Landing at Ranger Creek yesterday afternoon, was hot, light or no wind experienced a sinker on short final, initially thought it was a gust , I was coming full flaps , full aft trim,(2 people, so nose heavy) 57 mph.Had to add quite a bit of power to come out of it, and with full flaps and aft trim you can guess it pitched up , I pushed nose down and reduced power.
It was quick , but got my attention.

Later looking at the video I see that this sinking air happened just when I crossed the river, so hot day and heat in the forest area and cool air over the river, Im thinking the cool air over the river caused the sinking air?
As always one just keeps learning in aviation.

Yes, sinkers ate quite common over water. I've experienced them at times at Johnson Creek, Fish Lake, Cavanaugh Bay, Flying B, and others. It is good to always be prepared for them and is good reason why I prefer a high angle approachs at backcountry strips.

Steeper approach will help for sure, Im doing them from now on at this kind of strip.

There have been some 172s land in the river taking off from Sunriver in the summer with a couple big boys and their golf clubs on board.

That's what those Sun River golfers refer to as a "water hazard".

The apparent brisk walk rate of closure approach works with steep glide angle as well. Because you will spend less time in ground effect, at the bottom, more power will be needed on short final.

With downwind shear or sink, use as much throttle as necessary. When the sink rate increases rapidly, go to full throttle and then adjust. That way you get a little ahead of it. I believe full flaps are appropriate on all tight approaches.

tcj wrote:There have been some 172s land in the river taking off from Sunriver in the summer with a couple big boys and their golf clubs on board.

The DA, in the Summer, is an issue around Sunriver. Especially on amphibs. Thank God my Scout is a good climber!

Thanks for posting. A good reminder for us all.

A couple comments as I anticipated and then experienced the same yesterday on a Big Creek strip here in Idaho. If length allows, give yourself more margin and adjust your aim point further down the runway. No sense in ending up in the trees if coming in steeper and aiming further down the runway would work just fine.

It's easy to get in a habit of shooting for the very end every time and giving up some safety when it's not really necessary. I've witnessed a number of guys nearly rake the trees at Johnson Creek only to use 1/4 of the available and then have to continue with a long taxi to parking. I've done similar things myself; overcoming the sinker, only to land and kick myself for not moving "my threshold" when length allowed. It just takes practice and confidence that the point you choose is where you'll touch down.

Thomas Creek and JC are the two that I think I've seen this the most at.

I had a sinker...that I was told to expect...at Dirty Devil last Fall. All the way down I waited and waited for it. Being a short strip I held off on pulling the power as long as I dared. No sinker. Pulled the power to mitigate a long landing and as soon as I did, there it was! A swift pull back and a little power and we were on the ground...much closer to the end of the strip than I cared for!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

offroute wrote:Thanks for posting. A good reminder for us all.

A couple comments as I anticipated and then experienced the same yesterday on a Big Creek strip here in Idaho. If length allows, give yourself more margin and adjust your aim point further down the runway. No sense in ending up in the trees if coming in steeper and aiming further down the runway would work just fine.

It's easy to get in a habit of shooting for the very end every time and giving up some safety when it's not really necessary. I've witnessed a number of guys nearly rake the trees at Johnson Creek only to use 1/4 of the available and then have to continue with a long taxi to parking. I've done similar things myself; overcoming the sinker, only to land and kick myself for not moving "my threshold" when length allowed. It just takes practice and confidence that the point you choose is where you'll touch down.

+10

We are so ingrained with touchdown at the threshold we frequently strive for that when it's not safer or needed. Our concern for running off the far end of the runway and our training overrides the fact that in many places, we touch down much sooner than needed.

I was landing at a 1000' grass strip a month or so ago with only a 2,000' or so DA in calm wind. I (needlessly) wanted to touch down in the first 20-30' or so and hit a sinker and hit a sage brush about 10' before the runway with my left main wheel. I continued on to a normal landing but scaredc the %$#@ out of myself and my pilot passenger.

I could have touched down midfield and still stopped safely. Lesson learned, the easy way, thank God.

Frequently no reason to not aim 100' or more down the grass for touchdown point.

One of our favorite Oregon spots, Powers, has a sinker off the south end where the river flows about 50 feet below a cliff face. I used to always hit it in the ultralight and it would require a good shot of power. The potential for disaster at a spot like that is real.

One BCP guy did some pretty bad damage to his aircraft while practicing short landings using the real threshold. Came up a little short and ripped his gear leg off. Not sure if it was because of a sinker, perhaps he just got too slow and could arrest his descent rate quickly enough. Either way, good tips here about giving yourself a little margin when it's not critical to hit a spot.

For me its a learning experience, we dont have those big pine trees in Costa Rica, or any approaches with rivers or lakes on short final, so no sinkers.
So as usual I aimed to make a short field landing and touching down as close as possible from the beginning of the runway.
In the case of Ranger creek is no needed , runway is plenty long, and coming higher will help avoid the turbulence or sinking air.
So as always in aviation first is the lesson and then the experience comes after that.

My base airport in Costa Rica during the dry season is windy from December to April, I always moved the Threshold to Bravo junction during the dry season,900ft down the runway, there was a ravine close to the beginning of runway 09 with lots of turbulence and nasty sinking air.
There have been some accidents where pilots didnt make it to the runway (school Cherokees) and landed short.

Always keep learning

Unless we are at a point in the landing where we are now in a one-way situation, avoid mentally committing to the landing until the aircraft is on the ground AND the wheels have stopped turning. If we've mentally committed to the landing we are much more prone to try and save the landing if things go awry during it.

Instead keep a hand on the throttle and remain mentally prepared to go full throttle in a split second when things don't feel right (or when some air traffic controller in need of remedial training calls a go around AFTER the plane's on the ground, slowed, and about to turn onto the taxiway and there is no danger anywhere, except in the control tower itself - obviously there is a story here that I will share one day, probably a day when it's raining).

And if the area right before the landing strip is different then the strip itself (trees, river, lake, ocean, cliff, hill, mountain side, etc) be prepared for either a lift or a sink. If the situation allows (not a one-way) make a low pass over the landing area at a speed comfortably above MCA for the conditions so you know what to expect when landing. This goes for on-airport as well as off-airport operations. (Obviously if the situation allows it we can land long and mitigate some/all of what happens at the threshold)

Fly safe, have fun.

That sinker would give me a stinker!

Zzz wrote:The potential for disaster at a spot like that is real.

One BCP guy did some pretty bad damage to his aircraft while practicing short landings using the real threshold. Came up a little short and ripped his gear leg off. Not sure if it was because of a sinker, perhaps he just got too slow and could arrest his descent rate quickly enough. Either way, good tips here about giving yourself a little margin when it's not critical to hit a spot.

30+ years ago a buddy and I were at Truckee on a hot summer day watching the glider tow pilot come in to land rwy 19 in a C182, the approach end of which sits on a pretty abrupt bluff. He got caught in a sink, was waaaay slow on bringing in power and airspeed, and as a result, hit the rocks nose first about ten feet below the runway level, coming to an instant stop and killing him.

That one really bugged me. Waste of a good pilot, waste of a good airplane, and no reason for it. There were thousands of feet of runway in front of him, and no reason not to land a wee bit longer out of the burble except to hurry up and get the next tow in the air.

Watching it happen made me kinda paranoid about bluff runways on windy days for many, many years.

Gump

A Shell pipeline I flew ended at Kirtland near Farmington, NM. Farmington airport is on a mesa. A steep approach to the displaced threshold is necessary to stay above the declination line.

Now that your here in WA here's a couple more airstrips that I've encountered sinkers. I enjoy your videos. Keep them coming.

Stehekin State 6S9: Approaching on Runway 31 over the trees.

Tieton State 4S6: Approaching on runway 02 over the water just before reaching the shoreline.

Sam been to both Tieton and Stehiken, liked them very much.

Tieton both times no sinking air.
Stehinken, both times turbulence and sinkers.

For me it always comes back to pitch for airspeed, power for altitude. Whatever it takes, DO IT.