|
|
Lesson 15: More Pattern workToday we took off in the bright Sunday sunshine and flew across the Bay to Hayward to practice touch and goes. On the way, we did emergency engine-out drill. "No, that's not a field, that's a marsh. How about that road over there? Which way is the wind blowing?" (Insert Blank student stare here) "OK, which way was it blowing when we left PAO? Try to do your emergency landing into the wind." Hayward was, as he put it, a "zoo". The radio crackled constantly with the news of arriving and departing aircraft. I made good progress on keeping my pattern square, and on quickly and positively establishing the required airspeeds. However, to save my life, I couldn't fly the airplane straight onto the runway. There was a five knot crosswind. Apparently, there are two ways to fly an airplane straight in a crosswind. The easiest is to "crab", that is, to point the aircraft a bit into the crosswind and fly coordinated. But that's not good enough for landing, because the airplane needs to be pointed straight down the runway when the wheels hit the ground. Especially with a taildragger. Can you say "ground loop"? My instructor can :-). The other way, if I understand it, is to to roll the airplane so that lift opposes the wind direction, meanwhile keeping the fuselage pointed straight with the rudder. All the problems seemed exacerbated during the flare, because we were going so damned slow. - Jerry "20.6 Hours" Kaidor |