Had a decent session for Cyril on Saturday morning. Did a couple of circuits at Zynkraal, then Kitty Hawk, then Rhino Park. Then a couple of solo circuits at Rhino. Getting the hang of this flying thing again
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Had a nasty run in with the weather on Saturday afternoon though. Wanted to test a tweak to the baffles before going home. Checked the weather radar and all the visible cells were moving away, and made sure I had visual on the ones that were nearby. All looked good, so off I go... At around 300' I got slammed by incredible wind shear. Although the cells were far away, and moving away, the squall winds from one of them had hit the airfield. Suddenly the wind socks are straining at the masts in a 45 degree cross wind, and some very excited instructors are on the radio suggesting I head to Wonderboom. I thought I would give it a go, and see if I could get in at Rhino before diverting. Had a ground speed of around 140kts on downwind (which for some obscure reason went by in a flash). Final approach was at 75KIAS with about 20 degree crab angle (which works out to around 25kt cross wind component) and pretty bumpy. The short wings absorb the bumps nicely, and this plane is responsive - so I continued the approach, with the plan to go around, and head off to FAWB if at any point I didn't like it. Round out and was OK - only took about 3/4 rudder and 15 degrees of bank to keep it lined up, and still had plenty of control, so I carried on with the landing. Wasn't my best landing of the day - but wasn't my worst either. At least now I have one of the test flights done 'max demonstrated cross wing component: 25kts'
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And after all that, trimming the baffle didn't help. #4 is still running too cool, so I can trim a bit more off next time.
Today, when the weather radar showed a few active cells around Rhino Park, I decided to rather stay at home...
Such nice aircraft.
