Landing the 737 fully crabbed

[sheppey]

And, on a jet, never ever use the rudder to pick up a dropped wing - it may be alright on a Cessna 150 but not on a jet.

Danger of slight thread drift here. If you are talking about recovery from a wing drop at the point of stall It is not alright on a Cessna or any other aircraft. That is an old wives tale from time immemorial.

[exfocx]

Have used the "kill the crab in the flare" method from the 146, 320, 733 and the 744 and have NEVER worked anywhere where landing crabbed has been seen as acceptable. Yes, the aircraft are designed to handle it, but it was not viewed as an acceptable landing technique.

Imo the fact that x-wind landings seems to provoke some trepidation is from a lack of exposure prior to airline flying. Where I'm from most pilots have had a reasonable amount of experience from light twins to turbo-props compared to today, with a larger number of pilots coming through cadet schemes then straight onto jets, add the attitude that training is a cost and this is where we end up; pilots feeling knots in their stomachs when faced with x-winds.

It certainly isn't a lack of ability, but training / experience / exposure.

[vilas]

A fully crabbed landing on the other hand does not sound very comfortable to me.
So are there any 737 drivers who land it fully crabbed in strong crosswinds? How does that work out? Very curious

Full crabbed landing is not recommended because the gear is not designed for side stress. In 747 on wet a runway it was recommended to land with crab. On a wet runway the aircraft on touch down with the crab will skid sideways before straightening. This reduces the side load. Interestingly which big aircraft is only side slip zero crab landing is recommended?

[Derfred]

Originally Posted by vilas

Interestingly which big aircraft is only side slip zero crab landing is recommended?

That was my question too. Thanks Vilas.

Partial-to-full decrab during the flare with opposite aileron to keep wings level is pretty much the accepted safe technique for jets 737 and larger in my experience. A SMALL amount of wing-down into wind during or after de-crab can be tolerated to prevent drift (depending on geometry - ok on a 737, not so much on a 747).

This is a cross-controlled landing, but it is not a side-slip landing. You are using the aircraft inertia to maintain runway track just prior to touchdown. This is not a sustainable flight path - that is why it happens late in the flare. It is probably more accurately described as a “skid” just prior to touchdown, not a “side-slip”.

[sheppey]

It is probably more accurately described as a “skid” just prior to touchdown, not a “side-slip”.

Agree. That is a good way of describing that late manoeuvre. It takes keen judgement and this is because it requires a few seconds for the applied rudder to swing the nose around to align with runway centreline at the point of touchdown
.A common fault being pilots “Kick” the appropriate rudder pedal at the flare and the wheels hit the runway before the aircraft has time to react. “Kick” is not the appropriate term of course but you get my drift (pun intended..)