Flight lesson: A cautionary tale

I filed under instrument flight rules and for the route I wanted. Clearance gave me “as filed,” which was to the north, and I was hoping to come behind a storm. Well, air traffic control vectored me east, and I ended up getting put underneath that storm and eventually had to stop in Macon, Georgia, and drive home.

Later that week, I flew with some friends to go pick up my airplane in Macon. The flight there and back was unremarkable. Smooth air, quiet ATC frequencies. Just perfectly chill. I dropped one of my friends at an airport close to his house (winds calm, pressure 30.00 in Hg), then traveled on 26 miles north to my home airport. En route, I listened to the automated weather observation system at my home airport (winds 320 degrees at 9 knots gusting to 20, 30.06 in Hg). On the first listen, my assumption was I would land on Runway 5 with a crosswind, but I’ve done more challenging than that before. Then I started thinking about the pressure and wind difference and how drastic it was in just 26 miles.

I flew at 4,500 feet, but as I descended through 3,000 the turbulence started getting pretty violent. I thought I’d do a low approach to feel it out. It was still bumpy, but doable, so I set myself up for landing. I listened to the automated weather observing system (AWOS) about a dozen times. Each reading was a different wind direction. I should have waved it off at that point, but I continued on.

On final approach, I could feel the gusts, and the wind was coming from all directions, so I carried some extra speed and only one notch of flaps. With 4,000 feet of runway uphill in an Archer, I had plenty of time to stop.

I crossed the numbers and got a big downdraft. The airplane dropped somewhere between 20 to 30 feet, and, at the same time, a gust hit the tail and sent me sideways and dipped the left wing. Wind shear. I came closer to the ground than I was comfortable with, nose high and sideways. The extra speed saved me.

Given the same conditions again, I don’t know if I would have had the same outcome. I put in full throttle immediately. I got the airplane stable again and climbed out, and I went back to my friend’s airport, which was reporting calm winds.

I am writing this as a cautionary tale. Look at airports around you before you land. What are their METARs? If there are drastic differences in winds and barometer readings, something’s up. I assumed the AWOS was having a glitch since the earlier flights that day were so smooth. I’ll not clown around with that again.