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I am still a student pilot and the thing I have the hardest time with is x-wind landings. I can make them, but they are rough. I am almost finished with my private, but this skill is a must!! Any advice would be great!!!

What part is rough? Smoothness will come with time. If you find yourself getting squirrelly after touchdown don't forget your crosswind aileron correction (I had a hard time with that).

aileron correction is, for some reason hard for me to remember. And when I do remember I dont do it because for some reason I just feel like I am going to flip over or something. lol I also have a hard time being cross-controled. It just feels weird

Listen to ATIS, and put the heading bug on the direction of the wind so you can remember. Center the nose with rudder, wings into wind wil yoke. the rest is just like you land every other time. Keep the yoke in the same direction after you touch down and increase the amount of correction as you slow. If I encounter a guts where it lifts me at the last second, add just a pinch of power and pull it out quickly again. This will prevent a gust lifting you and then you touching down hard. Remember, putting the rudder in the oppsite direction lifts the oppsite wing too, so some of the work is already done for you.

Remember aileron in x-winds is for side-shifting. The more aileron, the more opposite rudder will be required, or otherwise you will turn, defeating the purpose.

My set-up to really practice this is establish a 3-5nm final, or just use a road and keep some altitude. Work the ailerons, and rudder as to always maintain a parallel course to the rwy/road, but side-shift yourself left and right of course. Practice how much input you need to correct with varying winds and speeds. It will help build the feel for what it takes, just like landing flares! The rest is really just practicing, and having an instructor that's skilled enough to go take you out and do Max-Demonstrated x-wind practice. One of the best and unfortgettable lessons during my training!!!

I agree. I felt sorry for my instructor during the early stages of X-W's.

Cross control does feel wierd, but it works. The main thing is to point the nose down the runway with the rudder in the flare. As you do that, wing down into the wind. Just Do It.

You might drift a bit one way or the other if the wing down part isn't quite right. But if the nose is pointed down the runway when you touch down, you'll be fine. With experience, you'll learn to vary the wing down to correct for gust and drift.

the whole point is to keep the airplanes momentum going straight down the runway

one thing that none of these guys have mentioned... when you keep your wing down into the wind, you'll obviously land on one wheel then the other... this is normal. just keep that wing down as you flare, it wont be as smooth as a perfect headwind, but with practice you can get pretty close.

ask your instructor to take you up and just practice slips in a non-landing environment... cross-control and try to keep your heading.

I by no means have it perfected but I really had aileron correction after touchdown hammered in to my skull one day. My instructor and I were out at the practice area on a windy day and by the time we returned home the winds had shifted to the point that we had to use our home airport's intersecting runway. It isn't the smallest runway in the world but it is pretty dang narrow. I had a pretty good crosswind correction in on final and everything was going smoothly until I got to the flare. The hangars around the runway caused a bit of an eddie over the runway that really surprised me (Lesson number one) and once I flared and touched down I completely lapsed on the aileron correction. The plane weather vaned on one wheel enough to really scare the crap out of me and cause me to abruptly throw the aileron correction in, settling the aircraft down. That's all it took for me to remind myself every time I land to correct for the crosswind with ailerons upon touchdown.

Props to my instructor for sitting back and letting me scare the crap out of myself without freaking our or taking the controls! It really drove the lesson home :D

Flying a Cessna on a 10 kt crosswind was enough to teach me to fly until the plane stops. I trained and instruct in Diamonds so they are much more forgiving (low wings). But that day, I felt the wing lift after we had landed and I've never forgotten to keep aileron control at all times.

yea my instructor is my dad, he has already had 2 heart problems, I really dont want to be the cause of his third. He is a good instructor but I am his first student in 30 years, he now works for a federal agency that we all love. lol It governs aviation. But he is so used to airline guys and other very experienced pilots that it is kinda hard for him to relate all the time. X-wind landings are really the only thing that give me a huge challenge. I will really be thinking of these tips the next time I go up!! I will let you know how it all worked out.

hah, if you guys want to learn how to fly a plane until it's stopped, go up in a taildragger...those things will weather vane before you even know what happened.

plus, nothing will make you a better rudder pilot than an ol' tail wheel.

mcartier713-

I see your flying C-23's. You still doing your training or CFIing or what? I flew those at my flight school and they take some time to get to learn how to land but a very fun plane none-the-less.

aileron for centerline, rudder for alignment

I recommend and teach the wing low method of xwind correction as opposed to the crab. too many times ive seen people forget to "take out the crab" and personally I see that as destabilizing the approach.

Yes but you still eventually need to learn the crab for the future. IMO both should be taught and practiced.

well of course youll need it for later but use whats best for the aircraft (SE trainers)