I fought the wind…

…I think it ended up being a no-score draw!

I knew that today was going to be challenging. North winds forecast, that means two things.
1. 90 degree crosswind and
2. Mechanical turbulence.
Both things that are not exactly top of my “favourite things” list.

However; things have been going well the last couple of flights and I’ve gained a teeny tad of confidence, so I was “up for the challenge” as I said to Bob via text message the night before. It’s a good job as well because the conditions were, quite frankly brutal. 15 knot crosswind, some gusts and swinging round, varying anywhere from 290 to 020 degrees. Bob happily admitted that even as close as a few weeks ago he wouldn’t have bothered with a circuit lesson in those kinds of conditions. However he reckoned it was worth a bash, he thought I could do it.  

Who am I to argue?

It was hard work, the plane dancing all over the place, possibly a slight tail wind on takeoff, updrafts and down drafts a plenty. I took great pains to point out, as we suddenly lost a hundred feet or so of altitude, “that wasn’t me”. Said through gritted teeth as I struggled to level the wings and keep the circuit square.

Non pilots don’t realise just how much difference that crosswind makes. My legs and arms physically ache after that lesson. The plane fights, fighting back doesn’t exactly help either. You just have to roll with it, let the plane do its thing and then shove it back to where you want it.

I can’t say I exactly conquered the crosswinds today. I did struggle a little. A couple of overshoots because when the winds are at 90 degrees you have no headwind to help you lose altitude at all. The Tarmac repelled the plane. I struggled with the speed control as well. The gusts didn’t help but part of it was me having trouble keeping the crosswind inputs while not allowing the nose to drift down. I carried a little too much energy into some of my landings. But they did get better, so while I wasn’t 100% on top of those landings there was definite improvement. I’m happy with that.

A few weeks ago, a lesson like today would have been too much to cope with. The workload would have been too intense, the bumps and jolts too terrifying. Today the turbulence irritated but didn’t scare me. That’s a world away from where I was before

It’s all good stuff!