I landed in tailwind conditions a handful of times; it's a practical option. Whether by "accident" or on purpose, we always need to know the spot where we should be down-n-rollin' or up-n-flyin' every time. Great episode, and thanks for showing how it's done!
Great video.. I think it’s actually good to intentionally land with a tailwind and I incorporate it into my personal training at least once a month. For two reasons, 1. to know how it feels, to be able to easily recognize the faster ground speed, that you have a tailwind to give you early instinct to go around. Being a back country off airport pilot, this instinct needs to be natural when you don’t have the man made aids to tell you wind direction. 2. The most important imo, as an emergency landing option. In the event of catastrophic engine failure, landing into the wind may not be an option. Other things to consider with this, is ways to identify wind direction without the “wind sock, Attis, etc.” lakes are a great tool, the smooth side of the lake tells you where the wind is coming from. Crab effect, ground speed are all early indications of wind direction while taking into account that surface winds may be actually opposing winds at altitude.
You can land with a 20kt of better headwind, crosswind and tailwind and back around again all in the span of 10 or so seconds in Oklahoma sometimes. Been there done that. Best to teach them to watch out for blustery winds. Weather, buildings and trees can cast out whirlwinds in high winds.
Great job flying and great Communication at a non tower field on point which maneuvering your 172 Cessna Skyhawk and making a good choice of a go -around without hesitation and by the way you got a professional Instructor
Nice flying! My last cross-country flight was to Sechelt, BC CAP3. Hills and trees off both ends of the runway, 2400 feet to land on, windsocks pointing in random directions. Good practice (and great fun), in other words. :-)
I landed with a tail wind today. I was so nervous. It was my 3rd time in a plane by myself. They thought I blew a tire out but I didn't. As soon as the instructor left, the winds went to crap, heavy tail winds, cross wind, etc. On top of that EVERYONE was trying to land at the same time, so I had to go around twice because of other aircraft.
I understand the takeoff rule-of-thumb regarding 70% of Vr at the half way point, but I don't understand the rule-of-thumb regarding the half-way point in landing. Let's say my airplane requires 800 feet of ground roll (using short-field technique). I'm landing at a 1400' long runway with no obstacles. Touching down by the half-way point would leave me with 700' remaining (100' less than I need, and that's if I am good about my approach and braking technique). So the rule doesn't seem to apply in that case. In that scenario, I'd pick 200' beyond the threshold as my final point in which I should have landed by. Any float or excess speed beyond 200', I'm going around.
Yeah, that's totally fair, although your example is pretty extreme, The vast majority of pilots are landing on runways longer than 1400'. I am not advocating landing at the halfway point - hit the touchdown zone if you can, I'm more appealing to pilots that have not considered the point beyond which they'll go around. I see pilots upgrade (quite often) to high performance airplanes like Mooneys or Cirrus and even though they "think" they'll land at the front of the runway, they float and float and float. My point is, if your wheels are not down by the halfway point (at the very latest), go around!
Twenty four hundred feet? My God, that's like almost forever! We used to fly everything from Cessna 150s to Piper Aztecs out of 1,800'. With a hill at the approach end of 18, over I-95, and trees on the hill, it wasn't uncommon to pick the top branches out of the landing gear sometimes. Take off from 36 were prohibited, but taking off from 33 wasn't an issue at all. The fun thing was seeing the DeHavilland Twin Otters who were for the regional airline at the next airport over coming over to land on our dinky little strip when the fog covered the larger airport. We'd provide free auto transportation over to the other airport, where their automobile usually was. Wow, that was back in the mid to late 70's and early 80's. Where did the time (and in this case, the airport!) go to? Anyone know the airports I'm talking about?
Did you also walk uphill both ways to school? haha Just kidding, I realize 2400' is not particularly short (as I mentioned in the video) but Paul is a brand new pilot and here in the bay area (as I mentioned) I see a lot of pilots buy into high performance airplanes and pick more than branches out of the gear. Sometimes, they have to get the whole airframe out of the trees! Anyhow, this procedure protects them from those mistakes. I don't know the airport you're talking about but it is sad to see them go away, care to tell us?
Jason, a lot of that was tongue in cheek, and in retrospect, a lot of the operations weren't really all that safe, at least not by today's standards. The airport was Waterford, Ct., and is long gone. Was supposed to be developed into housing, but according to Google Maps, it never really was. Kind of stagnant for the last 25 years or so. It was a fun little airport, the kind we reminisce about, but wouldn't go there today. I also agree that for a student pilot, 2,400' is pretty short. No room for mistakes. If I ever find the money to return to flying, I'll be happy for the 5,000'+ runway at the local airport I'll be flying out of!
Roger, I'm just giving you a hard time ;) It's sad to see so many airports disappear. I'd like to open one. really. I'd like to get the support together and for the PR purposes (if nothing else) open a dang airport. We are constantly fighting to keep the bay area airports open. KRHV and KSQL in particular.
Why descend on the active side of the airport above the pattern? Would it not be best practice to descend on the inactive side and cross over the field and join the mid downwind? (This is the approved procedure in Canada where a 45 entry is not an approved procedure)
To be clear I'm not advocating descending into the pattern. In the US we'd maneuver well clear of the pattern, descend to TPA and enter on the 45. The procedure you suggest seems fine if that what everybody is doing. In the states nobody would know where to look for you if you were coming from the opposite side of the field and joining the downwind. My guess is that would come as a surprise to most pilots here. I do think it would be great to standardize this stuff internationally.
You can and sometimes have T/O and Land with some tailwind. Inst: "Do you have 1/2 way point?" (he says glibly). Student: "Yes genius its half way but I'll be on ground before 1/3rd."
You overfew the runway at 500 to 1000 ft going NE. Then you came back and overflew the runway again going SW to teardrop and join left downwind at a 45 for runway 26?
I landed in tailwind conditions a handful of times; it's a practical option.
Whether by "accident" or on purpose, we always need to know the spot where we should be down-n-rollin' or up-n-flyin' every time. Great episode, and thanks for showing how it's done!
Another great lesson Jason. Thanks for keeping my SOPs sharp! See you on another flying adventure soon.
Thanks, I hope so!
Sonoma Skypark was challenging when we landed there, big wind gradient because of the trees on either end. Very nice tips esp about the halfway point.
Thanks! It's a funny little airport that way, doesn't look bad on paper ... but when you get there it's often a bit challenging.
As always, great video and I love the choice of runway for short fields.
Great video..
I think it’s actually good to intentionally land with a tailwind and I incorporate it into my personal training at least once a month. For two reasons, 1. to know how it feels, to be able to easily recognize the faster ground speed, that you have a tailwind to give you early instinct to go around. Being a back country off airport pilot, this instinct needs to be natural when you don’t have the man made aids to tell you wind direction. 2. The most important imo, as an emergency landing option. In the event of catastrophic engine failure, landing into the wind may not be an option.
Other things to consider with this, is ways to identify wind direction without the “wind sock, Attis, etc.” lakes are a great tool, the smooth side of the lake tells you where the wind is coming from. Crab effect, ground speed are all early indications of wind direction while taking into account that surface winds may be actually opposing winds at altitude.
Good stuff, thanks Andy
You can land with a 20kt of better headwind, crosswind and tailwind and back around again all in the span of 10 or so seconds in Oklahoma sometimes. Been there done that. Best to teach them to watch out for blustery winds. Weather, buildings and trees can cast out whirlwinds in high winds.
Yo! Thanks for these cool little video tips, and thanks to Paul for being in the vid! He's a great pilot
Love landing there. I live right in the area, keep the awesome and educational videos coming Jason! You have a great teaching style.
Jnani Matson thanks, I’ll keep em coming!
Another great video with some good Airmanship nuggets
Thanks Isaac!
Great job flying and great Communication at a non tower field on point which maneuvering your 172 Cessna Skyhawk and making a good choice of a go -around without hesitation and by the way you got a professional Instructor
Thanks for another great training video! I look forward to the full version on Patreon!
Thanks! I'm uploading it now :)
That's an awesome tip! I am going to incorporate that into my short field procedures.
amumumus awesome! Glad to hear it
Cracking set of videos
Again nice quality content!
Thanks Jordan!
Nice flying!
My last cross-country flight was to Sechelt, BC CAP3. Hills and trees off both ends of the runway, 2400 feet to land on, windsocks pointing in random directions. Good practice (and great fun), in other words. :-)
I landed with a tail wind today. I was so nervous. It was my 3rd time in a plane by myself. They thought I blew a tire out but I didn't. As soon as the instructor left, the winds went to crap, heavy tail winds, cross wind, etc. On top of that EVERYONE was trying to land at the same time, so I had to go around twice because of other aircraft.
I like the 70% of rotate before the halfway point. Very simple.
Can we please make the missing stripe a standard? It's very visual and straightforward to understand.
I understand the takeoff rule-of-thumb regarding 70% of Vr at the half way point, but I don't understand the rule-of-thumb regarding the half-way point in landing.
Let's say my airplane requires 800 feet of ground roll (using short-field technique). I'm landing at a 1400' long runway with no obstacles. Touching down by the half-way point would leave me with 700' remaining (100' less than I need, and that's if I am good about my approach and braking technique). So the rule doesn't seem to apply in that case. In that scenario, I'd pick 200' beyond the threshold as my final point in which I should have landed by. Any float or excess speed beyond 200', I'm going around.
Yeah, that's totally fair, although your example is pretty extreme, The vast majority of pilots are landing on runways longer than 1400'. I am not advocating landing at the halfway point - hit the touchdown zone if you can, I'm more appealing to pilots that have not considered the point beyond which they'll go around. I see pilots upgrade (quite often) to high performance airplanes like Mooneys or Cirrus and even though they "think" they'll land at the front of the runway, they float and float and float. My point is, if your wheels are not down by the halfway point (at the very latest), go around!
Thanks for another great video
Thanks for the tips.
Twenty four hundred feet? My God, that's like almost forever! We used to fly everything from Cessna 150s to Piper Aztecs out of 1,800'. With a hill at the approach end of 18, over I-95, and trees on the hill, it wasn't uncommon to pick the top branches out of the landing gear sometimes. Take off from 36 were prohibited, but taking off from 33 wasn't an issue at all.
The fun thing was seeing the DeHavilland Twin Otters who were for the regional airline at the next airport over coming over to land on our dinky little strip when the fog covered the larger airport. We'd provide free auto transportation over to the other airport, where their automobile usually was.
Wow, that was back in the mid to late 70's and early 80's. Where did the time (and in this case, the airport!) go to?
Anyone know the airports I'm talking about?
Did you also walk uphill both ways to school? haha Just kidding, I realize 2400' is not particularly short (as I mentioned in the video) but Paul is a brand new pilot and here in the bay area (as I mentioned) I see a lot of pilots buy into high performance airplanes and pick more than branches out of the gear. Sometimes, they have to get the whole airframe out of the trees! Anyhow, this procedure protects them from those mistakes. I don't know the airport you're talking about but it is sad to see them go away, care to tell us?
Jason, a lot of that was tongue in cheek, and in retrospect, a lot of the operations weren't really all that safe, at least not by today's standards.
The airport was Waterford, Ct., and is long gone. Was supposed to be developed into housing, but according to Google Maps, it never really was. Kind of stagnant for the last 25 years or so.
It was a fun little airport, the kind we reminisce about, but wouldn't go there today. I also agree that for a student pilot, 2,400' is pretty short. No room for mistakes.
If I ever find the money to return to flying, I'll be happy for the 5,000'+ runway at the local airport I'll be flying out of!
Roger, I'm just giving you a hard time ;) It's sad to see so many airports disappear. I'd like to open one. really. I'd like to get the support together and for the PR purposes (if nothing else) open a dang airport. We are constantly fighting to keep the bay area airports open. KRHV and KSQL in particular.
The Finer Points Jason, would take a lot of money to open and run an airport, but I would love for you to have that dream come true!
Why descend on the active side of the airport above the pattern? Would it not be best practice to descend on the inactive side and cross over the field and join the mid downwind? (This is the approved procedure in Canada where a 45 entry is not an approved procedure)
To be clear I'm not advocating descending into the pattern. In the US we'd maneuver well clear of the pattern, descend to TPA and enter on the 45. The procedure you suggest seems fine if that what everybody is doing. In the states nobody would know where to look for you if you were coming from the opposite side of the field and joining the downwind. My guess is that would come as a surprise to most pilots here. I do think it would be great to standardize this stuff internationally.
The Finer Points Jason, I agree standardized VFR procedures would be great internationally! Keep up the great content. Amazing as usual
Leigh Ehrmann roger Wilco, thank you!
You can and sometimes have T/O and Land with some tailwind. Inst: "Do you have 1/2 way point?" (he says glibly). Student: "Yes genius its half way but I'll be on ground before 1/3rd."
Good advice /tuition they should pay instructors more.
Translation: We landed on the wrong runway.
You overfew the runway at 500 to 1000 ft going NE. Then you came back and overflew the runway again going SW to teardrop and join left downwind at a 45 for runway 26?
500+ 1000 above TPA I meant