It certainly was gusty today - we had an interesting "arrival" at Welshpool where the wind was ~25kts at about 45 degrees off the RWY heading (RWY 22) but the tricky part was that it was turbulent with it at low-level, lots of shear and veer. My buddy Adrian had to go around on the first attempt - discretion always being the better part of valour! We had planned Shobdon for an alternate as their RWY 27 would have been much more into wind, but didn't prove necessary in the end.
I flew us back to Wycombe and it was pretty choppy climbing out of Welshpool, just as the showers were arriving there, and at Wycombe it was varying 15~20kt about 30 degrees off the RWY heading (RWY 24), but the terrain is less lumpy and bumpy there so I didn't find it as tricky.
jayemm, I think you should take the GUST indications in the TAFs as a warning and take care that your destination is reasonably into wind and if not plan an alternate which is! And, as others have said, definitely build up some experience with cross-winds in a safe way (with an instructor or at least a more experienced person who is competent in the conditions). Best bet is to take up an instructor on a ~15~20kt day and go fly the crosswind runway at your homebase or somewhere suitable nearby. Practice makes perfect!
Another issue in relation to crosswinds is that I think everyone has a technique that works best for them: for myself for example I am most comfortable wing-down with the crab off from about 1 mile / 300 feet as I find that I can stabilise the approach better rather and prefer this to kicking the crab off just before the flare. Many other people prefer to crab all the way down then kick the crab off. The point is without practising both techniques, with competent instruction, it's hard to learn which works best for you.
Besides all this: wasn't it a superd day today? We could see for MILES!!!
Andy
