Pilots,
The Santa Anas have presented us an encore performance, racking up horrid winds out of the north/northeast with gust spreads up to 15 knots!
For those training for your license, we absolutely do not recommend flying in this. The skills needed to land over this sort of wind shear are those you'd expect to hone at the very end of training, and it can be discouraging trying to fight an airplane down to the ground in this sort of muck.
Please be patient, this too shall pass. If you're interested in doing ground, that is of course available and recommended until this wind gets back to where it belongs.
..
Pilots who already have your license -- this is an opportunity to hone those skills. It is rare that you get the following combination of pilot challenges:
Severe turbulence with wind shear on final approach
Crosswind components up to 10-15kts
Landing right-traffic for rwy 7 at corona.
Constant phugoid pitch corrections, resulting in the inability to nail airspeed to an accuracy within 15kts! (woo hoo!)
Sounds like fun? A total blast? Wait, where's everybody going? :) I assure you, if you can land in this mess, you can land in anything, and it is worth considering the practice. The good news is that it can be done, safely and securely... Grab an instructor and tackle some scary wind. Better to get the adrenaline rush in a controlled setting than when you least expect it, I believe, and the confidence boost afterward is definitely worthwhile.
Blue Skies!
- Mike
