Pueblo is easy. At least you have a choice of 4 different directions to land. I can't imagine a worse airport for winds than the one where I have been based for the last 32 years. Always take off to the East and land to the West. No overflight of the housing to the west of the airport. Restricted area to 12,000' along the southern perimeter of the airport. Predominant winds are gusty from the South. Really windy days blow out of the Southwest. The airport is built on a mesa with canyons on either side, with the whole side of the mountain being a series of canyons and mesas, so the winds are always swirling and often times have rotors forming over the runway and on the approach. I generally don't fly if the wind is over 15 knots, usually with a gust factor of another 8 knots. It isn't the wind on the runway itself the keeps me grounded, it's the heavy up and down drafts and incredibly rough turbulence on the approach. If I have a quartering headwind for take off, I'm going to have a quartering tailwind for landing. Under those conditions, there is no such thing as a stabilized approach. You just take the beating that's going to happen and try to keep the plane right side up and flying through the approach, then deal with whatever the conditions are at the runway when you get there. That's also with a typical summer density altitude of about 10,000'. The engine doesn't make much HP and the wings don't like to lift under those conditions. Only 3 months left until I abandon this airport. My last flight from Los Alamos will be when I depart for the KR Gathering in September. Oddly enough, with those conditions, the model of plane crashed the most at Los Alamos is the one of the easiest to land, the Beech Bonanzas. I've helped pick up 5 of them off the runway here. -Jeff Scott Los Alamos, NM
--------------------- Sent: Sunday, June 11, 2017 at 6:04 PM From: "Mike Stirewalt via KRnet" <krnet@list.krnet.org> To: krnet@list.krnet.org Cc: laser...@juno.com Subject: KR> Crosswind limits > "What are your crosswind limits?I always have crosswinds at my airport." I suppose there is some unusual conditions, like cyclones and tornadoes coming through, that would make it impossible to put it on the ground, but Pueblo, CO can be counted on to help you find your limits if you don't already know what they are. Jeff Scott may know of an even better place for wind fighting . . . and it is a fight. _______________________________________________ Search the KRnet Archives at https://www.mail-archive.com/krnet@list.krnet.org/. Please see LIST RULES and KRnet info at http://www.krnet.org/info.html. see http://list.krnet.org/mailman/listinfo/krnet_list.krnet.org to change options. To UNsubscribe from KRnet, send a message to krnet-le...@list.krnet.org
