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  • Australian Flying

    Riding the Ill Wind

    Feb 17, 2022 9 minutes

    The wind was annoyingly calm. On most days the pilot in me would be reveling in the stillness of the air, but as I approached Moruya southbound on the Princes Highway, I was cursing my luck. I was scheduled to do some crosswind training, but the tree tops were so still you could count the leaves.

    However, my lack of local knowledge was not taking into account the sea breeze that swept the coastal plain and, by default, Moruya Airport. By the time I reached Merit Aviation, the windsock was dancing happily in a north-easterly.

    Dealing with crosswinds is one of my great weaknesses, developed after years of flying at an airport where they don't exist to any challenging extent. On the occasions where I have tackled one at an airport away from home I have been continuously disappointed with my efforts. The task of improving my crosswind skills I assigned to Merit Aviation’s Sheldon Jones.

    Sheldon’s flying school sits pat at Moruya amidst one of the most picturesque flying locales in Australia: azure coastline, an expansive river, a rolling national park and generous servings of sunshine make it so. The airport is wide and handsome with two crossing runways, which means you can most times land into the wind… or not.

    Today was about not landing into the wind. That wouldn't be hard to achieve; a 16-knot north-easterly meant we could choose runway 36 when all sane aviators were using 04.

    Coffee in hand, I settled

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