Thread: the "light wing"

when reading Orlo Ellison's letter regarding his son's crash i was struck by his "light wing" comment.

i had a landing recently where i couldn't hold enough right aileron into the crosswind on rollout. my right leg was in the way. i was solo and indeed had a sensation of trying to hold down a light wing. prior to this i never needed this much right stick travel.

i'm going to spend some time on the ground learning to what extent and in what position my right leg limits the stick and i now have a new scenario to be cautious in (solo crosswind landing with crosswind from right)

Remember when landing in a crosswind to kill the lift to that wing even if you don't think it's a problem. It's good practice, and it might be a problem before you have time to correct it. If a wing starts to come up and you can't kill the lift with the stick immediately then turn towards the low wing. This will bring the high wing down and help kill the lift. You might go off the runway if it is narrow, but you won't scrape the low wing on the ground or worse yet get up in the air.

Good habits when the weather is nice makes natural habits when it's bad.

I posted this to the other thread where this incident is discussed, but I always dump the flaps on landing after it's clear that I'm not going to have to go around (debris or other airplanes on the runway on rollout). It seems to help a lot with directional control in gusty crosswinds and with braking. It's quick and easy to do with the right hand as it transitions from the throttle to the brake.

Back to my experience two weeks back. What if your upwind wing has no fuel in it, but the downwind wing has 15 gal? In a 10G15 x-wind?

What has worked so far for me is landing at 0 flaps, bleeding off speed in ground effect, and bringing the nose wheel down as soon as both mains are planted. If you get bounced by a gust, add power and recenter on the runway (worked once so far) or just go around. My experience is that if I have 0 flaps and can get the nose wheel on the ground I'm OK, even though the rudder and nosewheel have different ideas about where the plane should go.

I've noticed that if you plant the upwind wheel and the plane bounces the upwind wing may end up high, which is death if you can't react with the stick fast enough. This is one of the difference between the CT and a 172.

No flaps for me either in a good crosswind. A little extra brakes to get well below any lifting speed.

Doug and Roger,

i like bleeding speed in ground effect as well. i like to think that i am getting all i can out of aerodynamic braking before i go to the mechanical brakes. now when you go to pushing your nose wheel down as soon as your mains are on then you begin doing the reverse at that point (relying on mechanical braking and steering in lieu of aerodynamic braking and steering).

though i havn't met him yet i have been hearing about the ukrainian factory pilot for a year now. fdwest claims he can demonstrate that the ct has a bigger envelope then most of us ever use. the most recent comment i heard is how he keeps the nose wheel up on take off roll as well as on landing roll out.

the longer i hold my nose wheel off the better i like it. there is a dramatic difference between steering with the rudder and steering with the nose wheel and i am comfortable with both. at speed i am more comfortable with the rudder and i am least comfortable at the transition.

On takeoff, I normally get the nosewheel light or up as soon as I can. I worry about that nosewheel getting damaged by bumps. As for crosswind landings, I normally don't use 0 flaps, but will try it. I like landing at 15 and being able to dump flaps quickly to dump lift.

As others have said, do what works for you and know your limits...

I agree with Doug in relation to the care of the nose-wheel leg. I had my L.A.M.E. (mechanic) pull it apart at the first 25 hourly, mainly to check the lubrication but also to have a closer look at it's construction.
Unlike most other G.A. aircraft with oleo type nose strut damping, I.M.O this CT strut needs to be treated with a fair amount of respect and for that reason I also get it off the runway as soon as safely possible during T/O (unless of course there are adverse conditions such as strong x-winds). Also during the landing roll, I try to hold a fair bit of back-stick after touchdown but of course with the same provisos on wind conditions.

Regards

Dave

I am based at Otherton in Staffordshire, a 300m Grass strip with lots of runways..... and all of them are as bumpy as bumpy can be! We are taught to get the nose wheel "light" or off on take off as soon as possible & when landing hold the stick back once the mains have settled until the nose comes down on it's own.
In a severe cross wind we let it down sooner & put the brakes on. In essence we are taught to be sympathetic to our nose wheel
Mal