So today was my first day back flying after 3 months, and I have to admit, it was a little scary at first, but by the end of the practice session I was starting to limber up enough to focus on learning and observing. What I observed brought two questions to my mind:

1) How do you correct for moderate crosswind in the pattern? I have always used a heading to keep my line, but that obviously poses complications once one starts changing attitude so today I experimented with holding the nose straight with constant rudder and opposite aileron which makes for a slightly tilted wing but a straight nose. How do the pros correct for moderate to heavy cross wind? Crab, cross control, or a combination of both?


2) I have always used a flare at touchdown to hold the plane off during landing, but today I focused less on the flare and more on adding a touch of power to arrest any unwanted decent? What do you do? Is adding power easier to use than a flare? It seemed so today.


Anyways, thanks as always for any and all input!



Joe