How much wind is to much wind?
When Pilots come into town for transition training I always tell them to check back a few days before they come to review the long tern weather outlook for their training period. However some times mother nature throws us a
curve ball after the customer arrives. Not much fun traveling to a location and sitting in your Hotel room all day. So I try to complete as much training as possible within the boundary of safety. 95% of the runways in my area are orientated north south. But there is one airport close by that has a northwest southeast runway. So even if we have those usual south winds we can still get some crosswind training in. However when Walt came the wind was out of the west both days. On day one they were light, out of the west at 5 to 10 knots but on day two by the time we ended the training period the winds were out of the west at 18 gusting to 25kts.
Some pilots come to training with a specific request. Walt wanted short narrow runway landings cause he lives on one. So I was happy to accommodate him. During end of training debreif I add the following advice to each customer.
1. After leaving get back in the air as quickly as you can. Your flying skills will get rusty if you don't use them. Your plane should be close to being finished before you come. Try to fly at least once a week. If you have to, add dates to your calender designated as flying days as you would for a doctor or business appointment.
2. Wind: Start out with light winds that are alined with the runway at your home field. As you fly more and more then try to fly in higher and higher winds up to a point where anything past a certain number is a no go! Use this same mythology with x-winds, start out light and work up to stronger winds to a point where anything past a certain number is a no go! This number for most pilots is the max wind designated in the POH.
Training is a great pilot equalizer because when you leave you know your own personal capabilities. Also it never hurts to find a good
compatible flight instructor on your airport which you can occasionally go flying with to keep your skills razor sharp especially if you take a few months off from flying for one reason or another.
Remember that when on a x-country wind could be one of many reasons to divert to another airport with a runway that would be more aligned with it.
A man/pilot has got to know his limitations!
Walt congrads on your first flight.