Flight Level 120 (Part II)

“Positive rate of climb”, “gear up”. The engines love the cold air; it is accelerating very fast through the cool evening. Reduce the thrust to climb. Switch the autopilot to NAV (FMS). The flight director comes up and the FD guides the jet on the assigned course to RENO intersection. The TAS reads 220 kts. Start to reduce the flaps. ATC clears us to climb to FL 120 and contact the center. Since we are VFR, we request ‘flight following’. Once we are FL120, thrust to set to cruise.

We are now ‘feet wet’ over the sea. I keep a check of the flight navigation of the autopilot and the flight plan. We are having a direct tail wind of 20 kts.
Soon we are on TOD (Top of Descent) point (It’s only a short hop). Time to get busy. Things move pretty fast from now on!

I contact the approach at SABA and request a VOR/DME approach to runway 27. They vector us to the approach procedure which requires me to perform 15DME Arc over SABA VOR. The ATIS informs us of a wind shear near the runway and a direct crosswind component of 15 kts. Within the operational flight envelop. It will be fun.

After completing the DME Arc, we are almost lined up with the runway 27 10 miles out. Wind blowing from the left is pushing the fuselage off the runway alignment. I switch the smoke & mirrors off and crab the plane and cross control thereby increasing the stall speed. Nudge a bit on the throttles, roll to the left and a little rudder input to right align with the runway.

5 miles, IAS = 140 kts, flaps = 45, gear = down and locked, spoilers = armed, anti skid = armed. At 1.0 DME and @ decision height. Visually lined up and looking good (PAPI = 2 red & 2 white). Over the threshold 50’… smoothly reduce the throttle to idle… 40’… come out of the crab – null the rudder rate, and gentle left aileron to keep the plane more or less lined up with the runway…30’… 20’… start the flare – nudge on the stick to raise the nose 2-3 degrees… 10’… touchdown…

Spoilers come up… and I pull back on the reversers and smoothly slow down… the runway is long, and the tower has cleared us to use the entire length of it! At 60 kts, throttles at idle and apply breaks to slow down to taxi speed of 15 kts.
The ground instructs to turn left via taxiway delta and proceed to gate 2. As I come to the assigned gate, I apply the brakes and come to halt right on the markers. Cut the engines and pull the parking breaks. The engines spool down, switch off the avionics master switches, batt off display off.

Wonderful feeling to have accomplished another crosswind landing… life on the line continues!