CROSSWINDS CAN BE SO..... INTERESTING?!

Another Thursday and another chance to fly .... or maybe not!  The photo above is the windscreen of WAM while I was pre-flighting prior to doing a few circuits.  The rain had just started!!  Thankfully, this little shower did not stay long and I was able to get going.  There was quite a lot of traffic about and I had a bit of a wait to get a taxi clearance - photo below!

CTC's 172s JMY, JZM and twinstar CT?M queuing up at Echo1 - JMC on the right has just landed.

Once cleared for taxi I found a nice clear area to run up and do my pre-takeoff checks and then waited at Echo1 for some of the landing traffic - I think everyone was trying to get things done before the weather really got bad.  The ATIS went something like this;  Visual approach runway 18L - damp; wind 260º at 6 knots; cloud - few 500', broken 3000'; QNH 1009; 2000' wind 220º at 20 knots.

So, quite windy above us (could see that from the clouds moving!) but only a light 6 knot crosswind to contend with - should be good crosswind practice.

Once moving again, I backtracked to the end of 18R and as I started my 180 at the end was asked to confirm ready for immediate takeoff - I had half prepared for this by switching the transponder to mode C and as I turned flicked the landing light on.  I answered "affirm" and was cleared immediate take off.  I read that back, flicked the strobes on, had a quick look around and pushed the throttle forward as soon as I was lined up.

Five quite interesting circuits followed.  There were a few others up and I was generally number three for approach on each downwind call.  The first circuit was pretty routine and an acceptable landing resulted in what was still a fairly steady and light cross wind.  Oh, before I forget, this bit is for flyinkiwi:  On one of the climbouts I made a point of checking how WAM was performing - 95KIAS and climbing at 900fpm (feet per minute) - not bad at all.  Not quite up to JGP's climbout performance but no slouch.  I didn't try it any slower (i.e. steeper) as with all the traffic about I wanted to keep a decent lookout and didn't want the nose too high.

The second circuit was quite long (following a rather wide cicuiting Katana) and the landing not quite as good.  The wind was getting up a bit and from the way the windsock was turning about variable in both strength and direction.  There was also a wee bit of windshear through 900' on the approach.  Nothing frightening, but enough to rock the wings a bit.  The third circuit was much the same.

The fourth circuit restored my faith in my flying abilities.  I was approaching 18R in sideslip mode (that is nose straight to the runway and wings into the wind using a bit of left rudder and opposite aileron - column to the right) and this time the wind was fairly constant.  It was easy to keep straight down the centreline and I was about 65 knots over the threshold with 20º of flap, flared and held off just right so that the mainwheels touched down so lightly I hardly knew I was on the runway.  Perfect, YEAH!!

It couldn't last.  The next circuit was my last as there was a turboprop about to go out so was called for a full stop on 18R and reckoned I didn't have time to hang around for more circuits (would have to queue behind at least two others).  I think I caught a bit of the wake from the departing plane on very short final as I got a sudden bit of lift an roll to the right.  By the time I got the plane straight I was almost on the runway, so flared and came down a tad to the left of centre but straight enough with only a moderate bump and no bounce.  I taxied back to refuel and put WAM away and the clouds were now looking very ominous (pictures below) so I reckoned my decision to stop was good.  Not surprisingly, my planned night flight to Auckland later today is not going to happen!

NOT ONE OF MY BEST DAYS!!

I guess we all have our "off" days and I think today was one for me and flying!

Due to a combination of work and weather I had not been up for 4 weeks and was keen to get going again.  I had booked one of the club's older Archers, UFS, for two hours in the morning.  It was pretty chilly at -2 overnight but after a touch of morning fog all was clear and sunny over the field by 1000.  After unwrapping the plane and preflighting, it was a bit of a mission to coax a cold UFS into life (I was a bit concerned about the battery for a wee while until the engine eventually fired at my fourth attempt!)

I promptly called the tower and asked for a city departure clearance and, what had I forgotten? Yep, the ATIS, der!! - not a great start.  The tower were very forgiving and gave me the clearance to taxi to holding point Golf for 18R (the smaller sealed runway), my city clearance and a brief on the ATIS - thanks guys and sorry, I guess I was way too eager to get into the air.

Things progressed pretty smoothly after that.  While I was running up they changed the duty runway to 36 and from Golf the tower asked me to take off from 25R, no problem in a 3 knot variable wind and merely a 180º turn from that holding point and a very short taxi to line up on 25R.  I departed over the city, climbing to 2000 feet once clear of the CTR and to the North, Ngaruawahia, Taupiri, the Hakarimata range and Huntly were all shrouded in low cloud/fog up to about 1200', the tops of the hills almost completely covered.  It didn't look too inviting.

It was much clearer over Raglan harbour to the west so my plans changed and after a traffic call on 119.1, "Te Kowhai traffic, UFS is Horotiu, 2000', turning left on track Raglan".  I got to Raglan uneventfully, turning over the airfield there to track back to Hamilton.  As I was crossing the foothills North of Pirongia listening to the tower after getting the new ATIS, it sounded as if there was a bit of a holding queue for the North arrival so I elected to turn South and track around the control zone, eventually calling the Tower at Kihikihi (SE corner of the zone) where, after only a short delay, was cleared South arrival.

When approaching Mystery Creek (reporting and holding point on South arrival) I was instructed to track overhead the tower maintaining 1700' and join left downwind for 36L.  No problem with that, I reported turning downwind and once the tower heard that a North arriving aircraft had me in sight, I was cleared to approach "descent unrestricted" and cleared for circuits.

This approach went pretty well.  I had the speeds just about right but was just a tad late on the flare so the nosewheel touched down a little quicker after the mains than ideal, throttle forward, flaps to 10º and back into the circuit.

The next one wasn't so good.  Approach was OK but this time the flare was somewhat early and a bumpy landing on the mainwheels resulted.  Back into the circuit for the last one (time just about up) as I turned downwind an ATR was being cleared to backtrack to start its takeoff roll on 36R and it was no surprise that I was asked to make a short approach to 36L for a full stop.  All looked good until short final where I was high. I closed the throttle almost fully and got back about right but my rate of sink was too high.  I bounced on the seal, settled, bounced again, blipped the throttle to stop the sink and bounced very slightly the third time!!  

I taxied off the runway cursing myself.  No excuses - light wind and good visibility, etc.  That was the messiest landing since a fairly big "Cessna bounce" at Great Barrier over 18 months ago and I was annoyed with and a bit ashamed of myself.  A bit of lack of currency, I guess, but, never mind, Spring is not far away and more time to fly, hopefully.

To cap it all, when I parked at the pumps to refuel the earthing wire was completely tangled around the spool and the fuel line and it took a good 10 minutes to sort it out!!!

Oh well, there's always next week - two flights booked in C172 "WAM", one dual at night to Auckland.  Should be fun if the weather holds - fingers crossed.

NEW VIDEO

Here's the link to my latest bit of aviation video.   Flight was back in April - not very nice weather but some good views around Hamilton and the 25 circuit.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dCS0lygKuY

Enjoy!!!

Just returned from a conference in Queenstown - stunning views from an ATR on the way down - will post a link to the video as soon as I have got around to editing it.