Awesome video Sam! I was wondering... I have experimented a ton with xwind landings and they are so much fun - but what I found for me was having the correction locked in on short final helped me understand how much correction is needed, stabilize the approach completely, and come in already aligned to my direction over the ground. I found when I waited until over the runway to exert what is needed for the correction and for longitudinal alignment, there is an extra little period of feeling it out, and perhaps some swaying of the nose back and forth as corrections are made, which sometimes can lead to occasional small bits of side loading etc. When I have the correction in early, it always feels more under control, aligned, etc. You said something about this being less efficient. Totally open to any all teachings and ways... would enjoy hearing more about this persepective! Thanks again!
Thanks Brian! Glad you asked this as it wasn't something I could really get into the details of on short final there during the video lol. So here's how I approach it - First of all, you have to consider than a large majority of the time, the winds are going to differ aloft than they will on the surface. Even from just 50-100 high, there could be a significant change in wind velocity or direction than what it is at the surface, depending on the airport etc. So I you put in a correction early, you're just going to have to re-correct once you're over the runway anyway. At the same time, when you've now put this correction in early, you've increased the drag on the aircraft because you're going into a slipped condition. This extra drag is going to require more power to overcome in order to stay on the proper approach path, and when it comes to stability of an approach, changes in power are one of the most de-stabilizing things you can do, and fighting against that extra drag will simply create more work for you and the airplane. So I find that staying coordinated all the way down 1. allows you to focus on just one thing which is maintaining position with centerline, rather than two things (maintaining position and alignment) and 2. allows the plane to adjust to the actual surface winds as you round out which shows you exactly what correction is ultimately going to be necessary at the moment of touch down. Sometimes the surface winds are significantly calmer than the winds aloft and the plane will basically straighten itself out in the round out. Lastly, I can only guess here, but I imagine that some of the trouble you're having with the swaying of the nose and feeling it out when you've tried in the past may be due to lack of proficiency in the coordination necessary with the ailerons and rudder when putting the correction in. If you check out my video "shapes in the sky", the first rendition of the exercise on there is a great way to get more comfortable with this coordination of the controls and you may find that with a little practice on that, this crosswind technique becomes a lot easier. Also, my video coming out next week on "how to practice crosswind landings when there isn't a crosswind" should give you some good things to try to get more comfortable with it as well 🙂 Sorry for the novel but I hope that makes sense and let me know what you think!
@NorthwestAeronaut thank you! Some good points in there. Yes I'm totally comfortable with xwind up to max demonstrated and am not really having a problem... just like hearing the differences in approach and reasonings which is great yes thank you. Once I did my tailwheel things got a little rudder happy after getting back in the Cherokee 🤣
Thank you I needed this video.
Glad it was helpful! Thanks for watching! 🙌🏻🙌🏻
Very good content - short and sweet and perfectly explained and demonstrated.
The tip about keeping the weight balanced on the wheels is great!
Great lesson!
Thanks buddy! 🙌🏻
Awesome crosswind landing
🙌🏻🙌🏻
Sam,I am a new pilot and not very good with cross winds, but your video and excellent comments will for sure help me in my next flights. Thank you.
Great to hear! Let me know how it goes after you go put it all to use 👍🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻
Great camera angles Sam! Nicely done.
Thanks man! 🙌🏻🙌🏻🙌🏻
I REALLY need to practice these after a long winter of not doing a single crosswind landing!
Go get it! 🙌🏻
Awesome video Sam! I was wondering... I have experimented a ton with xwind landings and they are so much fun - but what I found for me was having the correction locked in on short final helped me understand how much correction is needed, stabilize the approach completely, and come in already aligned to my direction over the ground. I found when I waited until over the runway to exert what is needed for the correction and for longitudinal alignment, there is an extra little period of feeling it out, and perhaps some swaying of the nose back and forth as corrections are made, which sometimes can lead to occasional small bits of side loading etc. When I have the correction in early, it always feels more under control, aligned, etc. You said something about this being less efficient. Totally open to any all teachings and ways... would enjoy hearing more about this persepective! Thanks again!
Thanks Brian! Glad you asked this as it wasn't something I could really get into the details of on short final there during the video lol. So here's how I approach it - First of all, you have to consider than a large majority of the time, the winds are going to differ aloft than they will on the surface. Even from just 50-100 high, there could be a significant change in wind velocity or direction than what it is at the surface, depending on the airport etc. So I you put in a correction early, you're just going to have to re-correct once you're over the runway anyway. At the same time, when you've now put this correction in early, you've increased the drag on the aircraft because you're going into a slipped condition. This extra drag is going to require more power to overcome in order to stay on the proper approach path, and when it comes to stability of an approach, changes in power are one of the most de-stabilizing things you can do, and fighting against that extra drag will simply create more work for you and the airplane. So I find that staying coordinated all the way down 1. allows you to focus on just one thing which is maintaining position with centerline, rather than two things (maintaining position and alignment) and 2. allows the plane to adjust to the actual surface winds as you round out which shows you exactly what correction is ultimately going to be necessary at the moment of touch down. Sometimes the surface winds are significantly calmer than the winds aloft and the plane will basically straighten itself out in the round out. Lastly, I can only guess here, but I imagine that some of the trouble you're having with the swaying of the nose and feeling it out when you've tried in the past may be due to lack of proficiency in the coordination necessary with the ailerons and rudder when putting the correction in. If you check out my video "shapes in the sky", the first rendition of the exercise on there is a great way to get more comfortable with this coordination of the controls and you may find that with a little practice on that, this crosswind technique becomes a lot easier. Also, my video coming out next week on "how to practice crosswind landings when there isn't a crosswind" should give you some good things to try to get more comfortable with it as well 🙂 Sorry for the novel but I hope that makes sense and let me know what you think!
@NorthwestAeronaut thank you! Some good points in there. Yes I'm totally comfortable with xwind up to max demonstrated and am not really having a problem... just like hearing the differences in approach and reasonings which is great yes thank you. Once I did my tailwheel things got a little rudder happy after getting back in the Cherokee 🤣
Nice job. A text-book x wind landing there.
great demo!
Nicely done! Maybe text book but demonstrated and explained very well! Beats the text book