The club where I fly is located on the top of a hill and on any given day there is some wind and it is mostly a cross wind. If the wind is 5 to 10 mph half the club will stay on the ground. It is not just the low time pilots that have such a conservative attitude; it is also pilots with 20-30 years of flying experience. It is unfortunate that they never did learn to fly with rudder. They only use the left stick to control the throttle or steer the plane on the ground.

With all of the beginning pilots I start early in the training getting them to use the rudder. This is especially true on the approach to landing. We fly off a 600 X 100 ft. grass runway with tall trees about 300 ft off the left end and short 20 ft trees off the right end.

Many pilots want to make a long straight in approach over the trees. This is bad for a couple of reasons:

1. The longer you are on final, the more time the wind has to blow you off your line.
2. When the plane is heading straight toward you at 500-600 ft away it is harder to judge your depth perception and air speed.

I train new pilots to make a ‘carrier approach’ where plane turns on the base leg when even with the runway threshold and turn on short final as they approach the runway. Make the turn on final using rudder and very little bank. A 10-15 degree bank is preferred over a 45-90 degree bank. On a high wing trainer with lots of dihedral this may require that they cross control the rudder and aileron. This also gives better pitch control. Giving up elevator while in a 90 deg. bank will not get the nose up, it will only tighten the turn. The other issue is when you are in a steep bank the plane is more susceptible to the effects of the crosswind.

Once they are lined up on final then steer the plane with the rudder and keep the wings level with the ailerons. Actually I try to keep the upwind wing about 5 deg. low so the wind can’t get under it as easy. If you keep the wings level the wind on the vertical fin will cause the plane to naturally want to weathervane into the wind. This is a good thing and is exactly what you want. If the wind is blowing you off the centerline, then use throttle and rudder as required to get back where you are supposed to be. Just as you get back into ground effect, 1-2 ft. off the ground, the wind will often times be significantly reduced. Release the rudder and let the plane straighten out and settle on to the runway. Done right this is a beautiful thing to see. A plane coming down the runway in a hard crab and straightening out for a perfect touchdown.

Once you are comfortable with the technique, flying in the wind gets to be a lot more fun and a lot safer.