"Winds 260 at 30. Gusts 41"

[Mountain Doctor]

Runway heading 200.

I went for it.

I think I was the only GA plane flying out of Vista Field (S98) today.

Out here in the desert high winds are common, and life is short.

So if a guy can't fly in the wind he misses out on a lot. I use days like today to practice.

With my Trigear it wasn't so hard. I still had rudder left. My touchdowns were even pretty soft and smooth, although groundspeed was obviously quite low.

Maules can Git 'er done for sure.

[Mountain Doctor]

My gosh I just did the math on that. It's a 30 knot crosswind! Can that be?

[SlowFlyer]

Thas 26kt CW with 35kt CW gusts, sounds scary!

[Mountain Doctor]

I don't know why but it really wasn't so hard.

FWIW I was at my home airport, 4,100 X 100 feet so I had the option of landing diagonally into the wind if I wanted. Also, FWIW I have 800 hours in this plane and for the most part it's the only one I fly.

There's an expression in the gun world:

"Beware the man who has only one gun. He probably knows how to shoot it".

The only extra variable was the gustiness. I had to work the throttle all the way to, and past, touchdown.

[Lowflybye]

I don't know why but it really wasn't so hard.

FWIW I was at my home airport, 4,100 X 100 feet so I had the option of landing diagonally into the wind if I wanted.

If you went diagonally into the wind then you did not have a crosswind relative to the aircraft, only relative to the runway. The wind relative to the aircraft's desired direction of travel was a headwind. The plane doesn't know which direction the runway is so it then becomes simply a mental thing. Remember this when you takeoff or land across a runway and the local FAA ball buster questions you on why you thought you had the skills to fly with a crosswind component in excess of the demonstrated. It's not a crosswind if you turn it into a headwind.

[Mountain Doctor]

If you went diagonally into the wind then you did not have a crosswind relative to the aircraft, only relative to the runway.

Yup.

I had the option of landing diagonally into the wind if I wanted.

I did not exercise this option but landed on runway heading. Landing diagonally was a safety option I could have chosen but did not need.