Crosswind in a heavy?

M

meritflyer

Well-Known Member
Hey Don or anyother pilot that operates a 'big boy'.

Will your AP compensate for a nasty crosswind or do you fly those by hand?
 
Cat III approaches have a max cross wind limit - I believe it around 10 knots in a 747, so it is not very much.
 
MD11 autoland is certificated with a 15 kt crosswind, but in actual fact, I am sure it could handle quite a bit more. It transitions into a side slip at 150', does a beautiful one-wheel touchdown, gently lowers the other one and nice roll out.
 
meritflyer said:
Hey Don or anyother pilot that operates a 'big boy'.

Will your AP compensate for a nasty crosswind or do you fly those by hand?
Click to expand...

The B777 autopilot does this: " For crosswinds requiring more than 10 degrees of crab angle, runway alignment occurs at 500 feet AGL. A sideslip of 5 degrees is established to reduce the crab angle."

There are other variations on that for lighter crosswinds, but the above is the general idea. The maximum permissable crosswind for autolands is 25 knots. The aircraft has a max demonstrated crosswind component of 38 knots, but the limitation is 40 knots on a dry runway.

Boeing recommends touching down in a partial crab with crosswinds in excess of 30 knots because of runway clearance concerns for engine pods and flight control surfaces. On very slippery runways they recommend landing in a crab because, " it reduces drift toward the downwind side of the runway, permits rapid operation of spoilers and autobrakes because all main gears touch down simultaneously, ..."


Typhoonpilot
 
The 767 handled strong crosswinds without much control input. It also rode through gusts very steadily. Strong turbulence below 1000' was a handful, however, as it was easy to over control the ship and get a PIO going. MD88 drivers going to the 767 would tend to overcontrol initially...as result of going from no powered flight controls to a whole cadre of triple redudant hydraulic powered flight controls. On my first departure it seemed as though I was doing wingovers to 10,000'.
 
I_Money said:
I do not believe you can shoot them in gusty conditions - Seagull??
Click to expand...

I am sure the system is capable, and could be made more capable, but the issue is that there is no reason to. Ops Specs limit CAT 2/3 to 10 kts anyway, and it's unlikely that you'd be shooting an approach to conditions with low vis with winds stronger than that, so not much incentive to spend the money for it.
 
Is it ever easier just to hand fly it? Lets say in VMC. For instance in PHX the other day it was severe clear but the winds were crazy!! I had to go to PHX and saw some serious crabs into the wind while on final.

Just wondering if that is usually flown by hand?
 
meritflyer said:
Is it ever easier just to hand fly it? Lets say in VMC. For instance in PHX the other day it was severe clear but the winds were crazy!! I had to go to PHX and saw some serious crabs into the wind while on final.

Just wondering if that is usually flown by hand?
Click to expand...

Back when I was cool, I hand flew.


Now that I'm no longer cool, I guess I'll just have to use the parachute.



:)




.
 
TonyC said:
Back when I was cool, I hand flew.
Click to expand...

Its understandable. I'd do the same thing if I were you.
icon12.gif
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top