How to Successfully Land a Cessna 172 in Bad Weather

“Gillespie Field automated traffic information system bravo…. Active runway is runway 27, right traffic… Weather - clouds at 500, tops at 1500; winds from the south 15kts. gusting to 25kts. Heavy rain and thunderstorms are currently in the airport area, visibility 1.5 miles.” This is the ATIS information (automated traffic information system) I was told as I tuned into radio frequency 125.45. I was out touring the countryside when an unexpected storm popped up over the air field. With the fuel tanks almost on empty, I had no choice but to land the airplane.

“Gillespie Tower, Cessna N113FA is inbound to land 10 miles east over Scripps Ranch with bravo.” “Cessna 113FA, you are number 2 for landing runway 27, be advised of high crosswinds from the south.” “Roger that, number 2 for landing, high cross winds from the west.” I felt like I was on a roller coaster ride as I tried to maintain my heading and altitude while being bumped around by the turbulence. I fastened my seatbelt so tightly that it felt like my legs were going to lose circulation.

I went through the checklist for final approach - altimeter set, fuel selector on, mixture enriched, carburetor heat on, landing lights on… This was the toughest landing I was going to ever have to make. The sound of rain hitting my airplane sounded like I was standing underneath Niagara Falls. As my plane descended through 1500 feet, I lowered my flaps down to 10 degrees and slowed to 75kts. It was almost pointless to

Toll 2

adjust my elevator trim with the heavy turbulence as I would go up and down every few seconds.

When I got to about 2 miles out I received my landing clearance - “N113FA cleared for landing runway 27.” “Roger, cleared to land runway 27, 3FA.” At this point the rain had lightened up a bit and I could just barely see the runway lighting out in the distance. Dropping my flaps down to 20 degrees, I slowed to 70kts. The crosswinds continued to push my airplane away from the centerline. I tried to correct for it in a crab but it was almost too much of a wind to do so. To prepare for landing I pitched into the wind and added a bunch of right rudder.

Once on short final with my airplane looking totally out of coordinated flight, I could make out the runway more clearly, yet it was still very hard to see. The wind seemed to die down but it came back a few seconds later, knocking my airplane off course of the runway.