Dear Rod:
I’m a low-time private pilot with a confession: I’m afraid of gusty winds. Nothing makes me sweat more than hearing “Ten knots gusting to 20” as I approach an airport. I have opted for staying on the ground on more than one occasion because of nothing more than gusty conditions.—Charlie
Greetings Charlie:
Three of the most common reasons why pilots fear gusty winds are: They’re afraid of losing control of the airplane; they don’t like the feeling of tipping sideways when a gust lifts a wing; or they worry about the wings coming off.
As a general rule, it’s extremely rare for winds to bank an airplane beyond 60 degrees. I’ve been flying in California (big mountains here) for more than 42 years in some nasty turbulence and have yet to have a gust induce a bank of more than 60 degrees. It’s also extremely rare for wind to break a wing off an airplane in visual meteorological conditions. It often takes a radical loss of airspeed control to pull the wings off an airplane, and that’s something associated with flying in the clouds.
Even in extremely gusty conditions, you can keep an airplane lined up with the runway all the way to touchdown as long as you can do one thing: use rudder and aileron in coordination. Without good stick-and-rudder skills, you’re likely to experience a fear of gusty winds. I’ll bet if I put you on final approach in gusty winds, the longitudinal axis of your airplane will move from side to side similar to a samurai swinging a sword. Nearly every pilot that I’ve flown with who had a fear similar to yours overcame that fear by learning pitch control and coordination skills. That’s a fact.
Find a good aerobatic instructor and take a lesson or two. Have him or her turn you upside down (turn the airplane upside down, that is) and teach you how to turn yourself upright. When you learn how to control an airplane in all different attitudes, under higher G-forces, you’ll no longer fear gusty winds during landing.
Dear Rod,
What altitude should I choose for a cross-country flight? What is the distance between departure and destination airport that determines whether I should fly at higher cruise altitudes or lower altitudes?—Robert
Greetings Robert:
When I choose an altitude for a VFR cross-country flying, I choose it on the basis of obstructions, emergency landing potential, comfort (i.e., weather, turbulence, temps), then fuel efficiency, in that order. That said, if the destination airport is 10 miles away, I’m not going to attempt to climb to some higher cruise altitude. I’ll probably fly within 2,000 feet above the ground for that trip. If the airport is 100 miles away, it certainly makes more sense to climb to a cruise altitude that gives you better fuel efficiency.
As a general rule, I fly below 5,000 agl on flights of 50 miles or less. For flights more than 75 miles, I’ll often fly at higher cruising altitudes where my airplane would have greater fuel efficiency. For airports in between these distances, it depends on the type of flight I’d like to have. Sometimes it’s just fun to fly lower and give yourself more time to look outside while in straight-and-level flight.
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