Come to Kansas for a few days, any time of the year. We
often have winds that are 25G40, most of our runways are
pretty well laid out, but some airports do require a
crosswind landing. Of course, we routinely solo students as
long as the wind is less than 25 knots and the gusts are
minimal. But since this is Kansas, where the wind comes
sweeping down the plains, we often can have a solid day or
two of steady 25 to 40 knot winds. Our bad weather starts
at 60 knots with 2 inch hail (a golf ball is 1-3/4 inch).

One day I remember watching the airliners land. It was calm
and they all were landing very long, those calm winds are a
real problem.


--
James H. Macklin
ATP,CFI,A&P

wrote in message
oups.com...
| Hi folks,
|
| Had a bit of adventure the other night - I was in
Stockton, CA on
| business. Got back to
| the airport in the afternoon, and the winds were up
something fierce.
| Ground reports from
| home in SQL showed pretty nasty winds, too. I think it
was 15G22 right
| across the
| runway. So instead of going home, I went to Fresno,
where I had
| business to do anyway.
| FAT was reporting W290@20 - nasty enough, but not gusting
and right
| down the runway.
| And I figured it would only get better, because the sun -
the engine
| that drives high afternoon
| winds in the Valley - was down. Sure enough, the FAT atis
dropped to
| 16, then 12 knots
| as I flew.
|
| However, my actual destination was FCH, a nearby
uncontrolled
| field. The pattern was
| uncomfortable, pitch black, high winds, and turbulence.
After
| landing, I thought - "Gee,
| an ILS would have been nice". Or at least a GPS approach.
Not because
| of bad visibility - it
| was severe clear except for being dark - but rather
because instrument
| approaches do
| not feature much maneuvering at low altitudes. And I
personally find
| turbulence more
| comfortable if I'm not turning..... Next time this
happens, I might
| just swing over to FAT
| and use the ILS.
|
| - Jerry
Kaidor (
| )
|