Am I being stupid? x-wind practice

[walkman]

I was going to title this "am I nuts" but I think know the answer to that.

Winds 16G22 today, nothing flying at the home airport, and I'm out trying to find the runway with the greatest cross wind component and practicing stop and goes.

I got 10 in and it felt like an hour in the gym.

Does anyone else put themselves through this sort of thing for fun?

[Don]

Yes. Good practice.

[N941WR]

I do the same and because of that type of practice, I am not afraid of crosswinds.

[Vlad]

Originally Posted by walkman

Does anyone else put themselves through this sort of thing for fun?

Guilty here. I teach my airplane how to handle the maximum component. People who happened to watch this said it wasn't a pretty show.

[crabandy]

Y'all ain't from Kansas are ya!

[rzbill]

22G34 today but it was straight down the runway. Rats.

[Caummisar]

16G22 That's a standard day here in Amarillo Don't know how to fly in calm conditions. . If I have to wait for winds 15 or below I'd never fly.

[Paul K]

Yup, I haven't found the maximum yet, still working on it.

[Skykingbob]

I remember after being a pilot for a few years (a long time ago in a galaxy far away) I found that I was very apprehensive of crosswinds. I was living in PHX and decided to hire an instructor(a T-38 IP) at a local flight school to go up with me on a crosswind day. We did a LOT of to's and ldgs. It was excellent. With new skills and confidence I began going up on days with a crosswind just to keep proficient.

Well I am glad to say that crosswinds are a challenge I actually enjoy to execute competently. I remember one time landing at 1B6 in MA that the
winds were blowing at 25 G 40 when I arrived in the area with a C182. It was a landing with a high pucker factor...but I used the same technique to land safely (if not pretty) thanks to learning and practicing!

I like your idea....the only nuts are folks that fail to stay proficient in such
skills...then finding they have to use them when they are not prepared.

[Toobuilder]

Originally Posted by walkman

...Does anyone else put themselves through this sort of thing for fun?

Yep. Guilty.

The only difference with me is that I don't usually look for crosswinds on purpose, they find me. Just the nature of geography - like it or not, we get plenty of crosswind practice at this airport.