But we are then back to a common subject about how deep or shallow some training syllabi are.
And therein lies the rub. I have met countless pilots who are apprehensive of cross-wind landings in Jet transports. During their type rating training in the simulator, the syllabus invariably glosses over strong crosswind landings and these are cut short to ensure all the other boxes are ticked. The inevitable result is that once these pilots get to fly on line, they are usually restricted as first officers to landings with no more than 10-15 knots and there are captains that are nervous on giving the F/O even that amount.
As most type rating syllabus in simulators require the "student" to cover all the sequences required of a command type rating, then before being certified as competent on crosswind landings the competency should include landings up to the crosswind limit for the aircraft type they are trained on.
Rarely does this happen mainly because the syllabus is tight, is biased towards full use of automation and thus little time is available for manual handling. It is a good bet that the complete type rating syllabus on (say) a 737 would include not more than three or four crosswind landings spread over ten sessions - and then only 15 knots crosswind component.
For pilots new to type - especially cadet pilots going directly into the right hand seat after a few hours on light twin trainers - max component crosswind landings are daunting if not terrifying. I cannot count the number of times I have seen in the simulator pilots failing to adequately remove drift before touch down. If only the simulator instructor could take the time to slip into a control seat and personally demonstrate how to handle a 35 knot crosswind then his student would have some idea what ideal to aim for. That never happens of course in a time poor simulator environment. More likely few instructors would risk their reputation by trying their luck for fear of loss of face if they stuff up.
Some students have difficulty "seeing" drift at the flare and then assault the runway with stacks of drift still applied. A technique some instructors find useful is to freeze the simulator at the instant the main wheels impact the runway. This permits the student to observe the difference between aircraft heading and runway heading at his leisure.
With simulators, another method to get practice over a short period of available time is to position the aircraft at (say) 300 feet with max crosswind set in the simulator and allow the student to get continual practice at the flare and touch down technique to pull off a safe landing with drift removed. This includes day and night scenes.
Often at least ten practice attempts at touching down with no drift at max crosswind component will be needed before the student can be relied upon to consistently touch down with drift removed. If, as some argue, a simulator cannot accurately replicate a strong crosswind landing, then a fidelity check on the simulator is in order.