Landing off center line in high winds

Actually, I’ll use the full width if necessary.

If it looks like I won’t be in the air before reaching the upwind edge, only then will I curve my path slightly to remain on the runway.
 
FastEddieB said:
Actually, I’ll use the full width if necessary.

If it looks like I won’t be in the air before reaching the upwind edge, only then will I curve my path slightly to remain on the runway.
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In an airplane like yours, I can see that
 
The Tiger's rudder is like a barn door and could hold with a direct 35knot crosswind ... best high wind plane I've ever flown. Landed Carlsbad with a 50 knot headwind, no gust (winds aloft were calm, TB through the shear zone) most fun landing ever, felt like we were walking on short final and landing in a few dozen feet.
 
I landed diagonally a couple times until I wised up and realized that runways existed that were aligned with the prevailing winds. Since I made that realization I haven't had to take such measures.
 
I never really considered landing off center before. Then one time on final for 27 heading into KMEM I noticed it was wider than a football field. The extremely gusty winds were coming from NNW (320/330ish). Full rudder deflection was barely keeping me straight. I admit I eased over the left made a slight turn back to the right and landed on 28/29. I’d never try that elsewhere.
 
steingar said:
I landed diagonally a couple times until I wised up and realized that runways existed that were aligned with the prevailing winds. Since I made that realization I haven't had to take such measures.
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Usually the best option, if there is a an available runway aligned with the wind.

It doesn’t work as well in places like the DFW area when the wind is blowing out of the WSW. It’s nice to have some extra tools in the bag for such situations.
 
I've landed diagonally across a runway more times than I can remember in order to get a plane on the ground in severe wind\turbulence. I've landed with one wheel down on the edge of a runway and the wingtip dragging in the weeds and by the time the plane stopped I was shoved all the way to the other side of the runway.
Practice EVERYTHING.
Conventional wisdom says do this, don't do that, yada, yada, yada. But someday you are going to be up against it, hard, and you won't be able to go somewhere else for all kinds of reasons. If you don't already know how to do it, whatever it is, learning it during an emergency is not conducive to a long life.
 
Fearless Tower said:
The part you are missing is that with the technique Fast Eddie is describing, you aren’t tracking in a straight line. It’s a curve. You start out pointing maybe 20 degrees or more off runway heading where you need it the most (low speed/less rudder effectiveness). As you pick up speed, you reduce the x-wind heading correction and begin to track centerline. If done right, you start out on the downwind corner, pointed at the upwind runway edge, but never actually get past centerline. It most definitely helps if you have to takeoff in a tailwheel in a strong x-wind.
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I've done that and it works.
 
steingar said:
I landed diagonally a couple times until I wised up and realized that runways existed that were aligned with the prevailing winds.
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Prevailing winds matters not a whit. The winds at the time of arrival are all that matter.

Seems obvious.

And in the mountains, runway placement is often determined by the lay of the land available, and unrelated to prevailing winds.
 
Shepherd said:
I've landed diagonally across a runway more times than I can remember in order to get a plane on the gro und in severe wind\turbulence. I've landed with one wheel down on the edge of a runway and the wingtip dragging in the weeds and by the time the plane stopped I was shoved all the way to the other side of the runway.
Practice EVERYTHING.
Conventional wisdom says do this, don't do that, yada, yada, yada. But someday you are going to be up against it, hard, and you won't be able to go somewhere else for all kinds of reasons. If you don't already know how to do it, whatever it is, learning it during an emergency is not conducive to a long life.
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I can do that TOO! Butt, I can do it with one leg out the window and only one hand!
 
Challenged said:
If you have a strong crosswind, do you think it's wise to land off of center, in order to give yourself more room in case you're pushed to the side during the flare?
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Which control determines the maximum crosswind speed for an aircraft? What happens when that control is unable to counteract the crosswind?
 
The limit is usually the amount of rudder.

On some airplanes it is clearance to scraping plane parts on the runway.
 
coloradobluesky said:
If its really wide maybe yeah. But for PPL training, stay in the middle. Commercial and high power/complex are where you can fool around with that. And other fun stuff like landing with a crosswind on one wheel, giving it some small to medium power all the way down the runway, then takeoff.
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I always taught my ppl students to land on one wheel in a crosswind. There is no other way to teach it.
That said, few pp candidates actually mastered that.

To this day, I land the Airbus on one wheel.
Same couldn’t always be said for the Citation X however.
 
I always tell people, especially those transitioning to tailwheel, that if you keep the centerline in the center, you'll be okay. It's the best reference point for things starting to go wrong. If it's moving away from you, you're not controlling the airplane.

On takeoff, I've taken off at an angle across the runway like others have mentioned. In light tailwheel planes, I'll take an advantage if it's there.

When taking off in formation, we've been known to split the runway like it's two separate runways. For example on a 150' wide runway, I take my 75' and never cross into yours. We always convert it back to one runway when we're off. :)
 
Touchdowns to the left of the center line are typical on this runway:

 
mscard88 said:
Well now that's mighty considerate of ya Jack! ;)
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We don't like to upset anyone. It's like when people 'make right downwind' we always ask if they can leave it there for us. Or if they're 'taking the active', well, we'd prefer they don't!
 
My wife gets upset when I make comments about the centerline being out of service when she lands.

At Dulles, we avoid landing quite on the centerline because the runway light speed bumps are hard on the nose gear.
 
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