PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Crosswind landing query
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Old 4th Jun 2013, 11:41
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Pilot DAR
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Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Ontario, Canada
Age: 63
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Why would you want a serious flare in bad conditions just fly it onto the ground
I'm not agreeing with this Pace. Bearing in mind that we're talking about light GA aircraft here (not carrier deck arrivals), most Flight Manuals have wording describing landings like "touch down on the main wheels first" (for tricycles). To assure a mainwheel first landing, you're going to have to reduce the speed. If you contact the ground at a higher speed than necessary, flying it onto the ground, you're most likely not doing that.

Though possible, it requires lots of skill. If pilots here are musing crosswind techniques, that skill is probably not with them yet. If you threepoint a tricycle, you're very likely to induce a pitching oscillation, or wheelbarrow it, and loose directional control. Or, you'll hit it hard enough to break a nosewheel.

I have no experience with jets, so I cannot comment on how they are landed, though I suspect that techniques would have some similarity, though many have spoilers to help you keep it on the ground.

I agree that in a crosswind landing, you probably want to minimize the "depth" of the flare, but you still need to do one, and get the pitch right at touchdown. If your average GA pilot cannot maintain directional control during a flare, they do not have the skill to land that aircraft in those conditions, and should land elsewhere. They should have determined this during the approach, They've left it too long if they're in the flare when they find this out.
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