Crosswind while landing........ Broke prop, Bent nose gear.


ARGHHHH



Enough Said.

We have all been there. Cross winds have damaged many planes. After a few more cross wind landings you will have it down. All part of the fun of RC.

iv been flying for quiet a few years now and class my self as a half decent pilot, 2 weeks ago a young lad got his trainer up and doing pretty well, when the wind just seem to come from no were!!...

he got scared and asked me to bring it in, i took control and brought her round into final, the wind was getting pretty bad by now and as i was just about to touch down this almighty gust lifted the right wing, i jumped on the sticks and leved her out as she glided past us only to see the brick basin in front of the plane (this thing has been the death of many planes at our club being just off the side of the runway)

i hitt the throtle pulled up and banked to teh the right but i just caught the damn thing...
felt a bit stupid on that one LOL but i fixed his plane that night and it was flying the next day...

so dont feel bad if the wind catches you out, it happens all the time just learn to be ready for it

All I can say is if you notice wind picking up figure out the direction and on your landing be prepared at all times to be using both sticks...whta I like to do is give it a bit of rudder just to keeo it in the wind even going on a slant and then touch down so i am always in the wing but if you won't put the plane down nicely coming on a slant come in on a slant and just before you touch down give it some stick movement so that it will touch down straight and have enough room to taxi back, just try some stuff on passes above the run way thats how i did it

Crosswinds!! In a word, YUCK!!!!!!! Sorry about the damage, think we have all felt the pain of watching all our work go "crunch" by having the wind from the side!!!

The good news, is that you can learn from this. More importantly is that you can learn to deal with crosswinds! I am not saying you won't have ever have it happen again, because quite frankly YOU WILL!!!

BUT!!! We as pilots can do somethings to make them a little easier on us and our beautiful airplane!!!

First thing first, AIRSPEED!!! Proper airspeed control is CRITICAL to consistant landings in a crosswind! Most people tend to be a little on the cautious side when flying in Xwinds. This is a good thing! BUT what most people do is they tend to try and fly the airplane a little bit slower, or hold it off the ground just a little bit longer hoping that if that if they can get it slower it won't do as much damage. Good thought in theory! But watch out!!!! The first thing you have to remember is to make the airplane land at the same realitive airspeed in a Xwind as it would in no wind, maybe even landing with a LITTLE more speed in the Xwind!

Second thing is to remember that the way the airplane is facing, is NOT the way it is travelling in a Xwind!!! There are 2 ways to make the airplane track straight ahead. One is to fly the aiplane with the nose pointed in a way that makes the airplane track across the ground the way you want. Second is to use the rudder of the airplane to hold the nose straight forward and to bank the wings into the wind to conteract the sidewards motion caused by the wind. #1 is called crabbing, while #2 is called side slipping!!

The best way to fly in Xwind is to fly an approach that is coming in at the same airspeed as normal, with the airplane "crabbing" into the wind making it track right down the runway. At the last minute, you use rudder to turn the nose straight and conteract the sideways motion with a side slip! You should ideally touch down with the windward side wheel touching down first with no sidewards motion.

This is easier said than done!! The key to doing this is PRACTICE!!!

Now that I have said, if your are using a grass or soft runway of some sort, generally "crabbing" the model all the way to landing may not be too bad! The thing you have to remember is that when the wheels hit 2 things could happen! 1 as soon as the wheels touch down, they cold grab and immediately "steer" the airplane in the direction of the tires! 2 the airplane could bounce, or skipp due to the fact that the wheel are not aligned with the direction of travel. NOW this should ONLY be tried from soft runways! If you are using a concrete are other hard surface, that little bit of whel deflection could be VERY dangerous to your airplane!! Normally grass will grab the wheel and try to straighten it out (turning the airplane down the runway.) Concrete on the other hand could just let the airplane start to bounce and not aid it to straightening! As you might imagine, this could be risky! But on grass for most accounts, it is a little more forgiving than concrete or asphalt.

Just my lttle bit of thoughts. Again, sorry for the loss! Keep practicing and having fun!


Reg

I can offer a few tips for the crosswind landings:

Lets assume that your approaching from the right side and youve got wind in your face. A direct crosswind at 90degrees to the runway.

Bring the plane in on the side of runway thats FARTHEST away from you. On the upwind side of the runway. Not right down the middle, but rather as far out and away from you as possible. The wind will force the plane to drift across the runway towards you. Let the nose point slightly offcenter and into the wind untill just before touchdown. Just as you get ready to flair for a landing you need to get it straightened out and land on the runway and inline with the centerline. The way to do this is to add LEFT rudder and RIGHT aileron at the same time. By using the left rudder, you will yaw the nose around to get the plane lined up with the centerline. By using right aileron, you will keep the wings level or maybe the right wingtip slightly pointed down and into the wind. Once your on the runway, use the rudder to steer and HOLD RIGHT AILERON. That will keep that wingtip from being lifted up and turning the plane over.

Another way to approach is exactly opposite of the previously described method. Same situation; direct crosswind with wind in your face and an apporach from the right side:

Approach from slightly BEHIND you. You'll have to rotate your body to see the plane, but what your trying to do is land at about a 30degree angle to the runway. Approach from behind you and that keeps the nose pointed more directly into the wind. So your creating a headwind for yourself instead if fighting a crosswind. With the wind at the nose of the plane now; your approach speed can be much slower(ground speed). airspeed with the headwind is still the same, but your groundspeed is lower now. Use the throttle to power the plane in and get it close to the runway with the nose pointed into the wind at a 30-45 degree angle to the runway. You can cut power and land with very little rollout once on the runway.

After the landing:

Once I'm on the runway, I usually keep the upwind aileron fully applied to keep that wingtip "stuck" down and avoid the dreaded lifted wing and tipover. As you taxi to a stop, stear the nose into the wind and leave the motor idleing untill you can walk over to the plane and get a hand on it. Then kill the motor. By pointing the nose into the wind and leaving the engine running, you can help to keep the plane frombeing flipped over by a gust. If you DO catch a strong gust and the plane should happen to start to rolling backwards off the runway---your not totally screwed because the nose is ponted into the wind. Just add power to keep it still-----and you might want to walk a bit faster to get a hand on it as quick as possible.

Hope this helps out. Noone told me this kind of stuff when I was learning. I had to learn it all on my own.

Great Logo JuniorPilot, everybody....everybody....

I am really surprised that the nose gear bent like it did. It bent right below the lower mount (Which is where I would expect it to bend if it bent). It has a pretty hefty spring built into it. So what are my options on a better, stronger nose gear? I have alread put oversized air filled tires on. Is there a nose gear with some kind of shock absorber available?



Thanks

I went to the forked gear. I found the springs on the plane were too stff and didn't have much absorbtion. The forked gear bends easier but it is easier to fix too.

Ogriv, sorry to say it, but the gear you have is probably the best one. The reason I say this is for multiple reasons. One it is not that hard to rebend the gear back to shape unless you have hit really hard in which case, you might have other bigger problems to worry about. Secondly, there aren't to many other types of nose gear on the market that could replace it without having to do some rather extensive work to the airplane. Most nose gear that comes on trainers or fairly standard. Even the after market parts are so close in design and strength that I don't feel it is worth the time to take everything apart just to put aother gear of the same design on the plane. Also, as far as designing a diferent type, hey the worlds the limit! But is it worth the time and effort on a trainer? That's a question you have to decide.

Reg

Pay attention to what RCaillouet3 is saying, he knows what he is talking about; I always have to fly with cross wind and for me is cross wind or not flying at all.

By the way this is the Nemesis of my flying field, if you fly with us and you have not hit it yet, you will at some point, I did it when I was learning, in a landing approach, no damage, but for other guys they planes have desintegrated in some wierd accidents.

Facts is if it didnt bend it would have tore out
the farwall. Keep straighten it and if gets to bad
replace it. Soon you wont have to many shafts bending
when you get the hange of it. Hell i have benn flying for eons
and every now and then i get wreckless and bend something.LOL

Well, i do feel sorry for you but i have lost TWO planes (un-repairable) in TWO consecutive flights... Grrrr

Where i was flying the winds change drastically in very short times. Both were on take off.

as said above your gear is doing its job, just bend it back and off you go just check the firewall incase its split in any places due to the stress....

i supose if you looked around you could find something more advanced but at a "price" and its a trainer, what i mean is once you get the basics you will be wanting somthing a little better so keep ya money for your second plane

Very good advice, and well taken. If it stops raining, I'll go out and try again tomorrow.



Thanks

Wind is the primary reason I dont like trainer style planes. Yes I have one (sig seniorita) and I fly it alot but a low wing sport gets around alot better in a wind. Around this time of year in north west Ohio its windy all the time. One thing I should add is flying your trainer in the wind will give you alot of recovery skills that will aid you when you make a mistake while flying.