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sdfcvoh · August 20th, 2007, 12:20

Joshua Tree CA. The scariest landing yet!

My wife and I went over to JT to visit some friends, about 3 hours west of us. The trip over was uneventful. But the landing.... First, Roy Williams L80 in JT is published as a 50' wide runway. Allow me to explain that it is about 20 ft wide with pavement that would jar your teeth loose in a Cadillac. No problems - just a bit narrower than expected.

Coming in I knew it was going to be windy, but jeez! So I line up the approach, and quickly realize that there is a wickedly gusty crosswind. I'm slowly bringing her back in line with the runway, and everything is looking good. Its pretty gusty, so I only put in 20 deg of flaps. Just about the time I'm getting close to wheels down, this super gust of wind moves us 15 feet to the right (practically on top of the bushes and totally off the runway. It was insane! Needless to say, I firewalled the throttle and executed a go around. The second touchdown attempt wasn't quite as bad. I kept the speed up and only used 10 deg flaps. It was still a wicked crosswind, and pretty gusty though.

Amazingly, my wife was pretty calm through the whole deal. As a matter of fact, the only thing she said was (after I firewalled it and was flying upwind over top of the runway) "What happened?". I just said a huge gust hit us - so we're trying it again.

My buddy was hanging out at the airport watching, and b/c of the placement of buildings all he saw was the plane lurch sideways, then throttle up, then disappear! He swore we crashed. I think it scared him to death. As we were turning crosswind I looked down and saw him zooming down the tarmac in his car, thinking he was going to be dragging bodies from flaming wreckage!

All in all, just another day flying. But by far the biggest landing gust I've ever felt. Looking forward to trying that one again!

August 20th, 2007, 12:20	#57
sdfcvoh Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: That one Posts: 856	Re: SDFCVOH's Flight training thread. Joshua Tree CA. The scariest landing yet! My wife and I went over to JT to visit some friends, about 3 hours west of us. The trip over was uneventful. But the landing.... First, Roy Williams L80 in JT is published as a 50' wide runway. Allow me to explain that it is about 20 ft wide with pavement that would jar your teeth loose in a Cadillac. No problems - just a bit narrower than expected. Coming in I knew it was going to be windy, but jeez! So I line up the approach, and quickly realize that there is a wickedly gusty crosswind. I'm slowly bringing her back in line with the runway, and everything is looking good. Its pretty gusty, so I only put in 20 deg of flaps. Just about the time I'm getting close to wheels down, this super gust of wind moves us 15 feet to the right (practically on top of the bushes and totally off the runway. It was insane! Needless to say, I firewalled the throttle and executed a go around. The second touchdown attempt wasn't quite as bad. I kept the speed up and only used 10 deg flaps. It was still a wicked crosswind, and pretty gusty though. Amazingly, my wife was pretty calm through the whole deal. As a matter of fact, the only thing she said was (after I firewalled it and was flying upwind over top of the runway) "What happened?". I just said a huge gust hit us - so we're trying it again. My buddy was hanging out at the airport watching, and b/c of the placement of buildings all he saw was the plane lurch sideways, then throttle up, then disappear! He swore we crashed. I think it scared him to death. As we were turning crosswind I looked down and saw him zooming down the tarmac in his car, thinking he was going to be dragging bodies from flaming wreckage! All in all, just another day flying. But by far the biggest landing gust I've ever felt. Looking forward to trying that one again! __________________ I want to die like my grandfather did, peacefully in his sleep. Not screaming in terror like his passengers.