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Crosswind Landing

Crosswind landings are used do develop the skill in the student of flying a ground path straight down the centre line of the runway on landing. Flying the groundpath precisely during landings is an extremely important skill for glider pilots because of the possibility of off-field landings. Glider pilots also often have deal with other aircraft on the active runway that may have to be safely cleared. Being able to precisely fly the desired groundpath may mean the difference between a successful landing and an accident.

The student should have good command of controlling the aircraft in both sideslips and crabs. Further the student should also understand how each could be used to control drift with respect to the ground. The outline for this exercise is:

  1. On landing, either sideslip or crab for approach may be coached by the instructor, depending upon the type of training aircraft, and the conditions.
  2. Once in the ground roll, the sideslip inputs are coached until the ground roll is complete.
  3. Instructor checks the student performance in exiting the aircraft and directing it safely off of the runway.

The crosswind landing is the mirror image of the takeoff. Students may find it easier if they think of using bank to control the drift and yaw to keep the nose straight down the runway so at touchdown the wheel is straight. Once the aircraft is established on final approach, the sideslip for drift is the preferred method for high wing ships as opposed to the crab. Crabs are most useful in the circuit and present the lowest sink rate, however the sideslip allows for the most uniform approach to the flare, roundout, touch down and roll out. Again control inputs will have to be more exaggerated at the end of the rollout to maintain the correction. As the student becomes more proficient, a return to the crab for drift control on approach, and flare may be done, as this technique is often useful in the low and mid-wing mounted single seat gliders that they will transition to post-solo.