Last Friday went flying windy day, but not too bad. Took off
from KPTW on runway 28 with winds at 10 kt @ 310, (head wind of 9 kt and 5 kt
x-wind component). Flew toward West Virginia to meet Dave Farmer for lunch,
winds at 2000 were 35 to 40 kts. Fun bumpy ride :)
We decided to turn back because of low
clouds at Bryce and change our plans to eat lunch at a different airport.
Landed at Smoketown airport S37 on runway 28 with winds 11 kts @ 325, (Head
wind of 8 kts and 8 kts x-wind component). No problems nice smooth
landing :)
We went in and had lunch for about an hour
when we came back the winds had picked up a little more, but more down the
runway about 310 @ 13 kt.
The runway is narrow and short, I had to dance on the right brake for
takeoff until the speed picked up and I had full rudder authority.
On our way back we had a 45 kt tail wind @ 3000 ft. This made
for a quick trip back to KPTW. - Ground speed of 162 kts
Heritage ASOS reported winds at 14
gusting to 23 @ 355.
Landing on runway 28 with winds at 14 kt @ 355,( head wind of 4
kt and 14 kt x-wind component). To make it even more interesting I was #
2 with a good friend behind me # 3 to land. He was kind enough to make
comment on the radio on how windy it was for that little plane and a little
more. This is the normal fun ribbing to expect from the other pilots at
Heritage.
Turn final and hit the wind, added power
with a crab. On short final setting up for a forward slip and tested how
much rudder authority the RV12 had. Never ran out of rudder and setup for
10 knots faster with first notch of flaps. She was moving around with the
wind, but really felt stable. I came over the fence with 5 kts extra and
touch down was a non-event, after slowing down I had to apply a little more
right brake to stay straight.
