Crosswind Landings
In my wanderings through the Internet, I came upon some really interesting stuff on youtube.
There are some amazing video of aircrafts landing in cross winds. I had always heard and read that a cross-wind landing approach is a toughie. But I had never imagined it would be this bad! First of all, for the beginners, a cross-wind landing approach is where the wind is blowing perpendicular to the direction of the runway. If the plane holds it’s line to that of the runway, the wind will push it away, and it will crash-land in some nearby field. It’s sort of swimming across a flowing river. You end up going diagonally. If you had studied vectors and relative velocity in school, try to recollect the theory. Here’s a small illustration that will help you understand the concept.
In a cross-wind landing, the pilot has to fly the aircraft into the wind at an angle, so that it touches down on the runway. But just before touchdown, the pilot has to straighten the plane, else it will topple over and crash! Just look at the video, and you’ll understand what I am talking about.
