Why crabbing is correct and side slipping isn't (was Flying Technique Question of the Day

(Chris OCallaghan) wrote in message . com...
Buck & Eric,

go with what you know. If you are comfortable using a slip to align
the nose with the runway, it's a perfectly reasonable way to
compensate for crosswind. However, I must once again take exception to
the notion that tilting the lift vector compensates for crosswind.
This is simply wrong. Draw some pictures to work your way through the
problem.
Tilting the lift vector produces a turn, regardless of wind. The turn
will continue so long as the wings are banked.

Wrong, wrong. You can't fly in a straight line with your wings banked?
How do you explain an axial roll? Some aircraft wil even fly straight
& level at 90deg bank angle. Knife edge.

An unbalanced force (like
tilting the lift vector) creates an acceleration, which means that
either your speed or direction changes.

Which is what you need to do in wind.
You better go draw some pictures yourself. Tilting the lift vector
does not produce a turn. It produces an acceleration in the direction
of the tilt, which is what you need to cancel your drift. Forget
forward speed for a moment. Picture a helicopter, hovering over the
runway, in a direct crosswind. Guess what he does to remain stationary
over the runway? um, tilts the lift vector into the wind. If he did
that in calm air, he would travel sideways at the speed that the
crosswind was. In fact, even in calm air, they must "tilt their lift
vector" slightly to compensate for the tail rotor blowing them
sideways...like a crosswind.

Remember, that for an aircraft in the air, the wind is not a force.
Since the aircraft moves with the airmass, there is no wind. So
tilting a lift vector against "the wind" is meaningless.
The difficulty comes when we need to transition from the air to the
ground. The moment the wheels touch the ground, the wind becomes an
unbalanced force,

Not if you are already in balance before you land, enough bank into
the wind so that your LIFT VECTOR keeps you from drifting, and enough
yaw so the wheels don't touch with a side load on them.

and we need to make control inputs to deal with it.
There are two techniques. We know them both.

Yeah, a wheel landing, or a full-stall landing.

But be clear, we
compensate for airmass movement using a crab, not a slip. Transition
to the ground is achieved by momentarily crossing the controls. I
prefer to do this during the flair. Others choose to initiate that
process after turning base. It's a matter of preference. I like my yaw
string straight and my airspeed indicator dependable when near the
ground. (Eric, note that your visual and aural cues become less
trustworthy when near the ground or when flying sideways.)

Wow, is that true Eric? That's a new one. I guess if you're staring at
your airspeed indicator, trying to time your last second manouver
during the flair.

Again, a
matter of choice. But let's get off this notion that a tilted wing
cancels out the effect of wind. It doesn't, at least, not while you
are in the air.
This is building block stuff, which is why I'm still beating it.

http://www.mpaviation.com/lessn15.htm
Kicking out the yaw during the flair is fine if it works for you. I
use that technique in corporate-type stuff, being heavy, faster &
having a training wheel on the nose make it the preferred method. In
taildraggers & gliders & lighter aircraft more affected by the wind, I
prefer the line it up & lower the wing.
All I was trying to tell you is that if you bank the wing, you tilt
the lift vector. If you hold that bank for a mile final, lined up on
the centerline, you are still tilting it. Yes, it would cause you to
track towards the low wing, except that the crosswind is holding your
track straight. Call it what you want. My Dad taught me never try to
teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time, and annoys the pig.

-Buck Wild