ORIGINAL: Dusty1
I’ve seen calm days turn bad in an instant and I've seen people at the field go into an absolute panic when it does.
I recently experienced this - so it does happen. Makes me believe a new pilot should learn how to handle flying in the wind at the earliest opportunity.
I was about 6 or 7 flights after solo and headed to the field after work. There was no one else at the field. It was overcast and cool. The wind was blowing about 6-8 MPH - straight down the runway from the SW. Just right!
I got up into the air, flew around randomly for a bit, and then added in a few basic maneuvers - figure eight, roll, loop. All of a sudden ... "SLAM" ... the wind came up out of nowhere and slammed both me and the plane. The wind instantly jumped another 15 to 20 miles per hour - blowing at I'd guess 25 to 30 - with gusts to possibly 35. I suddenly found myself flying in the strongest winds I've yet to see at the field. And after a couple of minutes I could see that the wind wasn't planning on letting up before I ran out of fuel.
Well, it wasn't like I could yell to someone else for help. Recognizing that I was on my own to get my plane down in one piece I decided to close with the runway and start a landing approach - so I could get a feel for the situation and hopefully land under power while I still had fuel. A quick check of the windsock showed the wind was still straight down the runway. So I entered my down wind leg and throttled way back to try and help keep my airspeed down.
My base leg turn was good, in spite of the wind, and I found myself lined up nicely with the runway centerline. Only the plane wasn't getting any closer to me. I believe it was actually even flying backwards - even though I had advanced the throttle quite a bit as I had turned on to the up wind leg. I gave it yet more throttle, and then some more, and watched the plane slowly inch it's way towards me.
This had to be one of the funniest things I've seen yet - while flying. The plane was 15-20 feet off the deck, I had a huge amount of throttle on (well over half-throttle), and the plane was barely moving relative to the ground. I stayed easy on the rons, making tiny smooth corrections as needed, and still trying to stay ready in case a cross gust caught me.
The plane slowly clawed up the runway. By the time it neared the pilot station area I had it down to about 7-8 feet off the deck. I now had my hands full trying to keep it level and centered. It finally drifted into me a bit so I eased off the throttle and decided it was coming down ready or not. I gave it a little flair and it settled right down on to the dirt apron just off the pilots area. I quickly killed the engine and ran up and grabbed it before the wind picked it up and blew it away. Caught a hold of it right as the wind was picking it up to throw her on her back. No damage, no harm, no foul!
Gobs, that was fun!!!!
They’d turn around and yell for someone to come help land their plane. If someone couldn’t get to them fast enough or if no one else was available to help, their planes bit the dust. Fair weather flying is great if you can always guarantee fair weather. But it pays to know how to handle a plane in adverse conditions when the need arises. And knowing how comes from practicing, not folding up and going home when the farmer across the field sneezes.
Gotta agree with you. The only reason I didn't panic was I had some practice at flying in some reasonably strong winds. The first couple days out with my instructor were very windy. He just pointed out that if I wanted to fly, I needed to learn to handle the wind - and make it my friend. So we flew in the wind.
I needed to take some materials out to the field last evening. Local weather called the winds at 28 MPH. When I get to the field (yeah, my plane was with me) I see the wind straight down the runway again - the wind sock was straight out from the pole. No one else at the field again. I decided to see if my previous wind landing was a fluke. So, I prep out the plane, takeoff (10 feet roll), and have a ball playing in the wind.
Figured I was at about a quarter tank so I better start heading her down for the ground. Lined the plane up with the runway, gave it just enough throttle to slowly walk it up the runway towards me. As it came up with the pilots station I walked out to it while I eased off the throttle - settling it into a picture perfect harrier landing. Reached down and grabbed it before the wind could.
Yup! I'm hooked on wind flying! Doesn't mean I'm going to fly a $500.00+ plane around in storm force winds all the time. But, I will be doing a bunch more flying in winds that ground a lot of other guys. And that's easy around here. The wind blows most all the time. And it can come up at the blink of eye on days that start off quite calm.
If you want to learn to fly in stronger winds and you don't want to risk your high $ balsa beauty build a [link=http://spadtothebone.com/]SPAD[/link]. They are tough, inexpensive and quick to build. Go play in the wind with it. Who knows, the skills you learn may just save your $$$Balsa Beauty$$$ some day. Oh, and you'll have a whole bunch of fun while doing it!