Looking for opinions on what a CFI would do with my situation today

[TwoTwoLeft]

FWIW I landed on the left side I'm guessing because the crosswind was pretty strong from the right and I let it get me too far left of center.

Honestly, had that been a 50 foot strip I used to fly meat bombers out of, would not have attempted it in the first place.

I was just messing with you! Better to drift a little and stop it, than make over corrections trying to get it back. If that was 50ft wide strip I guarantee you would have been on the centerline!

I think it's acceptable sometimes to land down wind of centerline. If you're landing a Tailwheel or something with a free castor nose wheel in a stiff crosswind, landing downwind of centerline can give you more room to correct in case a gust catches you and you run out of rudder authority.

 

[n57flyguy]

I thought you did a great job and would have handled the situation the same way. I have a tendency to fly these situations out by feel, rather than by a METAR/ATIS/TAF. If you know it is going to be gusty and the relative component of the wind, anticipate and maintain center line. There is probably a slight amount of adrenaline that keeps you "in the game" so to speak. Often times you are going to be put in this situation on your own when the forecasts are just flat out in accurate. In a lower fuel situation, you are going to have land the airplane...nervous piloting in this situation makes me more unsettled than an over confident pilot. On flaps, none or some, but not all and go arounds cost nothing to get another try.

Last Summer I found myself in a similar situation in a 150 flying down to the beach, with the wind coming from in from the water I faced 21G25 and just simply flew the airplane and let myself make the corrections needed....eyes outside, a few glances at the ASI, and a lower pitch attitude...I was not worried about sticking an exact airspeed as I knew I could get rid of it quick. Taking off that night though, scariest take off and climb out to date.

 

[sounddoc]

Seriously, why do students land on the left side of the runway? Everyone does it, at every airport, and I can't figure out why!

Not enough right rudder in the flare. Slipstream, torque, and p-factor are all still active in the flare, (the latter two to a lesser degree) and the controls are less effective, so more right rudder is usually needed - so land on the mains This is all independent of crosswind correction, of course!

 

[sounddoc]

For sure, I mean, I don't fly often enough, and when I get the chance, there's a bit of personal push to make it happen, but I felt like with the information provided, TAF said winds would drop, they did drop, but somehow an hour later came back up (only lasted for an hour btw then dropped again)

That being said back when flew regularily I would have felt more comfortable over all, my flying skills are never going to be AS good as they used to be only flying 3-4 times per month at most, so the odds of me catching some challenging conditions are thereby slim.

TAFs can be BS as you found out. On my last day of instructing (I posted about it) I ended up dodging storms all afternoon back home because of crap TAFs and clueless flight service.

 

[fbm2009]

Took this on approach the other night. Aircraft has max demonstrated of 15kts. Thank God for the fact the wind dropped to calm when we got below the height of the trees surrounding the strip.