Simplifying Crosswind Landings!

This week, I found myself at an airport just east of Atlanta, GA. I was standing on the ramp, talking to a student pilot, just shy of taking his Private Pilot check ride. He was about to jump in a Cessna 172 for some solo practice when he voiced his concern that the winds were starting to pick up. I actually laughed out loud, only to then feel really bad… I thought he was joking about what I was interpreting as a light breeze. In reality there was a five knot crosswind blowing across the runway.

I’ve always been amazed at how overly complicated people can make crosswind landings seem. While they certainly are one of the more challenging items to master, when it comes to learning to fly, they really aren’t all that complicated.

The Problem

You’ll quickly realize when taking off with a crosswind the aircraft will naturally try to yaw into the wind after the wheels have left the ground. This is perfectly normal and even feels natural after a while. However, we sure can’t land with the aircraft in this alignment. The side-load imposed on the landing gear could cause damage to the gear, evening resulting in a loss of directional control if too much weight is applied too quickly onto the wheels. We’re faced with the problem of having to overcome this.

There are two methods that are commonly taught to cope with this problem:

Solution #1: Crab

Usually the first method taught when it comes to crosswind landings, and the easiest to master. As I mentioned above, the aircraft naturally wants to weather-vane into the wind. We can manipulate the aircraft’s ground track by crabbing more or less into the wind to keep our ground track aligned with the runway, however our heading will usually not be aligned with the runway.

The main benefit of this is comfort for your passengers. Unfortunately though, we can’t allow the aircraft to touch down like this without possibly damaging it.

Solution #2: The Slip

The slip is the more difficult method to grasp. It requires a lot of coordination, but I break it down into two easy steps:

Slipping Made Easy:

Using rudder, align the nose of the aircraft with the center line of the runway
Use aileron to correct the aircraft’s drift and align it with the runway’s center-line

(The amount of rudder and aileron pressure required will change as the wind changes! Just keep running through steps 1 & 2 in order each time you need to readjust)

Sounds easy enough, right? With a little practice it is!

The problem with a slip is that it can be uncomfortable for your passengers.

Next week, we’ll take the best of both of these methods and I’ll show you the most common approach for landing when the winds are working against us. I strongly encourage you all to crank up the winds in your sim and experiment with both of these methods. Until then…

Throttle On!

Mathew Young
Cincinnati, OH

Join the Conversation!
What are some other considerations to take into account with crosswind landings?

Fryanair

I read that in the Boeing FCTM there are 3 x-wind landing tecnique mentioned: sideslip, de-crab and crab landing (and I think the last picture of this topic comes from the FCTM). My question is: why would boeing suggest to put sideload on the tyre on landing using the crab tecnique? Slippery or wet runways? I don’t get it…
- Mathew Young
  
  You’re correct! The de-crab is what we’ll be discussing in the next article It’s the combination of both methods and is the most commonly practiced in the real world. You brought up a GREAT point with the Boeing FCTM! Let’s look at the 737 for example. (I’m assuming this is the model you’re referencing) The engines on the 737 hang so low to the ground that any kind of slip which would result with one wing-low might actually cause the engine to strike the ground! Check out this video of an A320 landing: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYiLaK5bIJo
  A crab is much safer in this situation because you can touch down wings-level and then “kick-out” the crab as the weight settles on the wheels. The type of aircraft you’re flying may determine the method you have to use during a strong cross-wind landing.
  - PBily
    
    The Last sentence is the truth. In a strong crosswind you have to use combination of both. Because you can use crabbing up to 1-3m above the RWY (in a strong cross wind higher). When you put the plane tu runway heading the plane starts to travel to the side. Stronger cross wind, faster movement. Id you use small slip for this short period it helps you a lot. I like to use crabbing because of comfort and 5m above the ground slowly change crabbing to small slip which helps you to stay on centraline (more or less
    - Mathew Young
      
      Couldn’t have said it better there at the end! This is our next topic as well!
      - Eugene
        
        Came across an interesting video of cross wind landings taken at Osaka, posted by airnation.net. Not one of those extreme cross wind vids you see on youtube, but a series of landings in a strong but manageable crosswind, shown from behind, so you can see the drift/crab. What surprised me was how few aircraft attempted to remove the crab before touchdown, just relying on the runway to straighten them out after touchdown. I know underwing engined aircraft have to be very careful not to “scrape a pod”, but seemed to be the same with tail engined jets, even turboprops. I noticed that Boeings recommendations as quoted on Wiki say ” touchdown in a crab only condition is not recommended when landing on a dry runway.”
        One aircraft did what seemed to me a nice de-crabbed touchdown, a 777-200 at min 9-42, more like I was expecting. But I’ve never flown “heavy metal”, so maybe that’s the way it’s taught these days.
        Eugene
        Video here:
        http://airnation.net/2012/10/10/osaka-crosswind-landing-action-video/
    - Eugene
      
      In the “olden days”
      when I was instructing on Cessna’s out of Birmingham UK, EGBB, I
      developed an instructional technique that seemed to work quite well.
      We used the crab technique until close to the runway, then kicked it
      straight and dropped the into wind wing as required. For students
      having difficulty with crosswind landings, usually qualified private
      pilots wanting to improve their landings, I’d take them up for an
      hour of circuits on the main runway (33/15 – practically a guaranteed
      crosswind in the UK where south-westerlies dominate), and for the
      first few I’d give them rudder control only, I’d keep the
      aileron/elevator, leave 1500-1600 rpm on the engine, so once they’d
      kicked it straight a little above the runway, we’d float and float
      in ground effect down the 7000ft runway, as I wasn’t interested that
      much in the landing, I just wanted them to practice keeping straight,
      and re-enforcing the need to keep “pedalling” it down the runway
      as the wind forces and rudder effectiveness changed as the aircraft
      slowed down. Almost always to start with, they put a good rudder
      correction to line up the aircraft with the runway, but didn’t keep
      it there, or didn’t add more rudder as the rudder effectiveness
      decreased. But after a few circuits they got the hang of it. So then
      I took over the rudder, and left them the control column. Once again
      the aircraft floated and floated, their job was to hold it just above
      the runway, whilst using just the required aileron input to keep the
      aircraft above the centre-line, until we eventually landed, into wind
      wheel first. Then finally of course, they took full control, and
      having seen a crosswind wind landing effectively in “slow motion”,
      pretty much all of them managed to get the knack. Birmingham was a
      lot quieter in those days…..
      - http://www.facebook.com/stanley.carpenter.54 Stanley Carpenter
        
        Excellent Explanation.
Darmog

I was sorry you did not mention delights of cross wind landings. You can make them a positive joy with touch down with one main wheel – upwind one of course and then continue to fly down centre of runway with power chopped to idle – then second main wheel touches but you continue flying the plane holding off nose wheel until it insists dropping when you then center rudder (linked to nose wheel in many small planes). Stick into wind (aileron) helps avoid need for rudder to prevent weather cocking. again leaving nose wheel near neutral for its touchdown. This way aquaplanibg in wet or even ice will be mastered. I would be glad for correcions to these notions.
- http://www.flyaoamedia.com Chris Palmer
  
  Mat intends to address these later, I believe.
- Mathew Young
  
  Correct! The de-crab is the more advanced technique and I planned on covering it in a “Part 2″ this week. I agree, it is by far the most fun and satisfying method! Yes, you keep yourself tracking straight down the center-line with the rudder peddles but the reason for the aileron input into the wind is to keep that wind from possibly getting under the wing and lifting it inadvertently.
IFR7700

Is this new blog part of the AviatorPro training? Is it the actual AviatorPro training? Haven’t seen an AviatorPro episode in … forever. What’s going on? Did I miss something. BTW, hello Mat, and welcome.
- Mathew Young
  
  Thanks! I’ll have to deffer this question to Chris.