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Old 21st Aug 2004, 13:27
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PPRUNE FAN#1
 
Join Date: Oct 2002
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Left. No doubt about it.

I learnt to fly in Franklin-engine Bell 47's and Enstrom F-28A's with the tail rotor on the "wrong" side. Neither aircraft was blessed with an overabundance of power and the wise pilot became very careful about not getting into a right crosswind in a hover lest the ship begin a right yaw that full pedal could not stop.

Now, eons later, I've flown with inexperienced pilots who get all antsy about left crosswinds. They'll recall the critical wind azimuth chart and tremble with fear that a left crosswind will put them into LTE. They forget about things like weathervaning tendency. Good thing it's not a factor anymore.

A right crosswind will require more left pedal in the hover than a left crosswind. So as Shawn says, if you're confident about your tail rotor power, go for it. Keep in mind that the 206 does not exactly have the World's Most Powerful Tailrotor.

However, a right crosswind will always require more engine power to hover. The difference between a left and right crosswind can make a big difference in hover power. I'll take all the available engine power I can, thank you. I fly primarily at low altitudes but it always seems that I am at MAUW.

Left crosswinds do produce some "yaw instability" as the vortex from the main rotor randomly interferes with the tail rotor. Big deal. So the pilot must actually stay awake and on his toes to keep the nose straight. In all my years of flying 206's, I've never found the workload overly objectionable, burdensome or excessively demanding of my meager skills.

There is one final consideration, the size and importance of which will be yours to decide: Let us assume that we are making a "normal" approach with a fair amount of power pulled and a relatively low airspeed (i.e. not autorotative). If the engine decides to quit during this time, which way will the nose snap? Righty-o, to the left. That being the case, I'd rather that the nose yaw into the wind instead of away from it.

Now, I know that we all think that we are Yeager-reincarnate and will instantly and correctly react to every emergency. We all probably assume that if the engine were ever to quit in real life, we'd automatically boot in enough right pedal that the nose wouldn't even yaw enough to wag the turn needle for a split second. The truth is, even I don't think I'm that good. Your mileage may vary.

Again, planning for a power failure may not be very important anymore, and so it may not matter to you which way the nose will yaw when this unlikely event does not happen. But it's something that I think about as I fly.

Shawn is right; assuming that into-the-wind is not an option, the question of left or right crosswind is interesting. Sometimes it will not matter much. And there may be times when right is preferable over left. But for me, those times would be few.
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