February 6, 2011 - Cross Wind Landings
Foiled once again by the weather, my 2xweekly plan of attack was replaced with local circuits in soup at city center. No matter, as the wind was 240 at 13, we had a slight cross wind to work with, elevating the challenge a notch or two, as the wind was not straight down the runway. Also, the ceiling was broken at 1600, and since CARs demands a 500 ft buffer between VFR traffic and the nearest cloud, we flew lower circuits than usual (normally we fly CYTZ at 1250, 1000 ft AGL, but today we flew 1100).
X-wind landings are kind of an interesting beast. The idea is to not let the wind blow you off the runway (you still have to land down the centre of the RW, which I am still mastering w/ regular winds, never mind Xwinds, lol!) In order to do this, once you line up your approach, you need to put your aileron into the wind (i.e. if the wind is coming from your left as you approach the runway, roll slightly to the left). To counteract this, you apply opposite rudder (in the case above, that would mean applying right rudder). How much of each depends on what's going on outside. My instructor keeps telling me to look outside. That would be fine, if I knew what it was I was looking for!!! But I think I am starting to memorize what things are supposed to look like, i.e. what they look like when the landing is going well. Anyway, so once one wheel (the into the wind wheel) gently touches down (in the flare), then you slightly turn your aileron and |
let the other wheel touch down, before letting the nose wheel touch the ground. It always seems really smooth when Lari does it... and I managed to pull off a few of them more or less on my own. (He's such a good teacher for me -- really stands back and lets me do it... even after I totally screw it up, like a few times today we ballooned; I made a total mess of the landing, and he was just cool as a cucumber, instructing me on what to do the next time around.)
We also had a chance to overshoot (thanks to one of my shitty landing attempts) -- I still have to work on getting automatic with that: full power, carb heat cold, wings up in stages. (FAST, AUTOMATIC! NO THINKING!!)
And of course there was Lari's favourite trick, the "oops, suddenly your power's gone -- fly the plane!" forced landing simulation, which I am getting better at, I think... the idea is to just keep the speed at approx 60 kts.
Landings really are the best part so far... (well, other than the sunsets and cloud portraits...) I hope to fly once more before the chaos and fun of Honduras consumes me!!!!
We also had a chance to overshoot (thanks to one of my shitty landing attempts) -- I still have to work on getting automatic with that: full power, carb heat cold, wings up in stages. (FAST, AUTOMATIC! NO THINKING!!)
And of course there was Lari's favourite trick, the "oops, suddenly your power's gone -- fly the plane!" forced landing simulation, which I am getting better at, I think... the idea is to just keep the speed at approx 60 kts.
Landings really are the best part so far... (well, other than the sunsets and cloud portraits...) I hope to fly once more before the chaos and fun of Honduras consumes me!!!!