimate destination is Ocracoke NC. But I think we may fly into First Flight/Kitty Hawk Friday and then take a leisurely flight down the beach to Ocracoke Saturday morning. 

But looking at the forecast, it has improved since I was looking over the weekend with 15/16 gusting to 23 so we will see.

My wife is a pretty good non-flying copilot. Usually on final if its gusty, bumpy and I've got the Mooney in a 45 degree crab, she has her hands up going "WEEEEEE!!" like we were at an amusement park on a roller coaster! :D And I prefer to keep her happy flying with me. 

 

Edited by JimB
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4 minutes ago, JimB said:

Thanks Pete. Completely understand. I am watching the weather this week and going to decide what our plan is a bit later. If the weather doesn't cooperate, we may head out Friday afternoon and stay at another airport Friday night then get up early Saturday and fly to our destination. Our ultimate destination is Ocracoke NC. But I think we may fly into First Flight/Kitty Hawk Friday and then take a leisurely flight down the beach to Ocracoke Saturday morning. 

You do realize:

  • Kitty Hawk has no fuel
  • Kitty Hawk has no services
  • Kitty Hawk does not allow camping 
  • Kitty Hawk may not allow overnight parking

Have fun!

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35 minutes ago, Hank said:

You do realize:

  • Kitty Hawk has no fuel
  • Kitty Hawk has no services
  • Kitty Hawk does not allow camping 
  • Kitty Hawk may not allow overnight parking

Have fun!

Thanks! Ocracoke doesn't have much either. 

  • Kitty Hawk has no fuel - true but Dare county does if I need it
  • Kitty Hawk has no services - true
  • Kitty Hawk does not allow camping - true
  • Kitty Hawk may not allow overnight parking - they do allow 24 hour parking
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One time in gusty I was coming down in the crab,  got set up to land,  gust knocked the tail around, Still had runway.  got set up to land gust knocked the tail around,   Got me annoyed so switched to a one wheel landing.  worked perfect.   Talking to a CFI his point was you are in an air mass and that air mass is moving.  That being said sometimes a plop on the runway is good too.  and yes there will be people watching when you plop it on.   It's just spring flying in Texas.

Edited by Yetti
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I use what the POH says for my M20J, and if I am over 2740 lbs I use what the 2900 lb Gross Weight AFM supplement instructs:

Normal X wind:  15° flaps crosswind greater than 12 kts.
Above 2,740 lbs:  15° flaps crosswind less than 10 kts.   0° flaps for crosswinds greater than 10 kts.  Add 10 kts to the approach speed.

3E9504E3-4747-4C68-850B-7E97E7D167A0.jpeg

5F27BC6B-6480-4F8A-A926-C617C8D79B42.jpeg

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Here is a 3200x50 strip.   Looks like I only used 2150 or so of it.   Not too much wind.   You can see the little pull ups where I am feeling for the runway.   Helps to land this way when doing night landings.

 

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1 hour ago, Yetti said:

Here is a 3200x50 strip.   Looks like I only used 2150 or so of it.   Not too much wind.   You can see the little pull ups where I am feeling for the runway.   Helps to land this way when doing night landings.

I do the same thing. 

Once you cross the numbers, your speed is what it is. Now it's just a matter of setting the mains down first. This works at 65 knots or 90 knots. Hold it off and gently feel for the runway with your main gear, not the nose gear. Of course the higher the speed, the more runway you'll use up. But you can still set it down gently without any bouncing.

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2 hours ago, Yetti said:

Here is a 3200x50 strip.   Looks like I only used 2150 or so of it.   Not too much wind.   You can see the little pull ups where I am feeling for the runway.   Helps to land this way when doing night landings.

 

Your title on that video cracked me up :)

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48 minutes ago, jaylw314 said:

Your title on that video cracked me up :)

It's part of the series

Viral video of Mooney going for a flight without breaking anything

Viral video of Mooney actually landing on the actual centerline.

 

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15 hours ago, JimB said:

Thanks! Ocracoke doesn't have much either. 

  • Kitty Hawk has no fuel - true but Dare county does if I need it
  • Kitty Hawk has no services - true
  • Kitty Hawk does not allow camping - true
  • Kitty Hawk may not allow overnight parking - they do allow 24 hour parking

Okracoke brings back memories.  Gusty there.  10 foot sand dunes off either side make funny wind currents.  Took my wife there for an early date.  When we went to leave it was breezy. Cirrus did a low flyby.  Assessing wind?  I waited, hearing nothing on ctaf.  Eventually I got tired and peeked out down the runway.  Found the cirrus off the side.  One wheel had gone off the egde of the runway into sand, spun the airplane 180, the tail had hit the dune and snapped the tail off behind the baggage area.  Waited for the fire trucks from town.  Once the fire truck and people were clear, asked my wife if she was ok taking off past the wreck... she was.  We’re still married!

Edited by Ragsf15e
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19 hours ago, Rmag said:

I use what the POH says for my M20J, and if I am over 2740 lbs I use what the 2900 lb Gross Weight AFM supplement instructs:

Normal X wind:  15° flaps crosswind greater than 12 kts.
Above 2,740 lbs:  15° flaps crosswind less than 10 kts.   0° flaps for crosswinds greater than 10 kts.  Add 10 kts to the approach speed.

I looked at that bit once, I did pull it to someone as "POH admitting you can land the M20J higher than it's 11kts max demo crosswind" :lol:
As far as I am concerned, the M20J copes fine with 20kts XW but I would like some headwind as runway is short 2000ft
On nearby runway long 8000ft runway, the only limit seems to be able to taxi & park it & pilot currency !  

While we do stick to max demo XW = 11kts on M20J dual training flights, but a great emphasis that one is free to go in 40kts XW if they are near the super current pilot bracket = 50h & 100 landing per month :)

Edited by Ibra
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7 hours ago, Ragsf15e said:

Okracoke brings back memories.  Gusty there.  10 foot sand dunes off either side make funny wind currents.  Took my wife there for an early date.  When we went to leave it was breezy. Cirrus did a low flyby.  Assessing wind?  I waited, hearing nothing on ctaf.  Eventually I got tired and peeked out down the runway.  Found the cirrus off the side.  One wheel had gone off the egde of the runway into sand, spun the airplane 180, the tail had hit the dune and snapped the tail off behind the baggage area.  Waited for the fire trucks from town.  Once the fire truck and people were clear, asked my wife if she was ok taking off past the wreck... she was.  We’re still married!

That's' great! (the part about your wife, not the Cirrus!:blink:) My wife and I got married on the beach there many years ago and have been back 10-15 times but I haven't flown in there in a while. I also used to live in the RDU area and learned to fly in high school. I have flown there in a 172 a few times but that was many many years ago. 

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