Thread: landing with 4 winds

i didn't want to fly woodstock back from minden yesterday so a cfi there was going to fly me home in his baron, until the left engine wouldn't fire.

we ended up flying woodstock back as the conditions were improving. i saw 60kt crosswind at 10,000' enroute to minden, which leads to moderate turbulence with higher terrain all around.

back at mammoth yosemite airport with runway 27 / 09 7,000' long, 7,100' MSL 8,500' DA. awos reported 260 @ 11kts with winds variable from 180 to 330 gusting to 20kts'

the wind aloft is about 40kts at this time and south west. the prevailing 11kts down the runway is coming from mammoth pass, while the other 3 winds originate from the south and rotor over the 13,000' terrain just 3 miles from the runway and 90 degrees cross. this south wind is undulating and you may encounter it on approach or on the ground or not at all. after it crosses the runway it contacts high terrain and splits into a clockwise spiral and a coutner clockwise spiral resulting in a north east wind and a north west wind crossing the runway a 2nd time and without much of a vertical component. the north east portion is sheltered from the awos equipment so we hear variable from 180 to 330 insteatd of 180 to 30 degrees.

i decide to set up for conditions much worse than what was reported and even much worse than what we see the east and mid field socks indicating. i turn final with about 700' too much altitude for a normal landing at the numbers, 15 degrees, 60kts-65kts and chop the power to idle. my attitude is flat and i am gliding to land mid field avoiding the 1st 3,000' of 27 to avoid a big gust from the south at mid field when i am rolling out.

my initial glide is sinking at 900'/min and all is smooth until i'm close to contact and then the 1st gust sends me back up several hundred feet. as i sense the climb ending i get ready for big sink and full power but the sink isn't there and i'm back on a similar glide to my first one and now avoiding the 1st 4,000'+ of 27. this roller coaster continues for 2 more cycles and i never encounter big sink or even a big challenge to directional control. it took 7,000' of runway, throttle settings form idle to 5,000 RPMs and ended in a greaser.

i didn't go around because i was confident that it wasn't going to be any better on the next attempt. the cfi commented that "you sure couldn't have a student attempt that" I think the gusts were over 30kts even though they were 90 degrees cross they collided with one or more of the other winds and resulted in huge amounts of lift and ultimately a rather easy touchdown.

in very gusty/variable conditions the approach and rollout are often the challenging parts, the landing itself is often done when a calmer window is sensed.

when landing with terrain all around and windy/gusty/variable conditions my mindset tends to be to fly the approach and if a window appears, then land.

Originally Posted by CharlieTango

in very gusty/variable conditions the approach and rollout are often the challenging parts, the landing itself is often done when a calmer window is sensed.

That pretty much sums up landing the CT in gusts. Best to have some extra runway so if you get blown around in the flare, you can recover and try again.

Good job getting it down safely!