Crosswind Muse

McBuzz

McBuzz

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“Crosswinds Take Care of Themselves”

Almost 18 years ago I took my private pilot check ride with a DPE, a recently retired airline captain who at the time actively flew everything from Cubs to captaining a B-17 on tours.

On completion of the examination, as we taxied back to the FBO at the class D airport, the examiner started to go over a checklist of performance items and when he came to crosswinds he made a statement that did not seem to be about my performance specifically, but about crosswinds in general. The statement was “crosswinds take care of themselves”. I was too worried about whether I passed or not (I did) to ask what he meant, but that statement has stayed with me all of these years. “Crosswinds take care of themselves”.

What do you think he meant?
 
Perhaps that you learn not to think about them, but just do what needs to be done.
 
I'm unclear, did he flunk you or pass you?
 
maybe he meant you just keep on flying the plane and not over think crosswind landings?
 
Rex Kramer said:
THIS!
Click to expand...

That's funny. On my check ride the DPE kept grumbling about the tailwind and I just kept flying the plane. No idea what was right or wrong. We had something like 10 knots tailwind on the last landing. Heck, I had plenty of runway and all day on the aircraft. Winds were pretty normal for BJC. Some days are like that.
 
Clark1961 said:
That's funny. On my check ride the DPE kept grumbling about the tailwind and I just kept flying the plane. No idea what was right or wrong. We had something like 10 knots tailwind on the last landing. Heck, I had plenty of runway and all day on the aircraft. Winds were pretty normal for BJC. Some days are like that.
Click to expand...


Yep, make the airplane do what/go where you want it to. You want the nose aligned with the centerline when you touch down right? Use the rudder. You want the airplane to not drift? Use the ailerons to control it. How much? As much as it takes! Don't overthink it.
 
Rex Kramer said:
Yep, make the airplane do what/go where you want it to. You want the nose aligned with the centerline when you touch down right? Use the rudder. You want the airplane to not drift? Use the ailerons to control it. How much? As much as it takes! Don't overthink it.
Click to expand...

Yup, if we could just teach that...
 
spiderweb said:
Perhaps that you learn not to think about them, but just do what needs to be done.
Click to expand...

And to expand my earlier comment, this probably applies to most of aviation.

Remember your first few days learning to drive a car?
 
I often did less than stellar with crosswinds (safe and effective but playing catchup the whole way down final) until one day it just clicked. The light bulb came on and said "just fly the plane - quit watching the windsock and thinking too much - use the centerline, stay on it and land.".
 
ateamer said:
I often did less than stellar with crosswinds (safe and effective but playing catchup the whole way down final) until one day it just clicked. The light bulb came on and said "just fly the plane - quit watching the windsock and thinking too much - use the centerline, stay on it and land.".
Click to expand...

Same. I used to "force" the slip pretty early and end up with too much aileron and then constantly be re-correcting all the way to touch-down. Recently on a night flight into an airport with an MALSR lit up bright, I did a pretty smooth landing after which my wife said "that was a hell of a slip" (her favorite term and maneuver she's seen me do =P). I realized that I didn't pay attention to the actual crosswind at all in terms of raw numbers; with the runway lighting as my focus for alignment all I did was keep in track with the center line and the nose pointed towards the runway.

It makes me think of this comic (the link to this individual comic itself is tame and clean, but not one of the other comics on this website would be considered safe for work by any means):
http://www.oglaf.com/trapmaster/

Overthinking is the enemy.
 
With regard to crosswind technique, here is some of the best advice that was ever given to me:

Landing on the upwind wheel with the nose pointed straight shouldn't be the goal, it is just the result of proper technique.
 
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