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4 Answers

Crosswind Correction for Tailwind on Landing with a Side Slip

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Aerodynamics, Private Pilot, Student Pilot

From where I am flying, it is encouraged to do the sideslip method during crosswind landings. I usually see online that you must put ailerons to the wind and then apply opposite rudder just so that the plane does not turn. So, it's usually left aileron with right rudder or right aileron with left rudder.

My question would be, is this correction still the same when it is a crosswind which is a tailwind?  Online videos seem to take into account that it is usually a headwind and there is usually no mention when it is a tailwind. 

From the airport I usually fly at, the tower doesn't change the runway if the wind is not probably more than 5kts, so it is common to have a tailwind on landings and approach. I am flying a C152 and I feel that even if it isn't that strong of a wind, it still affects the aircraft.

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4 Answers



  1. KDS on Jul 03, 2020

    Think in terms of relative wind. As long as the airplane is moving forward faster than the tailwind component, the control inputs are the same. Where things become different is as you slow to the point where the tailwind component equals the forward motion and then becomes greater than it. When it reaches that point, think more along the line of where you would have the controls if I were taxiing in a quartering tailwind. That would be to reverse both the aileron and the elevator input. After all, by the time you get down under that maximum five knots your local airport uses, you would indeed be taxiing.

    Hopefully, the situation does not arise where you need to demonstrate that procedure in a much higher quartering tailwind, but the principle is still the same. It is just the successful execution of the principle that becomes more difficult.

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  2. Richard Eastman on Jul 05, 2020

    It’s important to separate the fact that when you’re in the air … i.e. throughout the flare and the initial touchdown state … the airplane is an air vehicle and subject to the three elements of flight, pitch, roll, and yaw. When it is on the ground … effectively in a taxi state … and airplane is not normally subject to roll.

    While the airplane is in air and subject to three-dimensional flight, the airplane would be subject to the three dimensions of flight — and even with a quartering tailwind, the wing would be down into the wind and it would be necessary to steer the airplane straight down the runway using rudder control.

    That state of flight would be required until the airplane has all three wheels on the runway and no longer was impacted by the aspect of roll. ONLY then, would the pilot need to think in terms of taxiing the airplane with a quartering tailwind.

    Transition from an air vehicle (flying in a three dimensional state) to a ground vehicle (taxiing in a two dimensional state) is the key to successful safe flight … whether during takeoff or landing. But it’s important to recognize that each state of flight requires different techniques for safety.

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  3. Best Answer


    Mark Kolber on Jul 07, 2020

    I love it when I have an opportunity to do this with a student.

    First, let’s step back from the trees and look at the forest. In the air, the goal in alignment and drift, regardless of where the wind is coming from. Period. What we do flows from that goal.

    So.. If the wind is from the right, you need right aileron to stop drifting left and left rudder to keep the airplane longitudinally aligned with the runway. Notice, I said nothing about whether that right crosswind is front or rear quartering. Stop. Think about it. Does it matter? No. Not in the air.

    But there’s a catch. Once you touch down the goal changes. Now the goal is to prevent the airplane from being upset by the wind. Now, the fact that the crosswind is coming from the rear, not the front, does matter. With a right headwind, we use right aileron. That’s easy. Same as we were using in the air. But with the right tailwind, we need *left* aileron, exactly the opposite we were using in the air.

    That’s the catch and the challenge of landing with a rear quartering crosswind (In addition to enough runway). We need to transition from the aileron needed to prevent drift in the air to the opposite aileron needed to prevent upset on the ground. The stronger the crosswind the more crucial the timing of that transition becomes.

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  4. Mark Kolber on Jul 07, 2020

    …and yes, Richard and I are saying the same thing, just in different ways.

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