Relative wind to logitudinal axis

[snOOp]

Alright gents. Hope everyone is doing fantastic!

Okay so today I flew in crosswinds with my student and we were taking off runway 22 and wind was coming from the southwest. So it was a right crosswind. So my student is thinking okay so if I crab into the wind to the right, lets say about 10 to 12 degrees, where is the relative wind to the longitudinal axis. I told him I wasn't sure but I am sure its either to the right of the longitudinal axis or parallel but he stumped me on this question today and would love to have the answer to teach him and for myself to learn.


Safe flying

 

[snOOp]

yes 220 runway heading and wind was more like 245 at 20 kts. Sorry didn't clarify on wind direction enough.

 

[Fly_Unity]

The relative wind is always aligned (or parallel) with the longitudinal axis unless your in a skid or slip.


Edit: or unless your on the ground

 

[drunkenbeagle]

The relative wind is always aligned (or parallel) with the longitudinal axis unless your in a skid or slip.

Too bad you can't tape a piece of string to the canopy of a piston single, makes it so much easier to see!

EDIT: Sounds like you were in the air, so the short answer - wind is irrelevant, if the aircraft is coordinated, the relative wind will always be straight ahead down the longitudinal axis. Even with a constant 100kt crosswind, relative wind won't change while flying.

 

[snOOp]

Thanks guys. This helps. If my student was a forum member he would say thanks too!

Thank you

 

[The Gardener]

Too bad you can't tape a piece of string to the canopy of a piston single, makes it so much easier to see!

EDIT: Sounds like you were in the air, so the short answer - wind is irrelevant, if the aircraft is coordinated, the relative wind will always be straight ahead down the longitudinal axis. Even with a constant 100kt crosswind, relative wind won't change while flying.

If we only had some soft cotton string and a bit of masking tape...

 

[Fly_Unity]

Thanks guys. This helps. If my student was a forum member he would say thanks too!

Thank you

One thing to note, is that when your landing, you DONT want the longitudinal axis to be aligned with the relative wind. You want the RUNWAY to aligned with the longitudinal axis. So we have to do a slip when landing in a crosswind to change relation between the relative wind and longitudinal axis.

This is probably the least understood concept among pilots I fly with.

For example: I had a guy tell me the other day that his engine runs hotter when he has a headwind, yet runs cooler when he has a tailwind because the airplane dont have to "work" as hard (He was using the same power settings in both situations). Yet his statement was false because the airplane does not know if its a tailwind, headwind, or even crosswind. In fact there is no wind as far as the plane is concerned with. The only thing wind does is change the relation the ground moves below us. Think of the ground moving, not the wind.

 

[Roger, Roger]

For example: I had a guy tell me the other day that his engine runs hotter when he has a headwind, yet runs cooler when he has a tailwind because the airplane dont have to "work" as hard (He was using the same power settings in both situations).

That right there is some funny stuff. Kinda like a pilot I heard talking about how the different turn coordinators in his airplane disagree differently depending on whether he's flying with a crosswind.