Narrative:

On short final for runway 12R I noticed the wind sock was indicating a direct x wind from the left. As I crossed the numbers I began side slipping for a cross-wind landing. Upon touching down on centerline the aircraft immediately began veering to the right. I applied more left aileron and left rudder. The aircraft continued to move to the right and side loads were increasing. Ultimately the right wheel went off the runway pavement and onto the gravel; for approximately 3 seconds; nearly missing a runway light fixture. As the airplane slowed down I was able to regain complete control and continued on the centerline of the runway. After tie down I inspected the right wheel and the rest of the aircraft and found no damage. Looking back perhaps retracting the flaps completely right after touch down may have helped prevent this incident. Also; I may have been better off requesting a more favorable runway. However; I'd like to note that ATIS and ASOS before takeoff reported winds variable [at] 5 kts. Certainly they were nowhere near that when I landed. On short final I vaguely recall tower reporting winds 15 kts from 020. Needless to say that they continued using runways 12L [and] 12R afterwards.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: C172 Instructor reported a runway excursion during a cross-wind landing and regained control after aircraft slowed down.

Narrative: On short final for runway 12R I noticed the wind sock was indicating a direct x wind from the left. As I crossed the numbers I began side slipping for a cross-wind landing. Upon touching down on centerline the aircraft immediately began veering to the right. I applied more left aileron and left rudder. The aircraft continued to move to the right and side loads were increasing. Ultimately the right wheel went off the runway pavement and onto the gravel; for approximately 3 seconds; nearly missing a runway light fixture. As the airplane slowed down I was able to regain complete control and continued on the centerline of the runway. After tie down I inspected the right wheel and the rest of the aircraft and found no damage. Looking back perhaps retracting the flaps completely right after touch down may have helped prevent this incident. Also; I may have been better off requesting a more favorable runway. However; I'd like to note that ATIS and ASOS before takeoff reported winds variable [at] 5 kts. Certainly they were nowhere near that when I landed. On short final I vaguely recall Tower reporting winds 15 kts from 020. Needless to say that they continued using runways 12L [and] 12R afterwards.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.