Thank you very much. I guess I had a rough day and probably most of it was mental because some of us do tend to bring in a little too much of speed, and mostly a little too much worry when it's windy. You can never get enough of cross wind practice, so I will challenge myself more in the future with a CFI on board. Again thanks!

If it makes you feel better...(probably not) I'd rather fly an approach in an unfamiliar airport down to mins than land a 172 in really gusty, nasty winds.... of course even more than that I HATE landing a tailwheel in really gusty winds....especially after the tailwheel touches the ground.

172 in winds = beer can a'tumblin', but quite manageable. If it's beyond the demonstrated capability of the aircraft I would go somewhere else...but if you have nowhere else to go...

A good landing starts with a good approach. If you haven't made a good stable trimmed-off approach, your landing is likely to suck no matter how well you Yeager it.

172 in winds is bad? Here in NJ and when I flew in NH if we didn't fly on days where x-wind was above demonstrated (12 knots) we would loose about 20 percent of our flying days. I actually enjoy landing the 172 in a good crosswind, the lighter 152s I don't like so much, and ass for tail wheels in a 20 knot xwind with my experience, forget about it. For a tailwheel I cut myself off at 10 for cross wind component but then again I only have about 20 hours in them.

Any of you guys worried or complaining about a 172 in a crosswind, do me a favor. Next time you go up fly the approach with power, set the trim for the airspeed you want, and only use the yoke to hold the wings level. Use a crabbed approach, not a slip, and report back as to how that goes. I think you will surprise yourselves at how smooth this plane can be in a good crosswind.

I didn't say it was bad, I said it was manageable. :) I also neglected to use the word "fun", too. So I guess I'll use it now. Yes, it's fun.

Best thing I've ever done for crosswind control is flying a taildragger...great experience.

Peshaw. In addition to 3, 4, and 5 turn spins with recovery on a heading, the B-52 IP I got my tailwheel checkout with made it a point to give me a workout doing 1-wheelers in gusting direct crosswinds. I never had a chance to be timid with them. :D

That's just good-natured ribbing, of course. Crosswinds and tailwheel acft are real business and I respect every pilot's personal minimums.