It had been a couple of weeks since I had flown, and Friday dawned beautiful. Having checked the forecast, I knew that in the afternoon the wind was going to pick up and be gusty. At 8:30 a.m. however, it was supposed to be about 5 kts without gusts. So I headed to KEXX. Following preflight, I taxied out to runway 24 for take off.
Immediately after lifting off, I realized that this was going to be a bumpy, crosswind day. While the METAR was reading only 5 kts, not far out of ground effect was 10 - 15 kts. I now was committed to one landing! Afterwards, I would decide if I would do anymore.
What made this more challenging was that the crosswind was variable between 80* and 100* off of my right. So the choice of runway was problematic. I would listen to the AWOS on downwind and the wind would be a slight headwind. I would listen again during final, and it would have changed to a tailwind.
I crabbed till I just about touched down and then switched to wing low. The tailwind caused me to float a little, but it was acceptable. Having a little more confidence, I decided to try another circuit.
I did a short field take off and just like last time, I began getting bumped around right out of ground effect. The amount of wind altititude provided me with practice at flying a square pattern. It was a challenge to keep the plane lined up on final. My second landing was comparable to the first. During my training, I had not practiced many crosswind landings, so this was good experience.
Once more! My third time around the pattern was similar to the first two. Final approach felt fine and my flare was perfect. Just as my wheels touched down, a gust hit me from the right, and I could feel the plane begin to slide sideways putting a big side load on the landing gear. Right then I had a decision to make. The grass was getting nearer, and I didn't feel I had control. So I crammed the throttle in for a go around. As the wheels left the runway, I began floating over the grass between the runway and taxiway at about 10 feet. I accelerated but took out flaps a little too soon, so I mushed along at 10 ft agl for about 1000ft. Eventually, I established a positive climb and got the plane lined back up with the runway.
It is true that the training just kicked in. I made the decision very quickly not to try and salvage the landing. What I did realize is that I need to be much more careful about establishing a positive rate of climb before I take out the flaps. And when I do, I need to make sure I don't take them out all the way. I was glad to get the 3rd (or is it 4th) landing done. I called it a day.
In order to grow as a pilot, you must push yourself just a little beyond your comfort zone. Friday did that for me. I look forward to more opportunities to practice crosswind landings and get better.
