There’s been times when we’ve all been up in the air wishing we was on the ground. I’ve probably put myself in that situation more than once, but for different things. Having been crew for an airline, and sleeping in the dark bunks across the North Atlantic, Africa and Bay of Bengal I know how rough turbulence can be.
So a little bit of wind tends to put me off having previously flown on a really gusty day across the downs with active CBs around. Not comfortable.
Either way, it’s all experience and utilising the technology to check. I’ve started using this app on the android called Windsock. to quickly ditermine the weather suitability as close to start-up.
I use Airports on Apple iOS on my iPad. Which is also is available on Android.
I enjoyed creating this video and doing something a bit different. Please do enjoy and let me know of your experiences.
My experience is that it’s never as difficult or challenging as you think it’s going to be.
Different airframes tolerate wind very differently in my experience, particularly crosswind.
With the Mooney, I twice had the situation where we landed with what on later analysis turned out to be about 25-30 kts of cross without any difficulty. The reason we did not realize the high component before touch down was that the winds given did not correspond to the actual winds at the touch down point, as that one was way down the runway but the wind was taken at the beginning. However, the runways in both cases were 60 m wide, so there was ample space to allow for some drift, even though both touchdowns occurred on centerline.
Comparing the M20 to other planes, landing in crosswind appears relatively easy. I recall the Piper Seneca II and III at Berne, where crosswind is almost a daily issue and it was not easy to get it on the ground in stiff crosswind. Shortly after I acquired the M20 I flew to Bern and landed with about 15 kts cross without any problem whatsoever what would have been comparatively hard work in the Seneca.
So it depends and you will only know if you try it out how your plane reacts. all the “limitations” are demonstrated crosswinds, so that means it is the highest cross wind test pilots recorded, which does not mean that the airplane can not tolerate more.
The main factors for demonstrated crosswind are loss of control on the ground, and the ability of the undercarriage to carry side loads. While an SEP can land in a side slip to minimise side loads, an MEP will land wings level and if insufficient into wind aileron to maintain wings level a side load on the downwind main gear will occur. The Seneca 1 with limited aileron authority will impose unacceptable side loads, hence the low demonstrated crosswind limit of 13knots.
Tailwheel aircraft can land in stonking crosswinds with correct technique, but then are unable to taxi! Helpful marshalls hanging onto the wings might assist.
Yes it does depend on the aircraft, and pilot skills and currency on type. And how wide the runway is 
I think I cancelled a flight only once since I got the TB20 in 2002. It has a max demo of 25kt.
But there is also turbulence when in the air. Perhaps the worst I have seen was a flight down the Adriatic, FL100 or so, when the bora was blowing something like 70kt. The sea down below was white. The video is here, but the camera was partly stabilised so doesn’t show the “fun” fully
In similar conditions it is fairly common when departing from e.g. Zadar to get strong turbulence all the way to about FL100. In the above video I could have got out of it at ~FL150 but I didn’t want to burn more fuel, given the already bad headwind.
However – especially for passengers who don’t enjoy flying – you can get nasty turbulence on any summer day when flying below the “white fluffy stuff” level, say 2000-3000ft. I took Justine for such a flight once and she really didn’t like it. But other aircraft types are much worse than the TB20 with its high wing loading; one flight I was in, in a Maule, ~2000ft, had the pilot’s wife vomiting in the back seat.
A DA40 or similar will be more affected than most types, due to low wing loading.
an MEP will land wings level
Why do you say that? I have landed all manner of MEP in crosswinds, sometimes very strong crosswinds, over the years and have always used wing down (or slip, as you call it.)
If you are concerned about prop strikes, it is worth looking at the frontal projection in the POH and drawing a line of what angle of bank you need for a prop strike.
If the gear is in the nacelles, like in the Aztec, then a strike is impossible. If the gear folds into the wings, like in the Baron or Seneca, then there’s a theoretical risk, but it would have to be a helluvan angle, and I think you’d get a tip strike first, as you would in an SEP. The PA31 folds, but the wheels are directly under the crankshaft and, again, the risk is zero.
Or is there another reason I haven’t thought of?
I agree, it’s usually easier to handle the wind than you think it will be. But, like all things flying, it’s worth building up your experience, rather than launching headlong into really challenging conditions first. I worry that over conservatism is dumbing down the challenge. When I flew a few circuits the other day, the airport was otherwise quiet. The wind was 17G21 30 degrees off the runway heading. No problem in a 172, but apparently even dual instruction was not happening at the flying college in that wind. They’re the pro instructors I guess, know your limits.
I’m happy to land in a gentle crosswind, I think its actually easier than no or headwind sometimes. You can gently land the upwind mainwheel first, and hold it there while you get things settled, then land the other main, and hold off the third wheel appropriately. That way, you only have to get one thing right at a time!
I was required to flight test a highly modified Cessna Grand Caravan for crosswind compliance. I got the big wind day, and headed for the airport with the runway in a direct crosswind. 19G26 was manageable, though required full rudder to be applied, and held at times, along with the require aileron, and touches of brake. I can state from personal experience that 37G43 is possible in a C150, but it’s not nice. I had to fly a search one day.
Crosswinds can be handled with the wing low method, the plane has more control that you’d think:
The issue with cross wind landings is that during the PPL, we aren’t really exposed to strong crosswinds. The crosswinds we are exposed to could probably be handled with little to no technique. This really builds up a fear of crosswinds and as a result we don’t fly in them. As a result we get even more scared of them.
The solution is practice. As others have said, with the right technique, they aren’t all the challenging.
If you aren’t comfortable, then go practice them. Either go with an instructor (who is comfortable with them) or find a day when there is a strong wind straight down the runway at your home field and go fly somewhere with a different runway direction so that you have a full crosswind. This means that if you can’t get used to landing in the crosswind, you can always come back to base where you’ve just got a headwind
One of the difficulties with crosswind is that, whether you use the crab method or crab followed by wind down, you have a lot going on in the last few seconds. Swapping control deflections at the last few seconds gives a lot of secondary effects, and just feels totally unnatural. I also see lots of pilots remove all control inputs once the wheels touchdown, with potentially disastrous effects.
I use a different technique (which some here have criticised in the past, but works well for me). I adopt the wind down method about half way down final. Of course with crossed controls it feels unnatural, but I’ve time to get used to that, and it allows me to keep the controls stable and free from large secondary effects right through the later parts of final, through the flare, and into the roll out. Once the inputs are put in, only very minor adjustments are needed to ailerons and rudder, making things very easy.
I wouldn’t bat an eyelid at 25kts crosswind + gusts and have often taken more. That is as a relatively low time PPL.
Find a good windy day and get out and practice crosswind landings. As others have said, they aren’t as hard as they seem!
I totally agree with @dublinpilot. I go wing down at 200’ so as to have plenty of time to get my eye and hand in, working together.
I think another problem is that, ab initio, people are taught to crab and kick, which is much more difficult than wing down, but leaves the student and low hour pilot with the mistaken view that wing down is advanced and therefore more difficult.
When I am teaching instrument flying, I often despair at students’ awful crosswind technique and end up teaching them wing down, even though my responsibility ends at 200’.
Taxiing in quartering tail winds are the worst for my aircraft type (with a free castering tailwheel, with no lock) although when we put hydraulic disc brakes on the aircraft it made life a LOT easier (the old cable operated drum brakes were quite frankly decorative and constantly went out of adjustment). The other problem with windy days is the other edge to the great low speed handling and low stall speed is that windy days need a lot of care (and we have a lot of windy days in the Isle of Man). While I can land in a brisk crosswind, taxiing afterwards can be challenging…
