WINDY!! What are your limitations?

[sandifer]

One thing to keep in mind when reading about crosswind landing adventures is that the airport wind conditions at the time are not necessarily the conditions your are actually exposed to on touchdown when landing. At my airport, there's not much of a crosswind component once down to the runway regardless of wind speed. If I knew I had to land in an unsheltered 35KT crosswind, I wouldn't bother making a crosswind landing, I'd probably just land directly into the wind on a taxiway...touchdown ground speed would be about 10 mph!

To get a feel for truly how much crosswind you and your airplane can handle, go to an airport with wind reporting that is wide open with absolutely no obstructions from the prevailing wind direction. Make a normal approach and practice flying down the runway centerline a couple feet off while holding heading and track. No need to touchdown. 15KT of 90 degree unsheltered crosswind is all I really care for in my RV-3. At normal landing speeds, it's close to running out of rudder at this point. Of course, the faster you are the less correction you need, but I don't care to land at 100 mph.

That being said, I worry a lot more about wind shear, gusts, and mechanical turbulence than pure steady crosswind. This is more likely anyway when the wind really starts kicking. Anyone who has encountered a scary sinker down low surely appreciates the high power-to-weight ratio of an RV.

[Guenthfa]

I'm with everyone else here, it's the gusts that concern me, not a steady crosswind. I have only landed like this 2 times in my flying career but don't forget the option of touching down on the runway and rolling out onto the taxi way in a high 90 degree cross wind. The first choice should alway be an alternate runway or airport but in case that option is not available the pilot is responsible for getting the A/C on the ground safely. And yes, one of those landings I was asked to stop in and talk to the controller. He was very understanding but asked that in the future I inform the tower of my intention to touch down on the base leg.

[the_other_dougreeves]

Originally Posted by sandifer

One thing to keep in mind when reading about crosswind landing adventures is that the airport wind conditions at the time are not necessarily the conditions your are actually exposed to on touchdown when landing.

Well said. I remember one such day at Hays, KS - I left the ASOS going on the standby monitor of the SL40 while in the pattern. The wind would shift and gust frequently and was about 30 deg different than when I first called up.

TODR

[AlexPeterson]

For 90 degree crosswinds of magnitude (at the aircraft) as shown, the crab angle through the air, assuming the airplane is aligned with the runway, would be (inverse tangent xwind/TAS):

[IMG][/IMG]

[n468ac]

Originally Posted by AlexPeterson

[IMG][/IMG]

Thats cool ... never though about the real angle.

[terrykohler]

A long, wide runway goes a long way toward allowing landing in high wind conditions. With enough pavement, it's easy to compensate for gusts, surrounding terrain, etc. As wind speed begins to reach/exceed stall speed, the more difficult issue to deal with is maintaining control during taxi. At the same time, I find that surface winds much over 35kts. usually result in some pretty uncomfortable flight conditions in those last 2000-3000 feet AGL. This is particularly true if you're riding as passenger rather than as pilot.
Terry

[Kevin Horton]

Originally Posted by AlexPeterson

For 90 degree crosswinds of magnitude (at the aircraft) as shown, the crab angle through the air, assuming the airplane is aligned with the runway, would be (inverse tangent xwind/TAS):

[IMG][/IMG]

Actually, it is a bit worse than that. It is inverse sin(xwind/TAS), as the path through the air is not aligned with the runway, but instead it is along the hypotenuse of the wind triangle. So, if we have a 30 kt direct crosswind, with a 55 kt TAS, the crab angle is about 33 degrees.

[the_other_dougreeves]

Rules of thumb:

30 deg crosswind = 1/2 of wind
45 deg crosswind = sqrt(2) / 2 = ~ 70% of wind
60 deg crosswind = almost the full wind

Doug

[n468ac]

Originally Posted by n468ac

90 deg cross wind 25kts is easy ... but i did make it with a 35 kts 90 deg cross wind, I told my passenger i was going to make one approach, if we had to go missed i had alt airport with the wind right down the runway.

The thread has changed a little over time so to add to my first post;

My land / go around is always based on if i have a stable approach, I've always found if i have a nice stable approach picture landing is easy. But if you are getting blown around, traffic issues, mechanical problems, distractions you need to go around.

[hevansrv7a]

All the above information is very helpful. I'll just add that I've found that when I land in the lee (downwind side) of trees or buildings that the management of the touchdown and initial slow-down can be very tricky due to the local turbulance those obstacles cause. This is not RV specific, more airport specific. I will even land partway down to runway to avoid that if I can.