Making good landings in strong winds is not an easy thing, specially in light aircrafts. Many pilots have different techniques to land in windy conditions, and the most important thing is to find one that you understand and master.

There are two important guidelines for landings in strong winds, which are the base of all techniques:

• Increase Airspeed. If wind suddenly stops (yes, thiscan happend), you will need the extra speed to continue flying. A go around will also be much easier with a few extra knots. Rule of thumb is to increase approach speed by half the headwind speed.
• Make it good, not perfect. A hard landing never looks good, nor impresses passengers, at least not the way a pilot wants. In gusty winds, don’t overwork your flare. Let the plane land, and keep it on ground. The big risk is to hit hardly because of a gust while floating few feet above the runway, while trying to get a kiss-landing.

Remember that the very first factor to decide if a landing was good or not is wether it was safe or not. If the plane is on the runway, and stopped after a normal ground roll, the pilot made his / her job ! All the rest is optional !

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