Bob Turner
Well-known member
- Joined
- Apr 4, 2018
- Messages
- 3,925
Yeah, I know I am responsible for 75% of the action here. Too bad - we really need a Champ forum of some kind.
I am training a guy with 6000 tailwheel hours in a Stearman. He is of course doing fine - with that many hours he ought to be. But when he touches down in a crosswind the stick stays neutral. He says he doesn't want that wing to go down.
I have done a lot of Stearman training. In almost all cases, after a wing gets scraped, I find the pilot steering with the stick, not the rudder.
Here's the deal: when you touch down in a crosswind, the ailerons go slowly but deliberately all the way into the wind. All the way to the stops! When you take off in a crosswind, the ailerons are against the stops, into the wind, until you feel that wing start to move downward.
There is a reason for that. Actually there are two reasons. And although I speak of taildraggers, this procedure is valid for jet transports and Cherokees too. In the jet, you want just enough aileron so the spoiler remains stowed, but otherwise the procedure is the same.
I am training a guy with 6000 tailwheel hours in a Stearman. He is of course doing fine - with that many hours he ought to be. But when he touches down in a crosswind the stick stays neutral. He says he doesn't want that wing to go down.
I have done a lot of Stearman training. In almost all cases, after a wing gets scraped, I find the pilot steering with the stick, not the rudder.
Here's the deal: when you touch down in a crosswind, the ailerons go slowly but deliberately all the way into the wind. All the way to the stops! When you take off in a crosswind, the ailerons are against the stops, into the wind, until you feel that wing start to move downward.
There is a reason for that. Actually there are two reasons. And although I speak of taildraggers, this procedure is valid for jet transports and Cherokees too. In the jet, you want just enough aileron so the spoiler remains stowed, but otherwise the procedure is the same.