Originally Posted by
JPerrone
so, not to start something unnecessarily but: Imagine
- I'm a beginner (not hard to do..)
- I am trying to land
- there is a cross wind that is pushing the plane to one side of the runway
What do I do?
Do I keep flying straight, and hope that the runway is wide enough that it doesn't matter?
So far, this is what I've been doing, I think. The runway is wide enough (it's actually an unused 1:1 airstrip!!!). And even if I run out of strip: the side is smooth enough it doesn't matter. But it would be nice to be able to land on a limited-width strip, at some point
Regards
I'll try and give you a simple, straight answer
this takes practice: begin by not trying to land, but rather making a slow pass over the runway.
assume the wind is blowing the airplane toward you.
on the final turn from base leg to final approach, you want to point the airplane not straight down the runway, but at an angle slightly away from you.
(you want to point the nose 'into' the wind slightly)
the end result: the airplane will be POINTING at a different angle than it appears to be moving.
(the airplane will be heading in one direction, but it's track over the ground will be a straight line to the runway)
the final piece when actually landing is to quickly but smoothly re-align the airplane with the runway just before it touches down. ('kick the airplane straight' using the rudder)