Flight Training - April 2013 - 23

FLIGHT LESSON

By Leslie F. Nixon
FLIGHT LESSON offers the
opportunity for pilots to learn
from the experiences of others.

FAMILY REUNION

CROSSWINDS AND GET-THERE-ITIS

M

SARAH HANSON

y husband and I decided to fly from Ormond Beach,
Florida, to Gwinnett County-Briscoe Field Airport near
Atlanta to attend a family reunion. I had passed the private
pilot checkride two years previously and had around 300
hours. Somehow, late in life, I had been bitten with the flying bug, and
my husband was happy to indulge me. We owned a 1977 Cessna 172,
and we tried to get up in the air every weekend. Naturally, for the family
reunion, we wanted to fly for three and a half hours rather than drive
for eight and a half. Visiting with the in-laws was not my favorite thing,
but if it involves flying I’ll do just about anything.
It was late spring, and on the day of
our flight it was windy—so windy that my
sister-in-law in Atlanta said we shouldn’t
fly. I, however, knew more about flying
than she did. Winds were 10 knots at our
home base, but predicted to be 15 knots
with gusts up to 25 knots at our destination. Light turbulence was forecast at
various altitudes along the route. I was still
having trouble with crosswind landings,
but I believed I was getting better. I like a
challenge, and I didn’t want to be a wimp.
We took off in early afternoon and
encountered moderate turbulence almost
immediately. The headwinds had been
reported to be the weakest at 3,000 feet,
so I flew there. But the conditions were

difficult. I had a tough time keeping the
airplane at a constant altitude. As we got
close to Atlanta, I heard other pilots asking to divert because of the high surface
winds. Hmm, I thought. Well, maybe it’s
not so bad at LZU. But it also was reporting 20 knots with gusts to 28 knots. Winds
were from 300 and we would be landing
on Runway 27. A quick calculation showed
that to be a possible 14-knot crosswind
component. That was within the limitations of the airplane, but I was not sure if
it was within my limitations. Logic told me
to find an alternative airport, but logic lost
to passion and get-there-itis. I entered a
left base for Runway 27, doing my best to
remain in control of the airplane.

PLUS Read how crosswinds and too much airspeed made a bad combination
in this NTSB report.

I turned to final and put in 10 degrees of
flaps. I fought it valiantly all the way down,
screaming and making very unladylike
utterances. Everything fell off of my lap—
notebook, pens, charts—but I focused on
staying level and trying not to fly into the
ground. Just when we were about to set
down, however, a big gust hit the little
airplane and sent us back up into the air.
Now what? I couldn’t imagine what it
would be like to have to fight the winds
again. There was plenty of runway left, so
I decided to just go ahead and land, which
somehow I did. When we touched down,
we were slightly crooked and had a lot of
speed. But I was too exhausted from the
difficult flight to brake and steer properly.
Plus, it seemed that if I braked too hard,
the airplane would topple over. There was
a nice soft green patch of mostly level grass
ahead and to the left, and I just let our
airplane go there. We taxied roughly in the
turf for about 20 yards and came to a stop.
We were on the ground and alive, and had
no damage to us or the airplane.
The feeling of relief soon gave way
to extreme embarrassment. The tower
radioed to see if we were OK. When I told
them we were, I was shocked to hear next
the dreaded words: “Please call the tower
after securing the plane.” Distraught from
the treacherous flight and landing, and
having lost my writing materials on the
floor of the airplane, I had to request “Say
again?” three times before I could copy
down the phone number. My heart sank: I
was going to get in deep trouble for what I
did, for being so stupid and stubborn.
We taxied to the FBO. After parking, I
called the tower phone number and waited
to hear my punishment. But the controller
just wanted to find out what happened. I
explained how difficult the flight was and
how I got in over my head with the winds
on landing. He seemed satisfied with that
and let me go. I have since established
personal minimums for landing conditions
and plan to abide by them. In addition, I
will ditch the macho attitude and listen to
other opinions about flying—even if they
do come from my sister-in-law.

APRIL 2013 FLIGHT TRAINING

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http://www.aopa.org/asf/ntsb/narrative.cfm?ackey=1&evid=20111003X42104
Flight Training - April 2013

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