Originally Posted by
Pilotpip
I haven't flown a ton of swept-wing aircraft, but the roll is there for everything down to a 152. There's a limitation for the 170 as well (something like 17 degrees bank) but I can't recall if it's for the engine or the wingtip. Either way, I don't want to find out the hard way.
It's interesting to hear about the other types of aircraft out there. I had a mainline guy in the jumpseat one day and asked why the 737 in front of me looked like it was taxiing sideways. I got to learn that the mains castor a bit to help avoid dragging an engine by allowing to land in a crab. Any other types have something like this?
Hell yeah, the mighty B-52. Our crosswind crab system is sick. We're wider than we're long, therefore no wing low method on that old bastard. 20 degree maximum gear prepositioning from centerline...which gives a max demonstrated x-wind component of 42KTS.
It messes with your head the first couple of times, trying to effectively land a crane, visualizing crab angles that put the aft gear that's 80 feet behind you effectively several dozen feet to the left or right of your seating position; having to force yourself to shoot for a cockpit position so many widths left or right of centerline to effect an overall centered landing position in the runway. If the crab is pronounced enough (in the high teens) to warrant having to see through the other pilot's nugget, most pilots elect to allow the pilot downind of the crab to land the crane, er, the airplane. Taxiing crabbed down the runway is another gem....and correcting for any drift you allowed while over the threshold on the flare while adequately compensating for the aforementioned geometry considerations is a little puzzling at first, to say the least.
Other than that, the 8 different assymetries of individual engines, flap retractions that resemble closing stadium roofs, ridiculous aerodynamic effects during air refueling due to having longer wings than the tanker, helicopter-style cockpit sight picture during lightweight pattern work due to built-in
8 degrees positive angle of incidence on the wing root (that's right, a whole lot nose down on the ADI gives you level flight) and an artificial feel control system designed to resemble control pressures of a B-36 because the hydraulic assist was making the old dudes over-G it back in the day (i.e. they incorporated unnecessarily fatiguing control forces to fly it manually for hours, for the benefit of people crossflowing in from the old big momma bomber), it flies just like your run of the mill airplane, pull-push houses get smaller get bigger type stuff....
It's a vintage experience, so it's all good.