One thing thats VERY new to Flight (at least to me) is dealing with cross wind landings. I dont remember having to ever STRUGGLE in FSX like I do in Flight just to keep it on the centerline with even a 4kt wind. Here are some tips on good cross wind landings.First, let me say that people with full rudder pedals with toe brakes are out of luck till MS fixes it. Its being worked on. So that makes life a little bit more difficult in cross winds.OK. Tip number one. Crabbing. Many of the hard core sim vets know what crabbing is, but lets introduce this fun thing to new users. Put simply, crabbing is flying sideways. At low speed in a cross wind situation, your aircraft will want to "wind sock" since the tail is getting hit in the side by the wind. Thats what the tail is for, to keep the nose of the aircraft poined into the wind, like the feathers in end of an arrow or a dart. If the aircraft is getting hit from the side by cross winds, the tail will want to turn your nose INTO the wind. Crabbing is flying pointed into the wind, but traveling in a direction the aircraft is NOT pointing, to the side. Its best shown in video.

Note the the aircraft is NOT traveling in the direction its pointing. THATS crabbing. It takes a long time to learn this, and the best place to learn it right now is in Flight.So now your crabbing by pointing your aircraft left, but flying right, and your on approach.#2. Keep the wing thats facing into the wind down a little. This will help.#3. Just before landing, GET OUT OF YOUR CRAB! You need to be facing down the runway the moment your tires touch the ground. Your main gear are not steerable. If they are facing off to the side of the runway, thats were they will take you.#4. Make sure the TIRE facing INTO THE WING hits FIRST! This is important.#5. Once on the ground, bring your flaps up! Get rid of as much LIFT as you can.#6. For a tail dragger, PULL. You want that tail firmly planted on the ground. If your a tricycle gear, push the stick FORWARD.#7. Brakes. Remember what I said about toe brakes? There is a work around. In the options menu, remove the check mark next to "smooth braking". What this does is apply the brakes faster. Not only that, but if you have the LEFT rudder in, it will apply brakes to the LEFT tire! Same for the RIGHT rudder = RIGHT tire brake. If you apply brakes AND rudder, it will keep you on the runway rather well.Try it over and over and over. Practice makes perfect. Its taken me a LONG time to get it down, and im still no expert. Also, watch "Flying Wild Alaska" and you can see cross wind landings all the time. I learned half of my tips from watching that show!I hope these tips help new and vet pilots with there cross wind landings. Its not something we have had to face that much in the past, but its a huge factor in Flight!!! Anyone that says Flight is "arcade" needs to land a Stearman in a 19knt cross on a dirt strip thats bracketed by trees. I had a vacuum lock on my chair after I was done with that one!!!Happy flying!

Thank you for the help, can't wait to make it home after work tonight and try this!

Put simply, crapping is flying sideways.

You know I have thought this... but now... well thanks for the verification. :LMAO:

If your a tricycle gear, push the stick FORWARD.

No No No... got to take issue with you there sir... here's where the sim can introduce a very bad technique... stick (or yoke) goes in your lap... and ailerons go into the wind (reduces the potential of the upwind wing be lifted).At a lower speed when you turn off the runway... and you have a quartering tailwind, then is the time to push the yoke forward (and you move the ailerons opposite of how you would for quartering headwind).You shove that stick forward after touchdown and you will find out (in a real plane) what the term "wheelbarrowing" means... otherwise great write-up Kevin.My experience this really isn't a problem for certain aircraft (like the Warrior)... you can just about screw the whole thing up during taxi and unless some really fierce winds (which one shouldn't be flying in anyway) will it start to matter. Not that I am recommending not to practice proper technique mind you... Do what your instructor teaches for that type aircraft and all should be fine. Matters more in some aircraft than others... but good technique is always worth doing."We" had a lively discussion on this very subject here: http://forum.avsim.n...swind-landings/

Whoops!!! Edited!

Kevin, I totally agree that the flight model and how wind affect the aircraft seems a lot better than stock FSwhatever. It´ll be interesting to see what the people that are good at dissecting those files will find. Doing a sideslip felt a lot more like IRL than previously. I don´t know, could be something so simple as better sound effects. The wind noice when sideslipping in very not-soundproofed aircraft increases a lot.

I do notice you get a LOT more AUDIO feedback in Flight VS FSX. It reminds me a lot of the new Accu-Feel from what I saw on Scotts video. I have not gotten it for my FSX yet, but it looks really amazing what A2A have done with FSX! Just a little while ago, I was flying the Maule and I HEARD that my flaps were down! Forgot to put them up!

I just started the 'Maule Landing Challenge 3' in FLIGHT, it is kicking my &amp;@(&#036;*! I'm a huge fan of Flying Wild Alaska (Team Ayla! Ariel annoys me) anyways... I discovered crabbing watching that show. Your tips make it possible for me to actually get a decent attempt at that runway blanketed by trees. I feel like Jim Tweto landing offrunway in FWA, trying to land that Maule with those sidewinds. I <3 flight, I hope it leads to a bigger and better full Sim experience in the future!Thanks for the Tips MVGibbage!Ayla Tweto

Whoops!!! Edited!

Mv, post edit you STILL have a 'now you're crapping' line further down...roflmao!Thanks for the writeup, though. Interesting to see how Flight's interaction with the wind is modelled better than previous sims.

6:00 = GOLD!!!!! That was amazing - thank you for the post!

C'mon..you actually watch "Flying Wild Alaska" To watch AC landings?!?!? What about Ariel..LOLRB

Edited March 2, 201214 yr by raul2

Ariel FTW! This season she gets her PPL!!! Its been fun watching her learn how to fly.

Crabbing like that is really the only option for big planes like in the video. Though it's hard to get out of the crab just before touching down and not get blown off the side of the runway.

 

There is a second option with the smaller planes in Flight. It's called landing in a "slip". It is to drop the wing that's in the direction the wind is coming from and applying rudder in the opposite direction.

 

As wind blows over the wings this generates lift. If one wing gets more wind, it gets more lift. To counter this you have to lower the wing that gets more wind. But then your plane will want to point in that direction. To counter this, apply rudder in the opposite direction to keep the nose pointing straight in the direction you want to go. So, with crosswind coming from the left, you lower the left wing and apply right rudder to maintain the right course. With one wing lower to the ground, that wheel will touch down first. Then bring down the wheel on the opposite side followed by either the nose or tail wheel.

 

I practiced at the third landing challenge for the Maule and one of the challenges for the RV6. In these conditions I trim out the rudder and control direction with the ailerons. I know that's probably the wrong way around but it's more confortable because I don't have rudder pedals.

 

Theres a big problem I'm having with these though. When in a slip the airplane bleeds off speed at what seems an unrealistic rate. The RV6 especially is a really slick plane and does not bleed off speed easilly. But at high slip angles I need almost full power and no flaps at all to even stay above the runway without stalling. Maybe a real pilot can offer an opinion as to how life-like this is done in Flight, because I feel the effect is rather excessive.

Crabbing like that is really the only option for big planes like in the video. Though it's hard to get out of the crab just before touching down and not get blown off the side of the runway.

 

There is a second option with the smaller planes in Flight. It's called landing in a "slip". It is to drop the wing that's in the direction the wind is coming from and applying rudder in the opposite direction.

 

As wind blows over the wings this generates lift. If one wing gets more wind, it gets more lift. To counter this you have to lower the wing that gets more wind. But then your plane will want to point in that direction. To counter this, apply rudder in the opposite direction to keep the nose pointing straight in the direction you want to go. So, with crosswind coming from the left, you lower the left wing and apply right rudder to maintain the right course. With one wing lower to the ground, that wheel will touch down first. Then bring down the wheel on the opposite side followed by either the nose or tail wheel.

 

I practiced at the third landing challenge for the Maule and one of the challenges for the RV6. In these conditions I trim out the rudder and control direction with the ailerons. I know that's probably the wrong way around but it's more confortable because I don't have rudder pedals.

 

Theres a big problem I'm having with these though. When in a slip the airplane bleeds off speed at what seems an unrealistic rate. The RV6 especially is a really slick plane and does not bleed off speed easilly. But at high slip angles I need almost full power and no flaps at all to even stay above the runway without stalling. Maybe a real pilot can offer an opinion as to how life-like this is done in Flight, because I feel the effect is rather excessive.

 

This is basically what the first post also contains, but used during the entire approach instead of straightening out over the runway. When you come out of the crab you basically go into a sideslip. As you go into the sideslip, you expose more surface area to the airflow and increase drag. Which also means you will need more power. And this is also what makes it useful if you need to descent quickly without gaining much airspeed. I personally prefer crabbing and straightening out over the runway. How accurately slipping is modeled in Flight is unknown to me, since I have no real world experience in those aircraft.

 

_{Offtopic, but I remembered this when you mentioned full power... I'm still waiting for a hot day here where we will be performance limited and not able to reach our filed flight level. I plan to exclaim to whoever is in the left seat at that time "I'm giving her all she's got Captain!" in a Scottish accent.}

I'm not a real pilot, but I play one on the computer.

 

I just realized I've been using a different technique lately to land the Maule in a strong crosswind. I crab until I'm almost over the runway, then I use rudder to align the plane with the runway. This requires opposite aileron to keep the plane level. Funny, I never even think about slipping, but that's what I'm doing. When I've tried to slip on purpose, it hasn't worked out well at all.

 

One difference is that I'm tweaking the throttle constantly. I found out that you need extra throttle even with no crosswind at some point during the flare to keep the plane from settling too fast. I finally got to the point where I was doing good landings and getting happy passengers, and I've been able to do it now with crosswinds as well.

 

Hook

Slipping increases drag, decreases lift in the vertical plane and also decreases the airspeed sensed by the pitot tube. You will need to fly by attitude and not trust the airspeed reported on the indicator when in a slip.

 

you will probably be way too fast on short final if you maintain the same airspeed in a slip that you maintain in coordinated flight.

 

I had to slip very aggressively last weekend to a landing and my airspeed read around 53 knots even though I was easily doing 65 at that moment. As soon as I straightened out, the airspeed went right back to around 65.

 

Flight does seem to simulate this fairly well.