[Airplane Flying Handbook] Maximum Safe Crosswind Velocities

Takeoffs and landings in certain crosswind conditions are inadvisable or even dangerous. If the crosswind is great enough to warrant an extreme drift correction, a hazardous landing condition may result. Therefore, the takeoff and landing capabilities with respect to the reported surface wind conditions and the available landing directions must be considered.

Before an airplane is type certificated by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), it must be flight tested to meet certain requirements. Among these is the demonstration of being satisfactorily controllable with no exceptional degree of skill or alertness on the part of the pilot in 90° crosswinds up to a velocity equal to 0.2 VSO. This means a windspeed of two-tenths of the airplane's stalling speed with power off and landing gear/flaps down. Regulations require that the demonstrated crosswind velocity be included on a placard in airplanes certificated after May 3, 1962.

The headwind component and the crosswind component for a given situation can be determined by reference to a crosswind component chart. It is imperative that pilots determine the maximum crosswind component of each airplane they fly, and avoid operations in wind conditions that exceed the capability of the airplane.

Common errors in the performance of crosswind approaches and landings are:

• Attempting to land in crosswinds that exceed the airplane's maximum demonstrated crosswind component.
• Inadequate compensation for wind drift on the turn from base leg to final approach, resulting in undershooting or overshooting.
• Inadequate compensation for wind drift on final approach.
• Unstabilized approach.
• Failure to compensate for increased drag during sideslip resulting in excessive sink rate and/or too low an airspeed.
• Touchdown while drifting.
• Excessive airspeed on touchdown.
• Failure to apply appropriate flight control inputs during rollout.
• Failure to maintain direction control on rollout.
• Excessive braking.

--
Posted By w3n-a to Airplane Flying Handbook at 12/24/2008 09:38:00 PM __._,_.___

Posted by: http://w3n-a.blogspot.com/

Your email settings: Individual Email|Traditional
Change settings via the Web (Yahoo! ID required)
Change settings via email: Switch delivery to Daily Digest | Switch to Fully Featured
Visit Your Group | Yahoo! Groups Terms of Use | Unsubscribe

__,_._,___