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Outragous Crosswind in Cruise


S3flyer

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I flew down to Biloxi from Dallas this weekend and cross through/into a cold (for us southerner) airmass that had significant winds. I flew at 5500 ft MSL and the forecast winds were 40+ kts at a quartering tailwind -- mostly crosswind though. No forecast turbulence.

 

Flying through eastern LA into MS, I saw 90 kt cross-winds at 5500 ft. I had a 50 degree crab going to hold my course. I've attached a picture of my Dynon showing a blurry (no turbulence -- yeah right) cross-wind of 88 kts. The wind was also not constant -- it would shift up to 45 degrees and change in magnitude down to around 15 kts then go up, down and sideways. :rolleyes: The Dynon AP fought the good fight and kept my mostly on course.

 

And I don't think it's a problem with the Dynon. Worked perfectly on the 2+ hrs leg before the big wind and worked fine for 4+ hrs today.

 

Only hit my head on the canopy once :blink:

 

Wind on the ground was actually fine -- landed in 9G23 mostly straight down the runway.

post-27-095404900 1289188686_thumb.jpg

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I flew down to Biloxi from Dallas this weekend and cross through/into a cold (for us southerner) airmass that had significant winds. I flew at 5500 ft MSL and the forecast winds were 40+ kts at a quartering tailwind -- mostly crosswind though. No forecast turbulence.

 

Flying through eastern LA into MS, I saw 90 kt cross-winds at 5500 ft. I had a 50 degree crab going to hold my course. I've attached a picture of my Dynon showing a blurry (no turbulence -- yeah right) cross-wind of 88 kts. The wind was also not constant -- it would shift up to 45 degrees and change in magnitude down to around 15 kts then go up, down and sideways. :rolleyes: The Dynon AP fought the good fight and kept my mostly on course.

 

And I don't think it's a problem with the Dynon. Worked perfectly on the 2+ hrs leg before the big wind and worked fine for 4+ hrs today.

 

Only hit my head on the canopy once :blink:

 

Wind on the ground was actually fine -- landed in 9G23 mostly straight down the runway.

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I think I may have also gotten a piece of that action! I flew back to Albuquerque from Amarillo on Sunday morning. Took off from Tradewind (KTDW) with just a bit of wind almost down the runway (200 at 12) but at 500 AGL it lit up. Had a plus of minus 35 degree left crosswind correction in to stay on course westbound and with a TAS of 125 was only showing 80 knots groundspeed. Stayed as low as possible as it only got worse higher. Interestingly it was almost smooth until I hit the terrain in eastern New Mexico. After that I got Maytagged pretty continuously all the way to home base in Albuquerque at Double Eagle II airport (KAEG). Again, dropping down through continuous turbulence and a screaming southwesterly headwind, once I got to within 500 feet AGL the wind almost totally quit and I landed in a light breeze of just 4 knots. What a morning!

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Olav, welcome to West Texas!!! I deal with this pretty much 9 months out of the year. From August thru October, it calms down. You should be here in the Spring when we have some days when the wind on the ground averages 45mph. That's why I'm always posting the "wind during landing" type posts asking for advice because it has such a huge impact on my flying.

 

John

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We get pretty much the same springtime pattern here in New Mexico also...screaming southwesterly wind from midday to evening from March through early June. You either get good and confident in those conditions or you don't fly. I take my CT over to Oklahoma City quite a bit and the wind in the Texas Panhandle is usually the strongest...but over the flatlands east of the New Mexico border at least the terrain induced turbulence is pretty mild. Those winds here in the mountains and you get banged around a lot! But the CT is a very capable plane...I actually find it easier to handle a strong crosswind in it than in my 182. It is so much more nimble so allows quicker corrections. As long as you stay on top of it!

 

 

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