The pilot reported that while en route to his destination, the wind at the Susanville, California, airport was reported as 180° magnetic, at 19 to 22 knots, gusting 25 to 28 knots.
He added 5 knots to the “normal speed” of 70 knots for approach to “help compensate” for the gusts.
About 20 feet above the ground, the airspeed “suddenly dropped” to 60 knots. The pilot added full power in an attempt to go-around. The left wing “abruptly lifted,” and according to the pilot, “all remaining altitude was quickly lost.”
The Piper PA-28’s right wing hit the ground and the airplane cart-wheeled.
The airplane sustained substantial damage to the fuselage, empennage, and both wings.
Probable cause: The pilot’s failure to maintain airspeed control during the landing in gusty wind conditions, resulting in an abnormal runway contact, and collision with terrain.
NTSB Identification: GAA15CA239
This August 2015 accident report is provided by the National Transportation Safety Board. Published as an educational tool, it is intended to help pilots learn from the misfortunes of others.
If you don’t like wind stay out of Kansas, Nebraska, West Texas and Oklahoma. If 20 to 20 knots is too much there will be lots of days you don’t fly. The WASP were trained on Stearmans and PT 19’s in Sweetwater, TX and I’ll assure you they didn’t wait till days when the wind wasn’t blowing to fly. Training and experience are the keys to a safe aviation experience, not electronic bells and whistles.
Here is what I have learned.
Pilots in the midwest might sit in the FBO and drink coffee and tells lies, grounded, when the wind is blowing 20 kts and the guys passing through from out West wonder why.
Then those guys from out West sit in the same terminal in Indiana and Illinois wanting to leave.
When we ask them why they haven’t left yet they say it’s because of “low visibility”.
Yeah you can only see 15 or 20 miles. Let me get you another cup of coffee
I landed at St. George, Utah to avoid a massive storm and I sought a motel room – they have a motel at the airport. I had to stay for three days since the crosswind howled and exceeded the crosswind component for the aircraft. There were so many people watching each day that I reckon, had I tried a departure, that a call from the FAA would have followed.
Another time I was committed to land at an airport with 30 kts gusting to 45 with just 20 degrees wind direction off the nose, and with cross control I did a masterful job. It can be done.
I had to land a Falcon 900 in Pepeete in a huge storm – huge systems develop quickly in the tropics and I was committed – but “Fly the plane!”. To my surprise, I did a masterful job down to minimums and a smooth landing. It can be done.
I know it has been said a license is but a license to learn and that is true. Finding your limitations is a question of personal judgement, courage, situational awareness and common sense.
Going into Tucumcari for fuel in my Cardinal a long time ago I found myself maxed out on rudder and aileron with little left but some power to stay out of the runway lights. When the wheels finally touched the runway I noticed the windsock, blowing straight 90 degrees from the runway I landed on. I think this is where I missed the situational awareness part.
We learn every day as we fly and every day is different. Cruising back from the Nut Tree after a fun dinner one stunning clear night you could think you were sitting in a lazy boy in the living room in still cool air. The next evening flying back from Truckee you think you are in a washing machine and can’t wait to get on the ground.
Not for a student or low time pilot. The bigger 6 seaters handle much safer in those winds as far as my experience has shown. About 25 years ago, I ended up with a one runway airport so I was able to hone my crosswind skills .Nothing to land or depart in 15-25 mph cross winds and the worse was over 30 on a few occasions.
Having flown for 50+ years and owned and flown a 1200lb AUW GY20 tail dragger for about 30 of those years I fully concur with the last comment by Jim Macklin. Operating in and out of farm strips and small rural air strips you have little choice but to often land with cross winds. In this GY20 I have managed upto 20kts straight across the strip BUT you can’t afford to relax for one moment until the prop stops turning. Co-ordinated use of all controls in an aircraft need constant practice. Cross wind landings can get the adrenaline flowing but do not have to end with wreckage or a wooden overcoat with polished handles.
I once landed on a grass strip with 40-50 kt crosswind. I just touched down with about thirty or forty degrees crab, it’s momentum slid on the grass as it straightened up.
Took some doing to turn around, stopped at the tie-down facing the wind, leaving the rpm high enough the wind wouldn’t move it, I tied it down then shut off the engine.
All windy and gusty operations require maintaining lots of thrust while braking for maintaining rudder authority
As an ex pilot examiner, I know that most Private pilots are not capable of landing with that amount of wind. That is not to say that they should not be able to handle an aircraft in that type of wind.
But in the real world, most are unable due to below average skills.The problem is due to below average instructors & pilot examiners that, in lots of flight test cases, are unable to test the applicants wind skills .
No one should be landing a GA plane in anything like 30kt winds.
In Wichita, KS it is normal to do “first solo” with winds up to 25 knots. Wind on the plains can go from calm to 45 knots in moments. If the student is taught to use all the controls winds, even gusty and shifting crosswinds can be handled.
That means using throttle, rudder, elevator and ailerons, often full travel. Too many pilots fly an approach to 10-15 feet and flare and freeze. You must “fly” the airplane every second, seeing and anticipating.
The old saying that goes back to early taildragger days, “Fly the airplane until it is tied down.”
I agree with Jim. Up in the northern plains at a large training operation we fly pipers up to 30kts and C172s up to 25kts with students more days than not. Use of all the controls and flying the plane all the way to parking is part of being a good pilot.
Jim Macklin’s comment is right on. If you cannot handle 30 kt winds you would rarely fly in Colorado or Wyoming and Kansas. Once I soloed a student when the winds were 25 kts straight down the runway. It is all a matter of training.
I flew my Cessna 180 from Dallas to my homew in southeast Louisiana a couple of years ago. When I arrived, the wind was from about 270 and I estimate the wind was blowing at about 40 mph or more. My private grass strip is east west, so when I landed here it was no problem getting it on the ground with that much headwind and it probably didn’t roll 100′ after touchdown. My only problem was being able to turn around to taxi back to my hangar. When I tried, the wind pushing against the big tail area made it hard to do and it took several tries to get turned around. The statement about not landing in winds of 30 knots doesn’t make sense to me. I wouldn’t want to try it with a 30 knot crosswind, but with a headwind, except for some turbulence close to the ground, it shouldn’t be a big problem.
Agreed.
I use our C-172S to practice when it is gusty to build my experience. Landing faster helps substantially.
I find that coming in “hot” on a long enough runway, I can easily handle up to 30 knot winds which are up to +/- 45 degrees from the runway orientation.
Several years ago, I needed to land to pick up Angel Flight passengers for a flight and the airport was “shut down” because of the high winds. I landed hot without screeching tires/burning rubber and the tower staff turned on an applause recording.
Landing per the POH with potential gusty winds or wind shear could cause a problem for the pilot when it comes to controlling the aircraft near the ground.
If the pilot has no or limited skills in gusty wind conditions, then that GA pilot should not be flying in “anything like 30 kt winds”. Get some training so you are ready for those gusty winds and the only way to do it is in gusty winds, so get an instructor to help you learn.
The winds listed in this scenario are typical of Great Plains winds year round. In the summer, the winds come primarily from the north and in winter from the south. That being said, you need to know how to fly in them. The biggest problem I see with pilots in crosswinds is neutralizing controls upon touch down and that’s the worst thing you can do. You need to continuously increase the flight controls as the airspeed decrease and will have full deflection on final roll out. You may need to increase power to make a turn off the runway if the wind hinders the turn a little.
I learned my crosswind training at Vance AFB in Enid, OK and if you could not handle the winds, you never made it to solo. To this day, I love to fly in gusty crosswinds.
Gbigs, better stay out of Kansas, Nebraska, West Texas and Oklahoma or there will be a lot of days you won’t fly. WASP were trained in Sweetwater, TX at Avenger Field so the girls could cut it, but you can’t? And that was mostly in tailwheel aircraft, which we all know are unsafe on the ground, right?
gbigs, I’ve held my peace for a while to let others with more hours than me respond.
Maybe you shouldn’t fly with strong x-winds. But those of us who are more professional in our approach to flying tend to make sure we are proficient with the plane we fly.