I love crosswind landings. I think they're fun.   I never realized there was a music video, though.  It popped up on facebook, and killed a few minutes of my work day.

That DC-8 going into what I assume is DEN sure looked like he was trying to plow it on nose gear first. That had some pucker factor to it.

When I did my 300 mile cross country as a student, the weather was supposed to have thunderstorms roll in late in the day.  Of course, that was wrong, and they came in fast and early.  So I come back from my Long Journey in an old 1968 C-150, all these big clouds around, strong winds, lightening in the distance, bit of rain.  Short Fat strip (50x2000).  Winds directly perpendicular about 25-30 knots with some strong gusts to near 40.  After my 3rd attempt, CFI got on the radio and said "Take it downtown (Big Real Airport) so you can land into the wind, I'll drive down and pick you up."  At that point in time I had not flown solo into a 'real' airport with ATC and jets and multiple runways and ground control and the thought of that scared me more than the wind, to be blunt.  So I tried one more time.  It was rather embarrassing, and I got quite a dressing down by the A&P over potentially bending up the gear. (I had set down hard on the downwind wheel and boy did that plane Scoot, Hop and Skip on that one wheel for a few hundred feet.)

I was pretty shaken over the whole deal.

But, my CFI (who was a bit of an old hippie) said something so corny:  "You are flying a fucking magic boat that sails on invisible waves, man! You are the wizard in control of it! You gotta love the wind, man."


But for some reason that seemed to have worked, calmed me down!

(I also learned to always keep the crosswind component of my aircraft in mind, and if the winds looked anywhere near that, schedule another day! (and wow, do most GA craft have super low xwind components!)

That is a great story!

And yes, most GA airplanes have a crosswind component around 17 knots.  Which when you consider that the majority of that is in play at 45 degrees, there isn't much left in terms of 45 versus direct crosswind.

The strongest crosswind I ever landed was in a 182.  I'm not sure how hard it was blowing, but on short final I had my foot to the floor, and it wasn't enough to straighten it out.  I was down to about 10 feet, and pushing the throttle for a go-around, and I came into the "shadow" of some hangars.  It was just enough that I pulled power and greased it right on the center line.   Just as I started to feel proud, a big gust picked me back up, moved me over about 10  feet and dropped me.  My worst ever landing.  

Strongest I ever landed in was in my Aztec at Colonial Hill in the Bahamas- 40 knots. I had the power about full one 1 engine and damn near idle on the other as well as a boot-full of rudder to keep it close to centered up.

I managed to get it down without bending anything, but I squeaked when I walked because I was so puckered. My 3 pax didn't think it was that big a deal- the innocent shitheads.

Go around wasn't an option because all the islands within fuel range had the same problem- a big-ass storm that wasn't forecast to arrive until the next day kicking up wind.

The strip at my shop is almost due E-W.

I make a lot of full rudder, full aileron, downwind brake locked up, and still blow off the runway landings.

Thankfully it's not paved.  

Something to consider in real strong crosswinds is that if you need more rudder effectiveness, increasing your airspeed will also give you more rudder control. Be careful though because higher airspeeds also mean the nose wheel is lower, so you will be limited on how much faster you can hold your speed and still be in a safe touchdown attitude. Most of the time in strong winds even if you carry extra speed in for rudder control, your actual groundspeed is really not much higher because of the wind. Make sure you know your, and your airplanes limits in strong gusty winds, things can get ugly in a hurry!

Actually, you can't always go around.

10 or 15 knots is fun, I can't say I've ever thought 25-30 knot cross winds were fun.  Throw in an approach speed around 150 knots, and a runway like LaGuardia, not fun at all, way too much like work.

Truth.  My runway ends in >50' trees.

Here’s a big, smoky Ilyushin coming in sideways. He almost stuffs a wingtip into the runway right before slamming it down & winding up the old thrust-reversers.

Truth.


Remarks:

CAUTION: RWY LOCATED ON SLOPE OF 2305 FT MOUNTAIN.

APCH FM NW, LAND RWY 15 ONLY. TKOF RWY 33 ONLY. HIGH TERRAIN BOTH SIDES & S END. SUCCESSFUL GO AROUND IMPROBABLE.

RWY AND PARKING APRON ON 7.9% GRADE. LAST 200 FT RWY 15 MAY CONTAIN PARKED ACFT.

Post TX. IN 1990. Wife just HAD to pee. My 182 threatened to beat my ass after that landing. I ordered one of the "female" adapters for a piss bottle. Next flight she was very happy until she overflowed it!

And sometimes going around is a worse choice than just getting it on the ground.  The airport where I have my plane has an East/West runway with trees on the south side.  When the wind gets blowing from the South through the trees it gets squirrely as all get out.  A few months ago took off a little gusty but not horrible looking at the wind sock.  Right away got slapped around trying to get out of there. There was another guy attempting to land as I left I warned him, he tried anyway and after the attempt decided the better of it and left thanking me for the warning.  I came back after a short flight because I didn't want conditions to get worse.  I was getting tossed all over on final but there was no way I was going back up through it once I got it close to the ground.  No harm no foul but I had my hands full.

Back in the day when I was a newish PPL tried landing there with a friend and the wind shear was really bad.  That time I just left and didn't come back.  They have since displaced the threshold to keep you above the trees until you get to the numbers.

Kodiak has this inconvenient giant rock at the end of the runway.
Attached File

Wow. I just read the airport directory for PADQ.

I will check out the approach plates tonight.

Runway 08 not recommended for those not familiar with terrain.

Crosswinds are easy if you have a STOL aircraft, just land sideways. :)

That's ONT. Could very well be an ex-DL too.