Comments on: Crosswind landings https://lahso.megginson.com/2006/05/27/crosswind-landings/ Flying a small plane. Wed, 14 Jun 2006 17:08:28 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.com/ By: TknoFlyer https://lahso.megginson.com/2006/05/27/crosswind-landings/#comment-325 Wed, 14 Jun 2006 17:08:28 +0000 http://www.megginson.com/blogs/lahso/archives/2006/05/27/crosswind-landings/#comment-325 I disagree with the second bullet above. While I don’t dispute the winds at 100 feet can be very different from those at the surface, setting up the slip late as you suggest is adding more workload to the most critical phase of the flight. I suggest setting up the slip shortly after turning final to allow time to adjust to changing winds without changing the workload much.

I also disagree with always landing with full flaps – especially in gusty conditions. Of course, that may be partly due to “full flaps” being 40 degrees for the Skylane I fly, but even in later Cessnas and Pipers where the max is 30 degrees, I recommend reducing flaps in strong wind conditions.

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By: david https://lahso.megginson.com/2006/05/27/crosswind-landings/#comment-324 Mon, 05 Jun 2006 01:35:13 +0000 http://www.megginson.com/blogs/lahso/archives/2006/05/27/crosswind-landings/#comment-324 Nice — I never thought of that extra benefit of differential power. With the price of avgas these days (not to mention general maintenance and engine overhauls), I’m not sure that I can see myself ever flying a twin.

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By: Aviatrix https://lahso.megginson.com/2006/05/27/crosswind-landings/#comment-323 Sun, 04 Jun 2006 23:08:16 +0000 http://www.megginson.com/blogs/lahso/archives/2006/05/27/crosswind-landings/#comment-323 And if you have non-centreline thrust, you can bank even more, and use differential power when you run out of rudder.

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By: Ed Davies https://lahso.megginson.com/2006/05/27/crosswind-landings/#comment-322 Sun, 28 May 2006 17:49:46 +0000 http://www.megginson.com/blogs/lahso/archives/2006/05/27/crosswind-landings/#comment-322 Crabbing taildraggers is OK with a modicum of care – you don’t want to kick it straight too early or too late.

It’s a few years since I’ve done any flying but my experience was that a combination of slipping and crabbing worked fine in Supercubs and Pawnees (both taildraggers, of course). It might have helped a little bit that they were glider tugs with a rope on the back which gives some directional stability but kicking them straight as they settle down is pretty easy. It’s my theory that if the aircraft is just about to land itself anyway and you kick it straight then it’ll land pretty promptly (as the relative airflow is now angled across the wing) – before the wind can give it much momentum across the airfield. Therefore the window of time to kick it straight is wider than you might think given that you want to do it in the few seconds just before touchdown.

It’s always much better if you can point the thing into wind, though.

Gliders (sailplanes) are mostly in effect taildraggers but they are almost always crabbed in a cross wind because the wings are long enough that you don’t want too much slip close to the ground.

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