Piper Single Undifferentiated or Other Model
Flight Crew Multiengine; Flight Crew Instrument; Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP); Flight Crew Flight Instructor
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 123; Flight Crew Total 2759; Flight Crew Type 17
Situational Awareness; Time Pressure
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Ground Event / Encounter Other / Unknown; Ground Excursion Taxiway; Ground Excursion Runway; Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence; Inflight Event / Encounter Fuel Issue
Flight Crew Diverted; Flight Crew Took Evasive Action
Weather; Human Factors
I checked the weather and received VFR flight following from Nellis Control. I remained east of the Nellis restricted areas throughout the flight. I was in the terminal phase of the flight when the winds began to pick up and were not as forecasted. There was a significant crosswind at ([my destination]) so I chose to divert to (U08). U08 does not have an ATIS and I was guessing the wind from the windsock and a departing helicopter that reported the wind as north at 25 knots. After overflying the field a few times I began to run low on fuel. The crosswind turned into a direct crosswind at 35 knots (exceeding aircraft limitations) and I began to run low on fuel. I made the decision to land diagonally across the taxiway; across the smooth gravel that is between the taxiway and the runway and ultimately onto Runway 31 at an angle. My GPS indicated that my groundspeed on the approach was approximately 17 knots and I rolled smoothly across the gravel to the runway. There was no damage to any of the runway environment or the aircraft. My ground roll was approximately 150 feet. In order to execute the landing safely I had to overfly a few structures that were not lined up with the runway...This may have startled residents of the town. I had already cancelled and switched from Nellis Control and my datalink weather and ATIS reports of all of the surrounding airports indicated significant crosswinds as well. I made the decision to not switch back to Nellis to declare an emergency because there would be no services they could provide to me at that point. There is a vast distance between airports with fuel on the east side of the Nellis Complex. In the future I will proceed down the west side where there are more options and airports with fuel.
Small aircraft pilot reported a low fuel condition; higher forecast crosswinds and the intentional landing in-between the taxiway and runway.