Crossed-up crosswind

I “flew” the route numerous times in Microsoft Flight Simulator and sought advice from pilots who made similar flights. I brushed up on how to file a flight plan and found I needed to rent life preservers and indicate their color on the plan. I studied the weather and waited for that perfect cloudless day.  

On March 13, 1998, the weather was perfect. I took a vacation day, and my wife blocked her schedule. We dropped our daughters off at school and headed to the airport. I filed the flight plan, got the life preservers, and did a thorough preflight. We were soon airborne and over the Atlantic Ocean. In an hour, we landed in Freeport at Grand Bahama International (MYGF), and the tower offered to close my flight plan.

We grabbed a taxi to the downtown straw market. It was wonderful. The money was different, and they drove on the “wrong” side of the road. After lunch of conch fritters, fish chowder, and some unspecified “white fish” at Count Basie Square with a steel drum band, it was time to start our short flight home.  

The wind had picked up, but it was straight down Runway 6 at about 13 knots. I activated our flight plan, and in an hour, we would be home. I could not wait for when my daughters would ask “Dad, what did you do today?”

The east shore of Florida appeared a bit earlier than I expected, and I attributed this to a tailwind. Palm Beach approach told me to expect a right base for Runway 9 Right (3,214 feet by 75 feet). It looked unusually small. Upon turning for the final approach, I noticed a strong crosswind from the northeast. This was more than I had experienced before, but I knew what to do. Left aileron and a strong right rudder to maintain runway alignment, but the rudder pressure was more than I expected. I slid the seat full forward. Foot firmly in place, I pressed the rudder nearly to the floor and prepared for a perfect end to a wonderful day. I had not noticed that in addition to the rudder, I was also pressing on the right brake. A word of advice: Don’t do that.

The right brake locked and the right tire skidded on the runway, causing the airplane to veer to the right. To counter this, I immediately released the right rudder and brake and pressed the left rudder (and brake), and somehow, I managed to remain on the runway. It could have been much worse.

The landing was not one to brag about. I could only imagine those in the control tower looking down, laughing and rating the landing like they do in the Olympics. I learned that a crosswind 45 degrees to the runway does not result in half the crosswind component but about 70 percent. If this was not an “international flight,” I could have landed at Lantana Airport (LNA) that has a runway perfectly aligned with the wind, but this was not an option because we had to clear customs. The best solution was to face my demon, so I scheduled a flight with my instructor on a windy afternoon, and it was all practice. I now remember to keep my heels on the floor and off the brakes. 

On the drive back home to pick up my daughters after our trip, my wife tried to cheer me up. She told me I should be happy because we had just crossed the Bermuda Triangle on Friday the thirteenth, during a full moon, and survived.  

Kevin O’Donnell is a private pilot in Sebring, Florida.