April 12, 2024 - Departing Madison for Jasper, GA
I finally departed for home on Friday morning. The weather was great here in Madison, but I knew I would be facing high winds in the mid-Atlantic area. I also knew it would be a crosswind landing at my home airport, so my plan was to get as far as I could and stop somewhere for the night.
Here I'm about to take off on runway 35.
Looking down at Bryant–Denny Stadium where so much college history has been made.
Opened 95 years ago in 1929, it was originally named Denny Stadium in honor of George H. Denny, the school's president from 1912 to 1932. In 1975, the state legislature added longtime head coach and alumnus Paul "Bear" Bryant to the stadium's name.
With a seating capacity of 100,077, it is the fourth-largest stadium in the Southeastern Conference (SEC), the eighth-largest stadium in the United States, and the tenth-largest stadium in the world.
Alabama had an off year in 2023 by their standards; they didn't win the national championship. They only played in the national championship game against Michigan and lost. (sarc). It will be interesting to see how they fare in the future since their greatest college coach of all time, winner of seven national championships, Nick Saban retired.
I continued on until it was time to stop somewhere for fuel. I decided on Pickens County Airport, in Jasper, Georgia, due north of Atlanta. It had a good gas price. The winds were blowing pretty good: 20 knots/ gusting to 30 at 240. The runway heading was the same as my home airport: 16/34. So it would be as crosswind as it gets. I could have gone to another airport aligned more into the wind, but as this runway was much longer (5,000 feet compared to 2,000 feet) and much wider (100 feet compared to 30 feet), I figured this would be a good rehearsal for Essex Skypark where the winds would be stronger.
So I entered the pattern. The ride on final was turbulent. I was able to keep the RV straight down the runway but the airplane was really moving around. I touched down and then bounced high into the air, so I went around. The second time I was able to touch down and it stayed down. I kept the stick to the left to counteract the crosswind so I was on just the left wheel for a time. But I got it landed in what was probably the most challenging landing of my flying career. One of the locals on the ground asked me if I did a 3-point or a wheel landing. I told them I didn't know. I think they were impressed I landed a taildragger in the high crosswind.
