PRELUDE

After delivering an L-39 back to a customer at Burbank where I encountered -20 wind shear at 1000' (was ready for it and a non-event...but it was just a sign of things to come), I hopped in 122LL for the short ride back to Chino.  40 knot winds at BUR were pretty much right down the pipe, and after cinching my 5-point harness as tight as I could get it, I blasted off into the wonderfully clear yet predictably bumpy Santa Ana conditions.  With extra fuel on board in case I needed to land somewhere other than CNO, I left the BUR control area and was handed off to SoCal approach.  No sooner than I took my hand off the throttle to reach for the flip-flop button did the first one hit...WHAM!  Knowing it was coming was one thing, but to suddenly get slammed into the canopy like someone just dropped a ton of bricks on the wings was another.  After adjusting my headset, switching over the SoCal, and picking all the contents of my center console out of the passenger seat and my lap, I asserted positive control of the aircraft to try to maintain something close to 5500'.  I flew the next 10 minutes with my left hand on the stick, and my right hand in a fist between my head and the canopy.  I was deathly afraid of removing my "cushion" to switch radio frequencies, which happens about every 15 miles in the LA basin.  Anyway, I now know what it feels like to be a rattle ball inside of a spray paint can...

THE REAL FUN

"Chino Tower, good afternoon, Experimental Lancair 122LL, out of 2 point 5, with Yankee."  "Lancair 122LL, Chino Tower, good afternoon, make straight in runway 8, winds zero-four-zero at three-zero, gusting 39"..."Oh boy, fun!" came my reply -  of course it was said a bit sarcastically.  As I was receiving this information I could see nothing but a dust cloud where I knew the airport was...recent land development has left untold acres barren and dry...the silty dirt that remains from decades as cow pastures was now creating a cloud of "dust" (if you must know, it's really fine cow dung!) that was completely shrouding the approach end of the runway.  As I hit 3 miles out and began slowing to gear speed, tower came back "wind zero-five-zero at 33 gusting 45"...."lovely" I thought.  This was followed by "uh, 2 lima lima, the dust is only over the first couple hundred feet of the runway, then it's clear after that".  Oh great, so I only get to fly *through* a 40 foot high and 500 feet wide cloud of cow crap at a 30 degree crab to the runway in gusting winds approaching the crosswind limit...that's MUCH better than it looked...NOT!

Pre-landing checklist complete and on short final, tower came back, "wind 040 at three-zero, gusting 42".  No need to respond, all i knew is that I was getting beat to crap, and I was focused....ready to go-around at the first sign of problems.   Recalling a piece I read a long time ago by Barry Schiff about "Kicking it straight", I was firmly in execution mode...but if I ran out of rudder to "kick it straight", I'd be perfectly happy to go somewhere else for awhile and wait out the winds.

As I entered the cloud of blowing dung dust, the visibility was greatly reduced, but I could still make out the numbers and the runway markings.  Aside from the slightly, um, sweeter smell, we were tracking the centerline, on glide slope, and on adrenaline.  Keeping my speed +10 for any unforseen windshear, etc., I carried the crab to about 5 feet off the runway and chopped the power....  What happened next would have made even Barry Schiff proud.  Full right rudder, left stick, hold it off and...........squeak, squeak....squeak!!!!!  Straight, soft, and on centerline....I almost couldn't believe it!  Jabbing the rudder and getting half flaps up ASAP, I let out a big long blow of air....not remembering when I took my last breath..lol.  As I applied the brakes and got down to definite control speed, all I could do was key the mic and say, "I'm retiring after that one"...."Roger that, 2LL, nice job, contact ground when clear."

LOGBOOK ENTRY

After putting the plane away and giving her a nice pat for being such a good girl, I opened my log book to record the days flying activities.  In  the comment section for 122LL BUR-CNO .5  I entered "fist cushion, landed 08, best crosswind landing ever".  I can't wait 'til I'm 60 and retelling this to my grand kids....the day grandpa mastered 60 knot crosswind landings in the greatest little airplane ever built... ;)

Barry