My story of winds while flying “Two Seven One Victor Alpha”:

I had one solo flight when the wind was changing direction (north west switching to south east). All forecasts claimed 5-7KTs wind. I learned a lesson that day!
I was in N271VA.
ATIS reported 6knot wind so things looked good.
Got taxi clearance to runway 16. Wind was changing direction so ATC switched to 16 even though they had a plane take off from runway 34 about 30 seconds before (direct crosswind at the time).

During take off, I was only around 150′ off the runway when a gust hit and kicked me about 25-30 degrees left and roughly 15 -20 degree bank. Woah! Kind of scary but I straightened out and levelled the wings quickly (but not so quickly to over correct) …I kept climbing out.

As I climbed out and turned left to head northeast it was pretty bumpy. I don’t like turbulence. I fly to enjoy it, not because I need to.

I still had ATC tuned, waiting for frequency change instructions so I was listening to ATC’s guidance for other planes taking off and coming in to land. About 4 miles out I heard the winds that ATC was telling other aircraft and guess what: It was gusting to 10 KTs ..mainly a crosswind now! Some of the tower’s calls were 14KTs within a few minutes later.

We have military tankers: KC-46’s (Boeing 767’s), C-17’s, C-130’s and occasionally C-5’s that practice at this airport (biggest runway in New England) and a KC-46 and few C-130’s were in the area that day. Due to this, I kept heading out simply to stay out of their way for 10 minutes or so. I’m a little bug compared to them and they’re moving a lot faster than I am. Speaking of which: my airspeed. I had slowed to 80-85KTs due to the amount of turbulence from the hills I was flying over. So much turbulence that I would gain or drop 250-300 feet in 2 to 3 seconds! Crank the shoulder straps tight! The RV-12 wasn’t happy with my decision to go flying. She was creaking and groaning, making noises I’ve never heard in an RV-12 (I had roughly 40 hours of flying them by this point).

Luckily the C-130’s were on their last touch-n-goes and heading back home down south. I aimed for the airport, listened to the ATIS (weather info at the airport) and called ATC to land. Winds were now at 15KTs!
While coming in to land I was a little nervous. I don’t know why but I don’t get scared while flying. When a pilot is scared they make mistakes. It’s odd when flying: your brain can get so overloaded (“task saturated”) that you forget the number 1 rule: “FLY THE PLANE!” So yes, I was a little nervous but only because I wanted to land smoothly. I have almost a 2 mile long runway that is 150′ wide to land a little plane on. It can land in about 700′ so 2 miles is plenty! The issue is the gusts which are almost a direct crosswind.

Gusts are tricky to land in ..even if they are blowing straight down the runway. With the RV-12 being a light plane with a slow landing speed makes it challenging. 60KTs on the glide scope and then ‘flair’ closer to 50KTs a few feet off the runway and let it settle and touch the pavement at roughly 45KTs. Sounds simple, right? Okay, now add wind gusts of 15KTs. They are like waves in a way. Wings provide lift with airspeed. So as I’m coming in to land one second the wings are moving through the air at 60KTs and there is no gust or wind so my groundspeed is also 60KTs. But a second later they’re moving though the air at 75KTs (assuming a headwind gust) and the airplane slows down a little. So now my groundspeed slows to 50KTs and the gust dies down. Uh-oh! My airspeed is now 50Kts!

My thoughts were to crab (flying a little sideways with the nose aimed into the wind) and straighten out just before touchdown. Sounds easy, but gusts add mother nature’s little kick in the seat just to let you know who’s really in charge.

I line up about 30 feet to the left of center line, knowing that as soon as I add right rudder to straighten out I may get blown right (wind was from the left).
Things are going well.
A little lower…
A little lower.
Right rudder! Pull the throttle to idle!
Gonna touch. I can’t be more than 2 or 3 feet off the ground!
GUST!
Up I go! Now I’m about 15 feet up off the runway and getting blown across the centerline!
I’m right of the center line by about 20 feet!
A little left rudder…
Add a little power to maintain airspeed when the gust dies.
Dilemma:
Try to get back to centerline?
Land right of center?
…or simply go around?
I’m coming down nice and smooth. 55KTs airspeed.
In my mind:
Gusts have increased a little and if I go around, will they get worse?
Let’s get on the ground safely …maybe a little right of center but safe!
A little right rudder to straighten out.
The touchdown was perfectly smooth and straight.
Other than being right of center by about 10 feet it was perfect!

As I pulled off at taxiway Bravo, the tower controller asked another RV-12 (N311VA) if they had any wind sheer. They were doing pattern work and had done about 5 or 6 touch-n-goes. ATC did great keeping them separated from the big boys (KC-46 and C-130’s).

“It wasn’t bad. Only a few knots I’d guess”, replied the instructor in the RV.
I keyed up
“I had a fair amount of wind sheer on that landing …guessing close to 12 knots crosswind.
Two Seven One Victor Alpha.”

“Thank you 2 7 1”, replied the tower.

The folks at this airport are all great. Ground and Tower controllers know there are many students flying out of the flight school and they are very patient with us. Talking on the radio is one of the toughest things for most. You press the mic and you have an instant stage fright brain fart!

The other RV came in and landed without any issues. Back at the flight school the instructor came up to me and said

“Thank you! We didn’t have gusts like that on our previous landings. I appreciate you saying that so that we were aware!”
“Of course. I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to say anything but was nervous. I’d rather say something that might help keep you safe. I wasn’t sure of the correct protocol.”
“From the tone of the controller, I think he was glad you spoke up too! Thanks again!”

Always better safe than sorry.

There is a saying in the aviation community:
“Better to be on the ground wishing you were in the air
than to be up in the air wishing you were on the ground.”

I couldn’t agree more!