Originally Posted by
JohnBurke
The 747 calls for landing crabbed.
There's a lot of mass to be kicking out, and while it can be done, the FCOM/AFM calls for landing crabbed. I've done it both ways, and combinations, in some very strong crosswinds and very gusty conditions.
Get some time in conventional gear airplanes where landing with any crab at all will eat your lunch for three days straight. You'll hear this advice all the time, and it isn't wrong, but what works in one aircraft isn't necessarily appropriate in others. Same for swept wing aircraft; the technique in one is not necessarily the technique in all.
Importantly, landing crabbed does not necessarily mean touching down wings level. Crabbed is anything less than the airplane tracking straight down the centerline.
Many airplanes simply do not have the control authority to track straight down the centerline at max limit crosswind, or trying would cause a wingtip or pod to drag on the runway.
If you put in about half as much aileron and rudder as needed to track the centerline 50 feet, then the final rudder application in the flare is much easier to judge, and you have a head start on the needed aileron application to keep the upwind wing from raising when the gear pulls the airplane straight after touchdown.
Joe