"Jim Jones" wrote in message
...
I went up today to practice crosswind landings. The wind was about down
the runway at my home airport so I went to Sky Manor (N40). This airport
has a 2500x50 foot runway and requires vigilence in gusty winds. I did 2
landings and 1 go around (due to the gusty wind) using runway 25 at Sky
Manor with a 90 degree crosswind of about 12-15 knots gusting to about
18-20kt. The landings here were pretty good.

Well, I went back to my home airport and the wind was still mostly down
the runway, but variable and gusty (in retrospect). Well, I built up too
much speed (the approach is over trees and there was a bit of an updraft,
plus I was a little high and probably subconsciously dove for the runway)
and floated in the flare. The gusts caused the airplane to balloon and I
was able to recover once, then it ballooned again and I should have gone
around. However, I tried to save it and as I came down I added a bit of
power to soften the landing, quickly began to balloon even higher and
found myself very nose high, very little airspeed, and was heading off the
runway due to a crosswind combined with low airspeed. I immediatly
applied full power, lowered the nose to get some airspeed, and went
around. Had I waited much longer to go around, the aircraft would soon
have stalled 20 feet above the ground. Basically, I recovered from an
imminent approach to landing stall 20 feet above the ground. This is not
a good situation to get yourself in, to say the least.

This scared me pretty good. I was complacent at my home airport because I
am used to landing there, the runway is long, and the wind was basically
down the runway. I fully expected variable gusty wind at Sky Manor and
expected to go around resulting in me making a good early decision to go
around when necessary, while I tried to recover from a poor approach at my
home airport when I should have gone around earlier.

In retrospect, I made some poor decisions, but ultimately had a safe
outcome by making the right decision at the last second.


I had a rash of bad night landings and decided that I forgot what the hell
to do and took an instructor with me a few days later. Made a huge
difference and I got my confidence back and my night landings improved
hugely. Try taking an instructor to the airport you are having troubles at
and see if they can provide some insight, worked for me.

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DW