What would you do...

[Dan]

Here is the situation. Runway 36 and runway 18. Winds 10degrees at 5 knots.  One plane doing touch and gos on 18 and in the pattern. One plane on the ground preparing to depart 18. You on left downwind for runway 36. Radio calls are all proper and (assumedly) everyone is aware of where everyone is. Non towered though someone on the ground monitoring the radio. Continue in the pattern for 36? Leave the pattern and rejoin for 18?

Dan

[GeorgePerry]

I would query the other pilots and ask if they would mind shifting to the runway favored by the wind.  If all agree work out the shift over on the radio.  If not, go with the prevailing traffic and land downwind assuming your comfortable with it.

[Mooney13]

Play a game of chicken with them...   kidding... I would talk to them and see if they mind working with you to allow you to land the way you are comfortable. Maybe the guy doing touch and go's can do a 360 orbit for spacing and let you come in on 36, and the guy on the ground could certainly holding short while you land...

[Guest Anonymous]

You omitted one factor.

Is there a preferred no-wind runway for that airport?  Here at PLU, and at many other airports, if the wind is less than 5 knots there is a preferred runway due to other considerations like terrain, noise, airspace, etc.  These preferences are usually published in most airport guides and on aviation sites like AIRNAV.

RFB

[Jeff_S]

That much wind would be a non-factor for me so I would go with the prevailing traffic. That said, I'm talking about me in my Warrior which I've learned how to maneuver into many different landing situations. I don't have a Mooney yet so I don't know what my answer would be. We'll see how I feel once I start experiencing all this "float" I've heard about!

[mjc]

Quote: Dan

Here is the situation. Runway 36 and runway 18. Winds 10degrees at 5 knots.  One plane doing touch and gos on 18 and in the pattern. One plane on the ground preparing to depart 18. You on left downwind for runway 36. Radio calls are all proper and (assumedly) everyone is aware of where everyone is. Non towered though someone on the ground monitoring the radio. Continue in the pattern for 36? Leave the pattern and rejoin for 18?

Dan

[rob]

I would land with the existing traffic. 5 knots is no big deal.

Jeff, fly the proper airspeeds and you won't experience any float.

[jlunseth]

We don't know how long the runway is.  5 knots is a big deal on a short runway.

[Dan]

Runway is 3500ft, no slope, no preferred runway. Large pond north end of the runway. First time landing at the airport. Winds were reported steady. I was just curious to see what people would have done in this situation. Initially, I joined the pattern against traffic but it did not feel right. Just as I was about to exit the pattern my instructor requested I do so. Made the radio call, and  radio call came back with a kind of inquizative tone saying winds favored the other runway and there was no need. Likely it would have been OK to land against traffic, I suspect, but landing with traffic seemed to remove likely from the equation. 

One thing Ill say though, when landing over the large pond and watching all the ducks and geese on it made me a bit nervous.

Dan

[eaglebkh]

Still not a big deal.  Home base is 3600' and no slope.  I've done several downwind landings here in the 5-10 kt regeme and still have plenty of runyway left.  Consider the other plane in the pattern that day - what type, and was he having difficulty with the downwind component?

Here's some thought on landing downwind.  If someone normally lands with a 5kt headwind, and then does a downwind landing, the extra speed realized is 10 kts on the ground.  That's not the same as landing with an extra 10 kts of airspeed.  If you fly your normal final approach airspeed, then the touchdown point isn't effected very much as "floating" shouldn't be occuring - you're just covering more ground during the flare at a rate of +10kts.  To me, the bigger factor has always been in the ability to remove an extra 10kts of rolling speed.