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Old 11-01-2014 | 08:17 PM
  #95  
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JamesNoBrakes
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Joined: Nov 2011
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From: Volleyball Player
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We see lots of pilots in Alaska "stick" runways in the summer time, by either kicking it out and landing straight or doing the same and landing somewhat sideloaded during high wind conditions.

Unfortunately, come winter time, they get swept right off the runway as soon as they touchdown, because they don't have the aileron input to keep the airplane on the runway. You'd think this goes hand in hand, but you'd be surprised.

The bigger the airplane, the more you have to crab on final and kick out usually due to wingspan (not to mention engines), but it's bad technique to not be rolling in the aileron as you are rolling onto the runway, they should go hand in hand and you should be mindful of the demonstrated x-wind. I've seen some pilots make amazing landings in transport category aircraft using these techniques, but I also know of many people who just got swept right off a runway because they were out flying in winds way too strong for them to handle with no aileron to keep the airplane planted. I'm disusing significant x-wind situations btw.

In a SE airplane, sideslipping down at least gives you some idea whether or not you'll be able to control the airplane on the runway after touchdown. The more inexperienced the pilot, the better it is to do this as early as possible, even still, sometimes when flying light singles, I'll do it way early, just to see what the wind is doing when the gusts hit, etc. The better you get with timing and other control, the more you can revert back to the above methods IMO, but you need to be sure you have the control on the runway, otherwise you're going to be swept off fast.

A big difference with big and little planes is as soon as that transport category airplane touches down, big spoilers come up and kill all the lift, dumping weight on the tires like crazy, compared to a light airplane where the wing is still carrying a lot of lift and the entire airplane is more like a parachute. This is one reason it's not apples and apples when discussing both and one more thing that contributes to pilots in light airplanes getting swept off a runway.
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