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!