Originally Posted by
flyingchicken
Might as well add my 2c...
Agree, but this is a landing scenario. Minimizing drag is not a high priority. VMCA is based on TOGA thrust. I seriously doubt you would be anywhere near that for the technique being discussed. The effect should be much less than what you would experience on rotation from a V1 cut with the same crosswind, and we know the airplane can handle that. Landing. Drag reduction not priority. No worse than kicking out crab with rudder. This I can agree with. Its a case of risk management - whats your biggest threat for that approach, is it the crosswind, or is it engine failure in the flare?
Agree that this is not an approved procedure, and that the autoland does not use it. However in my current aircraft (A330) the autoland crosswind limit is only half of the demonstrated 40kts.
I have a few issues with what you typed to my response. The things I listed weren't just my opinion, but also from a flight manual book from the FAA.
Drag isn't a big issue if you have autofeather (preferred) or the ability to feather/windmill an engine in case you lose one. Which leads me to discuss VMCA. The fear here is that a pilot uses this technique poorly, goes around, applies power asymmetrically to the engines (downwind engine spooling up to go-around thrust first) while you were banked slightly into the upwind engine to kill the drift from the crosswind. This is EXACTLY when VMCA is going to kill you. Read this article.
AvioConsult - Accidents after engine failure
When you have a V1 cut, after getting airborne, you bank into the good engine with 1/2 ball into the good engine --- or at least you should. But when performing this "technique", you are violating this principle.
As I said before, drag isn't that big of deal. The stall issue applies here too. This manuever doesn't seem to be one that you're performing in the flare. It sounds to me that you have to set it up first for it to work correctly. Shdw admitted that he did it from 2 miles. Not faulting him. But I wouldn't be applying forward-slip controls that far out either. So, drag, not that big of deal. Stall, yes. If I crab to a forward-slip, I'm doing it at the runway. And all I have to do is let go of the controls and I neutralize everything instantly. In this scenario, I have the get the power symmetric or pull the downwind engine -- neither of which is going to be as quick as the flight controls.
Look, we aren't going to agree. And that is ok. It's what makes the world go around.
But you are correct. It is all about risk management. What is more dangerous? Using this technique to give you extra crosswind capability or crashing because you had your aircraft in an odd flight manner when an engine failed?
Both are stupid because you should have never tried to land on a runway without having the crosswind limits in the first place. Which was my original point about 4-5 pages ago ... and is what other's were saying you could use this technique for. If you can't land using a traditional crab to a foward-slip, then don't land. Otherwise, you are needlessly addiding risk.