Lesson 15: Gusty Crosswind Landings

A crosswind is always difficult...but a pilot must know how to manage and control a plane in a crosswind. I started to taxi and according to the AWOS the winds were from 200. A perfect 90 degree crosswind. The wind sock was exactly perpendicular to the runway. Pilots had been taking off and landing on runway one one so I began to taxi towards that runway. At the hold short line my instructor pointed out that the wind sock at the end of the runway did indeed favor runway one one...which means wind shear. 

I continued to apply my turns to a point lesson to flying in the traffic pattern with this strong crosswind. As I turned left after departure I had to make a very steep turn on the crosswind leg to prevent from being blown away from the runway. Once I was in the downwind leg I had to crab quite a bit to stay parallel to the runway. I did a nice job going through my landing checklist. Level off at 1,200 feet, airspeed at 67 knots, flaps at 10 degrees, engine rpm at 3,000 and I was abeam of the numbers. Things were looking nice on the base leg. I was at 600 feet over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge. Upon turning for final things began to get messy. Remember that crosswind? You have to apply some serious right aileron and left rudder to slip into the wind to remain on centerline. The plane dropped and climbed due to wind shear and gusty winds so the approach was not stable. As I was gliding in over the runway there was a big dip in the winds and the plane dropped quickly and my flight instructor stepped in to execute the go-around. My second approach was better but I executed a go-around. Yep, number three was just not there yet, though it was indeed my best approach to the runway yet. I maintained centerline and fought the crosswinds. I also used my engine power to overcome the dips and rises in wind along my final approach path. On a side note, there was another plane turning right base for runway one one. The traffic pattern is always a left traffic pattern meaning that planes should always turn to the left for each leg of the traffic pattern. Due to this I had to extend my downwind past the major superstructure of the Bay Bridge. I turned base before I entered the Special Flight Rules Area (SFRA) for Washington D.C. Now my final approach is probably twice as long as it usually is. Nonetheless, I fought the crosswinds, if I felt the plane drop and bob upwards I carefully adjusted the engine RPMs to accommodate the abrupt change in altitude (which, by the way, you can feel this change when your butt is being pushed on or it feels like a sudden drop) and I made it back to the runway. Still I had to go-around and abort my landing. Nothing wrong with that since my approach was not stable. My fourth time around I nailed it. Everything looked great during the approach but as I began to flare I let the winds push the nose of the plane to the left so I landed on the left side of the runway with an awkward touch down. It was not rough. The landing gear did not break. I was able to taxi the plane to the fuel pump. I was able to walk away from the plane. Thus, safe landing.

All in all I had an opportunity to continue working on my crosswind landings in gusty winds and landing procedures in general. If I could just get some calm winds.....I could SOLO!