I fly from an airport with an E-W strip. Most strong wind is usually from the south and we have buildings and tall trees just south of the field. It makes for challenging landings due to the rotors, turbulence and variable gusting. It's not uncommon to see all three wind socks pointing in different directions. However, we never see really strong sustained cross wind at the runway level, only 30' above it.
I have mastered landing and taking off in these conditions, but don't get to do many x-wind landings or take-offs with more traditional cross wind conditions. Today I did some T&G's at a nearby airport with a 90* x-wind 15G20 (pretty sure most wind was 20). The landings were no issue, but I had an issue with the take-offs.
I have been carefull to do all of my take-offs with the nose wheel a few inches off the ground. I was taught to let the cross wind aileron out as the take off progresses, however, I rarely need much aileron in the situations that I fly and therefore don't get much practice. Today, I kept skipping sideways during the take-off roll and was subconsciously keeping the aileron full in too long to keep from skipping. On my final take-off, the gusts were strong and I must have had most of the aileron in to track down the center line. As I lifted off, the wing went down quickly and scraped. The damage is only the size of a quarter on the wingtip and an easy repair.
In thinking through what I did wrong, I realized the error of full aileron at lift-off, but it raised the issue of how else do I keep from skipping sideways. I had remembered reading that you need to keep some down elevator to keep the wheels planted and use tire friction to avoid sideways movement. I had become so afraid of going easy on my nose wheel that it seemed unnatural.
I was wondering how others manage this type of situation in their A model RVs.
Larry
I have mastered landing and taking off in these conditions, but don't get to do many x-wind landings or take-offs with more traditional cross wind conditions. Today I did some T&G's at a nearby airport with a 90* x-wind 15G20 (pretty sure most wind was 20). The landings were no issue, but I had an issue with the take-offs.
I have been carefull to do all of my take-offs with the nose wheel a few inches off the ground. I was taught to let the cross wind aileron out as the take off progresses, however, I rarely need much aileron in the situations that I fly and therefore don't get much practice. Today, I kept skipping sideways during the take-off roll and was subconsciously keeping the aileron full in too long to keep from skipping. On my final take-off, the gusts were strong and I must have had most of the aileron in to track down the center line. As I lifted off, the wing went down quickly and scraped. The damage is only the size of a quarter on the wingtip and an easy repair.
In thinking through what I did wrong, I realized the error of full aileron at lift-off, but it raised the issue of how else do I keep from skipping sideways. I had remembered reading that you need to keep some down elevator to keep the wheels planted and use tire friction to avoid sideways movement. I had become so afraid of going easy on my nose wheel that it seemed unnatural.
I was wondering how others manage this type of situation in their A model RVs.
Larry
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