Narrative:

Winds at the airfield were gusting down the runway (estimated +/- 10 degrees of runway heading with variability greater than 20 KTS...there is no weather reporting at the airfield). I was on short final with a C-172 about 3 miles behind turning base to final. I landed the aircraft using 0 flaps touching down about 1;500 ft down on centerline. The next available taxiway to exit was near the departure end of the runway. With the gusty winds I had to taxi slower than usual to maintain aircraft control. The pilot in the C-172 queried whether I was clear of the runway. I replied 'no; but will be as quick as we can' and attempted to speed up my taxi off the runway. Allowing myself to be pressured by the traffic on final was a mistake. A gust of wind came down the runway approximately 10-20 degrees off of centerline. This gust lifted my left wing (while I had full right aileron in for the winds favoring the front right quarter of the aircraft) to which I responded with left aileron. With this correction; the gust promptly lifted my right wing and the aircraft then weathervaned to the left about 20 degrees. I immediately neutralized the aileron and applied right rudder in an attempt to realign the aircraft with runway heading. As I departed the runway surface; I immediately applied full power and initiated a go/around. The aircraft did not hit any airfield lighting/signage. No damage was sustained to the aircraft/airfield. The time from the initial gust to the go/around was approximately 3 seconds.I re-entered the VFR pattern and landed without incident. This time; I taxied more slowly to parking without incident (with a little less than 1 hour fuel reserve). Lessons learned include: keep flying a tail wheel aircraft until it is in the chocks; manage taxi speed appropriately for the current conditions; do not allow other traffic in the pattern to adversely pressure how I operate my tail wheel aircraft; consider an alternate airfield with wind conditions more suitable for the aircraft and my experience level.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: M7 pilot reports a runway excursion and go around while attempting to clear the runway quickly in strong gusty winds; for traffic landing behind.

Narrative: Winds at the airfield were gusting down the runway (estimated +/- 10 degrees of runway heading with variability greater than 20 KTS...there is no weather reporting at the airfield). I was on short final with a C-172 about 3 miles behind turning base to final. I landed the aircraft using 0 flaps touching down about 1;500 FT down on centerline. The next available taxiway to exit was near the departure end of the runway. With the gusty winds I had to taxi slower than usual to maintain aircraft control. The pilot in the C-172 queried whether I was clear of the runway. I replied 'no; but will be as quick as we can' and attempted to speed up my taxi off the runway. Allowing myself to be pressured by the traffic on final was a mistake. A gust of wind came down the runway approximately 10-20 degrees off of centerline. This gust lifted my left wing (while I had full right aileron in for the winds favoring the front right quarter of the aircraft) to which I responded with left aileron. With this correction; the gust promptly lifted my right wing and the aircraft then weathervaned to the left about 20 degrees. I immediately neutralized the aileron and applied right rudder in an attempt to realign the aircraft with runway heading. As I departed the runway surface; I immediately applied full power and initiated a go/around. The aircraft did not hit any airfield lighting/signage. No damage was sustained to the aircraft/airfield. The time from the initial gust to the go/around was approximately 3 seconds.I re-entered the VFR pattern and landed without incident. This time; I taxied more slowly to parking without incident (with a little less than 1 hour fuel reserve). Lessons learned include: keep flying a tail wheel aircraft until it is in the chocks; manage taxi speed appropriately for the current conditions; do not allow other traffic in the pattern to adversely pressure how I operate my tail wheel aircraft; consider an alternate airfield with wind conditions more suitable for the aircraft and my experience level.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.