Skyhawk 172/Cutlass 172
Flight Crew Private; Flight Crew Instrument
Flight Crew Last 90 Days 90; Flight Crew Total 465; Flight Crew Type 350
Training / Qualification; Situational Awareness
Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy; Ground Event / Encounter Object; Ground Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence; Ground Event / Encounter Loss Of Aircraft Control; Ground Excursion Runway; Inflight Event / Encounter Weather / Turbulence
Flight Crew Regained Aircraft Control
Human Factors; Weather
On Date; I flew Aircraft X to ZZZ1 for my instrument check ride which was scheduled for XA AM on Date1.After my check ride I flew VFR back to ZZZ from ZZZ1. Conditions were VFR for the entire route. The weather at ZZZ1 was hot and humid and winds were extremely gusty out of the southwest when I departed. I had a great tailwind and a very bumpy but uneventful quick trip back.ZZZ ATIS revealed the winds were increasing at ZZZ. I believe the wind was reported 220 at around 16 kts or so. TRACON told me to expect Runway XX.I flew a normal VFR right downwind pattern to Runway XX. Everything was fine. On final; I did a wind-check and I recall the winds were increasing and were 220 or 230 at over 20 kts. I opted for two notches of flaps instead of 3 due to the gusty and crosswind conditions. I was on glide-slope according to the PAPI.On short final I was centered up well; had a crosswind correction in and had the nose lined up with the runway. I landed the airplane and got all the wheels on the ground. Just moments after; I apparently got a very strong gust from the left on roll out. The airplane went hard right at a significant enough angle where it was impossible for me not to go on the grass. I was able to recover a bit and just left the edge of the runway; but enough to strike one runway light. I got the airplane slowed down and turned left on Taxiway XX.Following that; the plane taxied and sounded fine. There was apparently no damage to the nose-wheel or propeller as I noticed nothing different about the performance of the plane on taxi.I believe I maintained my crosswind correction during rollout but I am certainly open to the possibility that I did not; or had an inadequate crosswind correction for the strength of the gusty crosswind I experienced. I; of course; was the PIC (Pilot in Command) and take full responsibility.I notified Tower immediately during taxi. They offered assistance but I did not require any. I fueled the plane; cleaned it up and put it in its hanger. I then called and notified my Instructor who made sure the airplane was taken out of service. I attempted to call Tower but discovered I did not have their number. I talked to the Supervisor at Tower the next morning.In my less than 5 years of being a pilot. About 75% of my hours are in a 172. The balance of my hours are in my Cherokee 6 and Aircraft Y During my instrument training; I have logged about 50 hours in Aircraft X in 2.5 months.Without question; I have never experienced anything close to what occurred on Date1. I have certainly landed in similar or worse conditions. But could I have done anything differently? Yes. Perhaps use on one notch of flaps or none. Or I could have had more of a crosswind correction on rollout. Again; I'm not sure how much I used during landing. I also could've not landed at ZZZ if I felt that I couldn't land the plane safely. I could've landed at ZZZ2 on Runway XY with less crosswind.I'll certainly always have this experience in my mind when I fly in the future. I'm quite humble when it comes to flying and I have conservative personal minimums. I know there is always room for improvement. And that a good pilot is always learning.**Just a side note. A few days after the incident with my Instructor for 3 hours. We spent a lot of time doing soft field/short field takeoff and landings in a very significant crosswind.
C172 pilot reported a runway excursion during landing rollout.