I knew it was going to be a challenging flight when I got up this morning…as the wind was really blowing (usually the wind is fairly calm in the SF Bay Area in the mornings). I got to SQL at 0730 and was surprised at how strong the wind was. I checked the ATIS…and winds were 260° at 15 kts, runway 30 in use. Lorne thought that the wind would make for some good crosswind practice, and I agreed that I was up for the challenge (it never hurts to practice crosswind T/O and landing). Once we were in the air I quickly realized that it was going to be an extremely difficult pattern day…the wind was tossing us around an maintaining controlled flight was very hard. Here is the summary:
- Circuit 1: Go around
- Circuit 2: Help from Lorne
- Circuit 3: Unassisted…but ugly
- Circuit 4: See below
I asked Lorne to run the 4th circuit (to show me a pro crosswind landing), and he requested current winds with the tower. Their response floored me:
590SP: “San Carlos tower…wind check”
SQL tower: “Winds variable 250°-270° at 25 kts, gusting 35 kts”
590SP: “Uh…can you repeat that?”
SQL tower: “Winds variable 250°-270° at 25 kts, gusting 35 kts”
- Circuit 5: Slightly assisted…and ugly
It was absolutely brutal. I have never been tossed around like that or had to work so hard. However, given that we were exceeding the crosswind component of a Cessna 172SP, I thought we did pretty well.
I felt vindicated as I watched (cigarette in hand and back on the ground) the last remaining plane in the pattern bounce and go around for about 20 minutes.
I have my solo endorsement updated…so back out by myself the next (calmer wind) time.