FROG SWALE REVISITED

You might fly hundreds of launches without needing to abort for some atmospheric reason, but have no doubt, eventually it will happen. One condition that multiplies the probability is a strong direct crosswind. Aside from the obvious challenge of ordinary quartering crosswinds, a ninety-degree cross raises the possibility of sudden tailwind component, and that’s not all. Enter a specter we normally associate only with landing: the slowing of wind near the surface we call wind gradient. In this case it’s the increase in wind with height that becomes a problem.Say you begin with a crosswind near the limit, fifteen knots or more depending on many variables. Halfway up the runway both aircraft are about twenty feet high when the wind abruptly doubles. If the tow pilot responds properly your crab angle also may double, which is okay so long as you stay in good tow position. Trouble comes when that stronger wind blows both birds sideways, off the runway and low over ground that may not be entirely clear. If the increase in ambient wind is 10 knots, five seconds later you’re a couple wingspans from the centerline! This can wake you right up. It happened to me once long ago in jolly old New England, then again here at Crystal, and has long since been part of my usual spiel for Flight Reviews.In the first horror show we were swept over deep grass rolling downhill into a swale, as good a place as any for a crash landing except for some darling frogs and that pesky cattle fence. After the swale, beyond that fence and below the level of our runway, I expected the tow pilot to cut us loose. When his wheels started nicking brush I reached to release in case he didn’t, thinking I’d rather crash without him than into him.Tense seconds (wingspans) later we finally began to pull away from the ground, but that’s not the point. Stack of bubbles, this very thing occurred again in the exact same place with someone else not long after. Ever hear of trend lines?The second time it happened to me, here at Crystal, I could have aborted as we skimmed over the fuel truck, but every moment of indecision made that less feasible. If a double wide mobile home had not been recently removed, into it is where we might have crashed. On we drifted in sidewise ground effect, across the airport entrance road and past the hangers — on the wrong side. By then it was too late to do anything but hang in and pray we hit no sink.Again, getting away with it doesn’t mean we deserved to. The tow pilot would have been right to cut us loose, and we’d have been toast if he had. What I should have done in each case was RELEASE IMMEDIATELY and land while we still had half the airport right there ahead, upwind.Nutshell: with direct crosswinds be more than ever ready to abort NOW and get safely back on the ground while you still can. Otherwise… here at Crystal we have only joshuas, not frogs to cushion your impact.