Crosswind landing technique

[rgmwa]

A pleasant afternoon with a lighthearted little breeze to liven things up down at the local field, somewhere in NZ. Mind you, some of those landings seem all too familiar. And did I mention risky?.

 

rgmwa

 

 

[ayavner]

some of those make me feel alot better about my crosswind landings and takeoffs

 

 

[kgwilson]

This was posted about 18 months ago (by me) but is worth a new look especially for newcomers to the site. Crosswinds are standard fare for Kiwis. My training at Hamilton (about 50NM from Tokoroa where this was videoed) included a huge amount of crosswind stuff. It was just considered normal. The camera angle makes some of these look worse than they are though. There's a pretty decent wind gradient. Check out the windsock & long grass.

 

 

[ayavner]

Yeah much of this looks a bit past my personal limit at the moment, though that's gotten a lot better with the time down at YWOL. Loads of fun by the looks of it, cool to see little competitions like this too, something I'd hope to participate in one day

 

 

[poteroo]

Looked like about 10 kts at the windsock and probably increasing to 14-15 further down the strip where they were all touching down. Reckon it was more the gustiness which caused the pitching ride.

 

Also appeared that everyone was using half flap. It's a recommended technique, and probably used here to ensure that the student has less to do,(safer), on the touch-&-go or the missed approach.

 

Difficult to see just how well aligned with the runway they all were at touchdown - but the fact that most 'tipped' to starboard, at or during touchdown, seems to indicate they were not quite straight. It also seemed to me that they all needed more aileron during the flare - which itself will swing the nose more into wind and requires ever more rudder to keep straight. The exception was the last landing by FMV where they did touchdown on the upwind wheel - as per the book.

 

Particularly interested in the 180's arrival - seemed that he changed his mind during the flare and tried to lower the tail instead of holding the mains down on the grass. Anyway - the 180 isn't the worlds' easiest unit to handle in a crosswind - and if all 3 wheels remain attached it's been a successful landing!

 

happy days,

 

 

[Billzilla]

I actually like crosswind landings, they make it more interesting.

 

So here comes the predictable story .....

 

Had to take a Metro 2 into Cooly for most of the week with a full 30 kts blowing across the main runway. The problem was the demonstrated max for them is only 20 kts so it was a bit of a handful.

 

The technique was the make the approach normally but with a little more airspeed, then do the usual boot-full of rudder and drop the upwind wing. The problem with that was even with full rudder the aeroplane still wasn't straight with the centreline so I had to take one hand off the controls (it's pretty normal to land a Metro in rough conditions with both hands on the controls as they're quite heavy, and just plant it with approach power on) and cut the power on the downwind engine, and that would yaw the aeroplane enough to get it straight. Next problem was even though the Metro 2 has very stubby wings, the upwind one was down so far I was worried it'd scrape the runway before the main wheel touched down. But fortunately it never did and I was able to just plant the heap of Metro onto the runway, keep full rudder on and then use lots of asymmetric thrust to keep it on the centreline.

 

All good fun.

 

 

[facthunter]

As long as you get away with it. Downward wing is needed but few get to use it fully as they are generally not confident. With a wide undercarriage you won't keep the wing down after runway contact for long. Letting the upwind wing get high at any stage is the thing to avoid. Nev

 

 

[Guest nunans]

whats the go with all these cessna trike pilots landing the wing flat? maybe the tyres will pull you straight in a 152 but it wouldnt work in a dragger.

 

 

[Guest Howard Hughes]

I do so many crosswind/downwind landings, that when I get to do a normal into wind landing, I forget what to do!!

 

 

[facthunter]

Do like I do, Invent a crosswind. HH

 

Gotta go along with Nunans. What I've seen over many years is a complete reluctance to lower the into wind wing (which is the only way to actually counteract the crosswind and have no side loads on the plane at that stage). Many airline landings don't even take the crab off. Bit hard on the airframe.. Nev

 

 

[Billzilla]

Many airline landings don't even take the crab off. Bit hard on the airframe.. Nev

It actually doesn't bother them too much, it just scrubs the tyres a bit more. The landing gear is very strong on most of them.

 

FWIW a 747 doing an autoland does not take the crab angle off for touchdown and they are rated at 22 kts of crosswind. Just plant it on the runway and let inertia straighten it all up.

 

 

[motzartmerv]

There ya go Nev, how did you survive all those years in the airlines?...lol

 

 

[motzartmerv]

The video should be calle "Lack of crosswind landing technique". Not many examples there of how to do it properly.

 

Luckily the cessnas are forgiving and robust, although some of the touchdowns IMHO would warrant an inspection.. Some other safety issues with people walking around insode the gable markers during testing conditions like that is asking for throuble. was it just me or did it look rear and quartering??

 

 

[facthunter]

The only aeroplane I have flown with autoland, allowed manual decrab . Autoland has reduced crosswind capability anyhow. You could land a 747 in 40 knots of crosswind. Just cause it's common doesn't make it right. You should have a look at some of the maintenance on that landing gear. Also if the flare doesn't work the loads are much increased with crab and a high sink rate and it is BAD technique with small aircraft especially U/L's which have weak undercarriages in most instances and definitely a No No with a T/W aircraft

 

 

[facthunter]

They have pretty windy conditions most times in the Shakey Isles and most pilots do it well or crash. I think the camera effects may some of those look worse than they are but there appears to be a lack of positive technique.

 

The trouble with decrabbing a light aircraft, if it floats, you get blown off the D/W side of the runway, so the upwind wing has to go down to keep your track on the runway and avoid the sideload with impact/ contact. Don't forget in the early days there were all over fields so you landed directly into wind, making it much easier.

 

Banking jets can cause the engine pod, or on some the first contact point is the flap, to hit the ground at quite a small angle so you don't want to overdo it there.Nev