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Old May 21st 07, 02:45 AM posted to rec.aviation.piloting,rec.aviation.student
Matt Whiting
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Posts: 2,232
Default Directional control after touchdown...

Dan wrote:
On May 20, 6:09 pm, Dave Doe wrote:
In article om,
says...





I've got a question for the group. Suppose you find yourself in the
following situation:
You are flying a C182, landing on runway 22. The ATIS lists the winds
as 240 at 10. The windsock is not visible.
You approach at a normal airspeed, full flaps, coming over the numbers
at 65 kts. The mains touchdown, followed by the nosegear. Slight
right aileron is being maintained into the wind. Everything is
aligned properly and on the centerline at touchdown.
After touchdown the plane starts to drift to the right side of the
runway. You try to correct by pointing the nose back to the
centerline with left rudder. The nose seems to be pointed left, but
the plane is still drifting right. It feels like any more left rudder
could result in bad skidding and/or a ground loop.
What are the proper control inputs to correct the situation?
Left aileron would be in the _opposite_ direction of the indicated
crosswind.

Regardless, this is the right move (IMO) - as it's possibly caused by
less crosswind down at RWY level - you use aileron to control the drift,
rudder to keep it pointing in the right direction.

--
Duncan- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -


Thanks. That's exactly what I was getting at. Obviously, I know this
is true when still in the air, but I was not sure if this rule changed
when rolling down the runway...


It changes a lot. Drift is controlled in the air by slipping which
requires bank. Since you can't bank while on the ground, the ailerons
aren't going to do much for drift. They help keep weight on the upwind
wheels to provide better traction and they help keep the wind from
flipping you over, they they don't do squat for drift. That is a
function of rudder and tire traction.

Matt