What personal limits do you use for cross wind landings in your RV-4?

[yak53]

I was hoping to get some stick time in today but the winds were 30 knots with gusts to 45 knots so I out decided not to try to fight the wind. The wind is always blowing out here. One of the airport regulars claims to have landed his wood wing Mooney on the 300 yard taxi way between the hangers in to a 50 knots wind that was 90 degrees to the runway. While I probably would have opted to fly 10 miles to main airport in town with three runways one of which would be straight into the wind and spring for a $20 cab ride.

What personal limits do you use for cross wind landings in your RV-4?

 

[steveKs.]

I am comfortable landing in direct xwinds up to 25 knots in my Supercub, I start to sweat a little when the wind approaches stall speed on the taxi back to the hangar. Coming back from OSH two years ago I had to land into a 37 knot wind on a 300' patch of grass next to my hangar....I tried landing on the ramp but the turbulance off the hangars was excessive.

I have only a couple hundred hours in the RV8 but with the short wing and large rudder, it will handle more wind. I havn't reached that limit yet. Usually taxiing to the hangar is the limiting factor in heavy winds.

 

[smokyray]

Shall we dance?

The 8 has a larger rudder and longer fuselage and stiffer gear, is heavier with different crosswind manners. To answer your question, in my RV4 I used 20 knots max direct cross using a wheels landing, wing low on touchdown technique. Any more and it's gets squirrley when you lower the tail as the fuselage blanks alot of the rudder.The Rocket with an RV4 rudder is even more pronounced.
Most production taildraggers use 17 knots direct crosswind as a limit. I asked a FSDO guy once about that and he said that years ago all of the manufacturers got together and agreed on a number, the insurance companies liked it and there it was, 17 knots. Your mileage may vary...

Rob Ray
1500 Hours RV4
HR2

 

[tin man]

Another consideration is keeping it on the runway once you land. Solo you probably only have 35-50 lbs of wieght on the tail wheel. The Rvs like to weathervane and if you kick out the tailwheel you're gonna loose directional control without agressive differental braking. Can you say ground loop?
YMMV
tm

 

[BruceMe]

max x-wind

My old RV-3 had a direct tailwheel (didn't snap out). I once did a 18g25 direct x-wind. It was closer to an crash than a landing, but nothing bent. I call 25kts my absolute limit.

Personally, I'm a little leery about doing extreme x-winds with a break-out tailwheel. I've heard at least three stories about tailwheel RVs in a ditch because of relatively mild x-winds (10kts). I couldn't tell you if they were a result of poor technique or something mechanical.

-Bruce

 

[John_RV4]

Girly man ...

Ok, I guess I'll fess up to being the wuss of the group. I use 15kts as my max xwind component. As Tinman points out, there is not a lot of weight on the tail.

I usually plan for stops at airports that have crossing runways. If my destination is a single runway, I always look for the nearest "alternate" just in case.

John

 

[Kyle Boatright]

I fly an RV-6 and avoid planning a trip which requires a landing somewhere which has a forecast direct crosswind of >12 knots. Why? Because if the forecast is 12, the actual wind is rarely 12, it is usually 10, or 14, maybe 15.

I can deal with a 15 knot X-wind if it isn't gusty. Gusts are what add genuine excitement.

 

[SportAvServ]

Crosswind limit?

OK I will put my 2 cents in here, just info not a rule. Most of the airports that I fly into don't have any wind reporting capability. So what do you do when you know there will be a strong cross wind but not how much or from what heading?. I teach the basic, get on final, #1 keep the fuselage lined up with the center line with the rudder and #2 aileron into the wind to compensate for drift. If you cant stay lined up with the center line with near full deflection of the controls, go some where elce.
Has anyone here ever taken the POH out and used the graph for maximum dimonstrated cross wind capability when you get close to an airport and hear the wind speed and direction on ATIS?

Randy

Thanks to all of you for taking the time to provide all of your real world experences here.