Anyways, mentally I know what to do and how to land wing down with a slip but for some reason the connection between my brain and my feet has been a bit laggy. Meaning I rudder properly to line up straight on the flare and add the proper aileron to hold the centerline but then if any gusts come or any adjustments are required it seems like I can't quite get my feet to do what I want them to do and drift off the centerline or end up touching down in a crab.
We've all been there. Some thoughts after these commercials...
This. Practice flying just above the runway without trying to actually touch down and you can work on those skills to keep it straight.
This.
I'm still working on these myself, but the main problem I was having was in trying to hold the same rudder pressure as conditions change.
This kinda...
That was an exciting landing. Fortunately I've mostly been doing these on 150' wide runway at KLNK. There's also a 100' wide one we're using, but it depends on the day.
Definitely hope the instructor takes you somewhere its narrow eventually. Why? It FOCUSES your attention a LOT more when screwing it up means you're going in the ditch.
Best hold my beer moment I had was doing my night cross country. My CFI says he is a little tired and opened up a Red Bull or something similar. He places it on the floor of the plane and tell me not to spill it on landing.
That is an AWESOME sneaky way to get your attention.
Okay my thoughts... My feet were slow to learn too many moons ago.
Absolute fastest way to fix it? Go rent a taildragger. Seriously. But...
Since most folk aren't doing that these days, you can simulate it in the tri-gear in your head.
Here's the key and it took me a lot more than 9 hours to figure it out. Your feet have to move *fast* and they have to move (at first) nearly constantly. All your pedal training in your life has been in cars where you press and hold. This is NOT what you'll be doing in a heavy gusty crosswind in a taildragger (or even a nose wheel) airplane when you get good at it.
Your feet need to DANCE. Think dance. Not pedal. Not car. Not bike. Not tractor. DANCING.
Now, let's talk about the eyeball to foot connection you need to make. Side to side wagging of the nose is handled by the feet. If you see the nose swing even a TINY amount left, push right and push until it stops moving or it goes the other direction. Same thing the other way. This is continuous. It doesn't stop. If you're pushing too hard (and it's hard to do that at low speeds, but easier at high speeds) you just push the other way a little less hard until you find what works. Push push push push and it becomes more fluid with practice.
Here's a tip for making it more fluid. Make sure those feet are low on the pedal and not touching the brakes and push a little bit all the time with both feet. Feel how you can stop the push with your left foot by pushing a little harder with your right foot? Now I'm not talking about pushing so hard it's locked up, just a light push with the balls of both feet. Engaged feet.
Just like not rocking back on your heels when you're trying to dance. I suck at dancing. But I know not to stand flat footed with the weight on one foot or the other and backward, and still expect to be able to move off in any direction instantly. Light but both feet.
Also remember what you know about control effectiveness and authority from those times at altitude when you were in cruise, and when you were mushing around doing stalls. Remember the controls become less effective the slower you get. You're saying you set up the start well and a gust or (something) falls apart. Did you slow down? More rudder will be needed slightly on whichever side you're already pushing on. Did you change the power setting? Less or more prop wash over the tail and your feet need to move. A gust? Another move. Never stop moving.
Obviously anyone with a brain knows this is a little silly and you can end up wagging the tail or at least the rudder back and forth back and forth. It's ok at first. You just react to that nose moving. Don't let it move. You'll naturally dampen out how hard you're pushing because you'll annoy yourself overshooting and it going the other way. If you're light on your feet and ready to spring immediately the other direction, you'll find you're not waggling that much and you can easily damp out your own little oscillation you've created.
The mental game is light feet and "don't let the nose move". Now add in if you really get this way out of whack, go around.
Obviously aileron is also going to come into play here. You're not shooting for coordinated flight in a slip to a landing so bank to stop lateral movement, rudder to stay aligned (twisting of the nose movement). Keep those ailerons moving also, but know that they're usually more effective than the rudder even to lower speeds. If you're properly slowed down at touchdown those ailerons should be rolled all the way over to the stop if they aren't there yet.
Try to connect it as a direct visual to foot thing. Don't think about the rudder. Focus on that landing target on the windshield and keep it from moving laterally with aileron, and becoming misaligned with the runway (rudder) all the way through touchdown and beyond.
Follow through. The airplane isn't done flying when the wheels touch. Ailerons hard over in the upwind side at touchdown and keep rolling straight and hold that centerline with rudder. Many people relax both physically and mentally when the wheels touch. That's not the end of the landing. Keep holding the center and dance those feet.
The post above about fluidity is valid but it's half the story. To learn to be fluid you have to move first. Get em moving.
