fish314
Well-Known Member
The KC-135 is pretty much a B707 with bigger engines, and in that aircraft either method was acceptable. I actually used to use them both, but for different conditions.
For steady crosswinds that aren't near the aircraft limits, I just put in the controls early. I liked being "stable" or at least as stable as possible, as far out as possible, and kind of getting the "feel" of the winds a little.
But if that wasn't working for me, or the cross-winds were also really gusty, I'd just use the "de-crab" maneuver crossing the threshold. The aircraft doesn't drift, because you have the crab in to kill the drift, and when you do the "kick" you are close enough to the runway that not very much drift has a chance to develop. I haven't really tried a "de-crab" in a small airplane, because I don't have that fear of a pod-scrape like I did in the tanker. The tanker had REALLY low engines (2 and 3 were only 18 inches from the ground), so another reason I might do the "de-crab" rather than the "wing low" was if it seemed like I needed more than 5 degrees of bank to kill drift, since the limit was 8 when you had the mains down. So I feel more comfortable putting a wing low on final, even if it's more than 5 degrees low, in a small plane. Especially a high-wing.
I thnk some of the confusion in the thread came from SmittyB. When he was talking about students wanting to use "slips" too often, I think he may have been talking about students trying to use them as an altitude loosing measure. And it's true that in heavy aircraft you won't see people "slipping" to get back down to glideslope or to help the descent really. But you have to slip a for a crosswind landing a little, even if you "de-crab".
For steady crosswinds that aren't near the aircraft limits, I just put in the controls early. I liked being "stable" or at least as stable as possible, as far out as possible, and kind of getting the "feel" of the winds a little.
But if that wasn't working for me, or the cross-winds were also really gusty, I'd just use the "de-crab" maneuver crossing the threshold. The aircraft doesn't drift, because you have the crab in to kill the drift, and when you do the "kick" you are close enough to the runway that not very much drift has a chance to develop. I haven't really tried a "de-crab" in a small airplane, because I don't have that fear of a pod-scrape like I did in the tanker. The tanker had REALLY low engines (2 and 3 were only 18 inches from the ground), so another reason I might do the "de-crab" rather than the "wing low" was if it seemed like I needed more than 5 degrees of bank to kill drift, since the limit was 8 when you had the mains down. So I feel more comfortable putting a wing low on final, even if it's more than 5 degrees low, in a small plane. Especially a high-wing.
I thnk some of the confusion in the thread came from SmittyB. When he was talking about students wanting to use "slips" too often, I think he may have been talking about students trying to use them as an altitude loosing measure. And it's true that in heavy aircraft you won't see people "slipping" to get back down to glideslope or to help the descent really. But you have to slip a for a crosswind landing a little, even if you "de-crab".
