WindOnHisNose
BENEFACTOR
Lino Lakes MN (MY18)
In January I flew my Super Cub to Montana so that the Meggers could recover the wings and do some mods. The weather wasn't cooperative (low ceilings, high winds, snow), so after watching the weather for several days a window opened up and I launched from MY18 (Lino Airpark) at 0530 headed west to KBHK, Baker Montana, home of Baker Air Services. The winds at Baker had been gusty for the few days before the trip, out of the NW but were forecast to be 300 degrees at 10 knots gusting to 20 for a noon time arrival. It was cold (OAT 10 degrees F) and I had blocked out patients from my office (pre-COVID-19) for that day and had arranged for a friend to fly out, pick me up and return to the Twin Cities. I knew that I had a slot reserved with Roger and Darin Meggers for the wing recover and didn't want to tie up their services any longer than necessary.
The ceilings were 1500 overcast and winds on the surface were right smack on my nose at 15 knots, 25 knots forecast at 3000 feet...so I stayed low all the way to my planned refueling stop in ND. Really not much of an ordeal thus far, and I had texted Roger for a weather update and was pleased to hear that the winds were good at 10:00 a.m., just as forecast. I climbed back into the cockpit for the last leg into Baker and launched into blue skies. Flying in high winds have never been a problem for me, as I learned to fly in Wichita KS, which is arguably one of the windiest places in the U.S. If you couldn't handle winds you simply weren't going to fly much in Kansas.
It became a bit bumpy down low as I approached the Badlands so I decided to climb up a bit, but with that came 25 knot headwinds...so I played off comfort vs. winds and flew at 700-1000 ft agl and it was more comfortable. I texted Roger a few times to give him an eta and 30 minutes out I received a text from him...
Now, I don't mind strong winds, but I know that my cub flies just fine at 30 knots relative wind and were I at home, and on the ground, I would have elected to just sit this one out. That really wasn't an option now.
Here is the runway info for KBHK:
...so runway length and direction were not a problem, and the airport looks like this:
You can see the hangar that Roger was referring to and it was sitting right where it needed to be. I knew that both he and Darin were there, and their help was imperative. I continued on.
When I was 10 nm out the ASOS read out winds 300 30 gusting to 40. Gulp. I remember thinking about tales I have heard from some of you folks in which people had to hold onto the wings to keep the aircraft down and I considered Roger's last text. I hoped he had that hangar door open.
I decided to touch down on the angled taxiway, which was just about exactly lined up with the winds and I saw that Roger, sure enough, was standing in the hangar with the door wide open. A beautiful sight.
I touched down and did my usual "unloading" of the wings, pulling back on the stick only to go back up into the air and I found myself levitating there, needing to put more than a little power to move forward relative to the ground. I was literally flying with the tail in level flight configuration, essentially, moving to the open hangar. Just as I approached the wind break created by the hangar I was able to lower the tail, decrease power and fly it into the hangar.
I was relieved to be in that beautiful hangar and when I looked over at Roger he was just smiling, greeting me like after any other flight, just another day in Baker MT.
I have been meaning to write about this, as I would like to hear how some of you have dealt with winds far greater than expected. I am aware of landing across the runway if the wind direction so dictated, but this experience was pretty unsettling.
OK, folks, educate me, would you? Thanks.
Randy
The ceilings were 1500 overcast and winds on the surface were right smack on my nose at 15 knots, 25 knots forecast at 3000 feet...so I stayed low all the way to my planned refueling stop in ND. Really not much of an ordeal thus far, and I had texted Roger for a weather update and was pleased to hear that the winds were good at 10:00 a.m., just as forecast. I climbed back into the cockpit for the last leg into Baker and launched into blue skies. Flying in high winds have never been a problem for me, as I learned to fly in Wichita KS, which is arguably one of the windiest places in the U.S. If you couldn't handle winds you simply weren't going to fly much in Kansas.
It became a bit bumpy down low as I approached the Badlands so I decided to climb up a bit, but with that came 25 knot headwinds...so I played off comfort vs. winds and flew at 700-1000 ft agl and it was more comfortable. I texted Roger a few times to give him an eta and 30 minutes out I received a text from him...
Now, I don't mind strong winds, but I know that my cub flies just fine at 30 knots relative wind and were I at home, and on the ground, I would have elected to just sit this one out. That really wasn't an option now.
Here is the runway info for KBHK:
...so runway length and direction were not a problem, and the airport looks like this:
You can see the hangar that Roger was referring to and it was sitting right where it needed to be. I knew that both he and Darin were there, and their help was imperative. I continued on.
When I was 10 nm out the ASOS read out winds 300 30 gusting to 40. Gulp. I remember thinking about tales I have heard from some of you folks in which people had to hold onto the wings to keep the aircraft down and I considered Roger's last text. I hoped he had that hangar door open.
I decided to touch down on the angled taxiway, which was just about exactly lined up with the winds and I saw that Roger, sure enough, was standing in the hangar with the door wide open. A beautiful sight.
I touched down and did my usual "unloading" of the wings, pulling back on the stick only to go back up into the air and I found myself levitating there, needing to put more than a little power to move forward relative to the ground. I was literally flying with the tail in level flight configuration, essentially, moving to the open hangar. Just as I approached the wind break created by the hangar I was able to lower the tail, decrease power and fly it into the hangar.
I was relieved to be in that beautiful hangar and when I looked over at Roger he was just smiling, greeting me like after any other flight, just another day in Baker MT.
I have been meaning to write about this, as I would like to hear how some of you have dealt with winds far greater than expected. I am aware of landing across the runway if the wind direction so dictated, but this experience was pretty unsettling.
OK, folks, educate me, would you? Thanks.
Randy