Crosswind landing technique
Crosswind landing: wind strikes from one side, landing heading fixed by runway.
- Uncorrected: aircraft weathercocks off heading, drifts across runway.
- Touchdown while drifting or still crabbed side-loads gear.
Drift-correction methods:
| Side-slip (wing-low) | Crab | |
|---|---|---|
| Technique | Bank into wind, hold opposite rudder | Hold heading into wind, flight path tracks centreline |
| Nose alignment | Longitudinal axis on centreline, final approach through landing roll | Rudder aligns nose with runway just before touchdown |
| Touchdown | Upwind main wheel first, downwind wheel airborne | Timing critical |
| Timing error | - | Too soon: land still crabbed. Too late: land drifting |
| Skill / use | More popular: continuous control through touchdown, handles most crosswinds | More skill, seldom used in elementary training |
After touchdown:
- Aileron toward upwind wing: stops it rising.
- Keep aircraft rolling straight: forestalls ground loop.
Landing vs takeoff: crosswind landings harder than takeoffs. Control less effective as speed decreases through touchdown and rollout. Takeoff opposite: control builds as speed increases.
Sideslip (slip): banked attitude, rudder stopping the turn. Forward slip (steepening a descent): descent-technique.
- Side-slip: drift correction in crosswind. More effective into wind.
- Slipping can cause airspeed errors.
- Enter: aileron lowers wing on slip side, opposite rudder.
- Recover: release rudder, level wings, adjust pitch (TP 1102).
Trap: touching down crabbed or drifting side-loads the gear.
References
- TP 1102 Approach and Landing: Cross-Wind Landings