has anyone mentioned the oft-forgotten technique during crosswind take-offs of .........looking out of the window???
Not to be relied on. When you see a blowing 30kt fog (Shetlands speciality) or visibility is pretty greyed out, you would be up a gum tree relying on visuals at that moment. Essential to have a robust handling technique that applies in all weathers, and know what you are doing.
When a crosswind is significant and the copilot is handling, I always ask tham if they know exactly what they are going to do and do they understand it. I find very often it becomes embarrassingly apparent they donīt. When I was refining the technique on 747s, I was not afraid to ask the Captain to explain it fully from first principles, and those lessons are 100% applied now. There seems to be a reluctance to admit there are holes in some peopleīs knowledge and they wonīt ask, yet evidently donīt understand. You cannot approach crosswind landings in a jet thinking you can 'hash' it as you go along.