Thread: X-wind hope

Nothing beats seeing it done right.

'Went up with the instructor today, deciding to do some ground reference work under windy conditions. We took off from runway 25, with winds coming from 180 @11 kts. The CT performed great, pretty smooth ride, in spite of increasing winds. With the light weight, I was expecting to get blown around a lot, but wasn't. 'Some weather-vaning, and minor compensation needed, but all went well. The sleekness of the CT seems to really help.

When we headed back to the airport, ATIS reported winds from 180 @18 kts, and I was a bit nervous. The wind sock didn't look any better, close to directly across the runway and almost totally inflated. We came in about 60kts, with 0 flaps. Dipping the left wing and using plenty of right rudder, "we" greased the landing, touching down on the left gear first. I'm quite sure most of it was due to my instructors help... Sonny is a airshow/stunt pilot and aerobatic instructor. Our only minor problem was the nose wheel position, which gave us a bit of right for a moment. 'Have to work at remembering to neutralize the rudder quickly.

He said maybe, next time, we'll try the "crab and switch" instead.

So, it can be done... and I'm looking forward to being able to repeat today's lesson, someday soon, by myself.

'loving this plane more every flight-

Tim

Originally Posted by CT4ME

When we headed back to the airport, ATIS reported winds from 180 @18 kts, and I was a bit nervous. The wind sock didn't look any better, close to directly across the runway and almost totally inflated. We came in about 60kts, with 0 flaps. Dipping the left wing and using plenty of right rudder, "we" greased the landing, touching down on the left gear first. I'm quite sure most of it was due to my instructors help... Sonny is a airshow/stunt pilot and aerobatic instructor. Our only minor problem was the nose wheel position, which gave us a bit of right for a moment. 'Have to work at remembering to neutralize the rudder quickly.

Congrats! Nothing like when it all clicks. Now all you need to do is try is a 10G20 crosswind

(no, please don't try that in a CT. Really.)

I agree that with the nosewheel steering it makes it difficult to get off the rudder quickly and not have the airplane lurch.