Rod Machado says, “If you’ve never been scared in an airplane, you’ve never been outside the traffic pattern.” I couldn’t agree more. Flying, especially as the pilot, can be rather intimidating at times. Especially if you have passengers on-board. I just completed a trip from my home base in Marion (MWA) to Springfield, IL (SPI) for an overnight stay and a conference the next day before flying home. Two of my co-workers were my passengers for the flight.
The flight was planned months in advance. As a VFR pilot, I wasn’t about to make the flight unless I was sure the weather was going to be well above VFR minimums for both days. The time came, and clear, sunny skies were forecast for the entire trip on both days.
So what’s the hitch? Gusty winds in Springfield for both days and gusty in Marion for the flight home. Central Illinois is flat, very flat, and because of that, they typically have more wind than we do in the southern part of the state. I’ve landed the Warrior in winds before, even gusty crosswinds, but always with a CFI in the right seat.
The wind forecast for Springfield was 180 degrees at 25 knots gusting to 35 knots. That’s some serious wind, but Springfield has a runway 18, so the forecast was for right down the runway — in other words, no crosswind.
I made the decision to go. I had done my homework, full DUAT weather report, printed and in hand, weight and balance checked, fuel where I wanted it for weight, two passengers, everything was go. The sky was clear, the wind was right down runway 20 in Marion as we took-off in the rented Warrior.
Up to 4,500 feet, on course, thanks to the help of the Garmin 496. One hour, ten minutes to Springfield. A few light bumps at cruise, some a bit heavier after take-off, but nothing even to “moderate” as I would call it.
Both of my passengers were completely new to “small” airplanes, having only flown commercially before in something the size of a 737. Neither one of them complained about the bumps on take-off, and they both enjoyed the smoothness at altitude.
Some 60 miles South of Springfield, I called Kansas City Center for flight following. At first, the controller couldn’t work me in, so I waited for a while and was then picked up for flight following. I had opted to forgo filing a flight plan, as I was planning on flight following.
Center handed me off to Springfield approach control at 40 miles out. The wind was just as predicted, 180 at 26 gusting to 24 knots or so. Boosting my confidence, another Warrior was departing the Springfield area. Approach control vectored me around some traffic, the first time ATC had ever given me a heading to fly and an assigned altitude — this was a fantastic experience. On a long left base for runway 18, I was handed off to tower control.
The approach was bumpy, typical of gusty winds. The tower gave me a final wind check as I crossed the threshold of the runway, 170 at 24 gust 32. As I dropped below the trees, the wind steadied, a smooth flare, only 10 degrees of flaps, screech. The Warrior touched down smooth, and slow, thanks to the headwind.
Left on Runway 13-31 and off on Alpha taxiway. Ground control cleared me to First Class Air, the FBO I had selected. The wind played with the airplane as I taxied in and shut down. First Class had a lineman out and ready. I can’t say enough about their service. They had the plane fueled and were towing it to a tie-down spot before our cab even arrived.
We attended our conference and made it back to the airport. The wind was really whipping around the hangars as I did my preflight. My Warrior sat next to another one. Had it not been for this, I’m not sure I would have had the confidence to untie mine in the wind. I set the parking brake because the wind kept pushing the wheel chocks out from around the nosewheel.
Preflight done, airplane untied, I retrieved my passengers from the FBO and loaded them up. With the wind rocking the wings, I fired up the engine and called clearance delivery. Pretty soon we were being blown around the taxiway on our way to runway 18. The wind was reported as 180 at 26 gusting to 36. Runup done, tune to 121.3, Springfield Tower Warrior 2875X at runway 18, ready for takeoff.
Clear for takeoff, the Warrior instantly shot to 30 knots airspeed, full throttle, and we’re off the ground in record time. As we cleared the treetops, I accelerated to 90 knots for a safe, engine-cooling climb as this Warrior is well-known to overheat in long climbs on hot days, and we were on our way to 5,500 feet.
Below 2,500 feet, we had some pretty moderate turbulence, but both passengers handled it quite well. Above 2,500 it began to smooth out and at 5,500 there wasn’t as much as a bump for the 1.7 hours it took to get home with a 35 knot headwind.
As the Warrior trudged along at 80 knots groundspeed, my passengers (and I) relaxed. Again with flight following, not a single traffic advisory on the way.
Marion in site, canceled flight following and slowly began a decent down into the rough air. Long final for runway 20 and cleared to land. Not as good as in SPI, but not bad either.
I can’t say how much I enjoyed this trip, not only has it boosted my confidence in gusty winds, but it was my first overnight with an airplane – an experience to remember for a lifetime. A special thanks to the SPI controllers for some coaching on proper read-backs and 1st Class Air for fantastic service.