Crosswind Landings

Being able to safely land an aircraft in a crosswind is a must for a pilot. It is actually a very rare day to have the wind directly aligned with the runway, so there's always at least a little crosswind component to the landing. What makes crosswind landings so tricky is drift. Let's say you have a runway running North/South, and you're landing in the magnetic North direction (that means the runway would be called 36. North=360°=36). So we're landing on runway 36, and the wind is out of the west, or 270°. That gives us a 90° crosswind. In order to align ourselves with the runway, we're going to have to point the nose of the aircraft into the wind slightly. The problem this creates is that now the wheels are no longer going to touch down straight, which can impose side loads on the tires, contribute to premature tire wear, and could also make it very difficult to maintain directional control once we've touched down.

There's two techniques you can use to correct this: The crab method and the wing low method. The crab method is much more difficult and requires precise timing with small aircraft (larger jets have a better time using this), so it is not often used. The wing low method is mainly what is being taught for light aircraft, so that is the method I'll explain.

To align the wheels when landing using the wing low method requires the use of both aileron and rudder. You use the ailerons to bank into the wind, and then opposite rudder to align the nose with the runway. This results in the upwind wing being slightly lower then the other one, which also means that the upwind wheel will touch down first. Naturally the stronger the crosswind the more crosswind correction is required, and the more difficult it becomes.

Today I went up for another lesson in the Twin Comanche. We just reviewed the usuals: steep turns, engine failure in cruise, and engine failure in the overshoot. We also did some circuits, and the air was incredibly bumpy, and the crosswind was nuts too. We were using runway 27 with the winds at 230° at 22 kts gusting to 27. That works out to about a 14 to 17 knot crosswind. Officially the strongest crosswind I've ever flown in. The crosswinds were just about at my personal limits, and they were just on the verge of the airplane's limits too. Richard said I did very well. One landing I had to use full rudder deflection to keep the wheels straight and tracking the runway as we touched down, and it was difficult to maintain directional control after touchdown before we had slowed completely as well. I wouldn't call those crosswind conditions fun, but they were certainly a challenge I was glad I took on. It was quite the adrenaline rush.

With gusty conditions it is impossible to hold the nose steadily aligned with the runway, so timing becomes more critical as you try to touch down at the moment the nose is aligned properly. Your feet are on the rudder pedals kicking back and forth trying to counteract the wind gusts, your right hand is ready on the throttles, and the left hand is on the yoke working the ailerons opposite to rudder direction and making pitch adjustments to keep the airplane in the flare ready to touch down as soon as the nose is straight. Its important that we don't let the airplane touch down until the wheels are aligned with the direction of motion, and its tricky when the wind gusts are blowing the nose back and forth. Quite the challenge, but those are the moments pilots live for - to conquer the airplane even when the elements turn against us.