Checkride: The crosswind challenge

While accepting the reality that learning to handle crosswinds is one of the most challenging aspects of learning to fly, not learning to cope with them adds an unacceptable risk to your flying activities. Over a 20-year period, FAA records show that 11 percent of all nonfatal general aviation accidents—more than 6,000 events—were attributed to loss of directional control during crosswind operations, making them one of the highest-risk tasks in GA flying.

Even though demonstrating a crosswind takeoff and landing is a required task for every private pilot checkride, it’s entirely possible to complete a checkride on a day when very little crosswinds exist. In fact, many checkride applicants will postpone or reschedule their checkrides for anything but the most benign of wind conditions. After all, why take a checkride in especially challenging conditions and risk a failure? But unfortunately, the day eventually will come, perhaps even after years of successfully avoiding those nasty crosswinds, that you will find yourself facing a dreaded crosswind operation. Will you be ready?

While crosswind takeoffs are comparatively easier to perform as opposed to landings, accident statistics prove that these, too, can become a handful for the unprepared pilot. While taxiing to your runway, remember to position the flight controls to manage your objective of keeping the upwind wing and aircraft tail low. This means ailerons into the wind and elevator control aft while taxiing into quartering headwind conditions, and the opposite—aileron with the wind and elevator control forward—while taxiing in a quartering tailwind.

Begin your takeoff roll with the aileron control turned fully into the crosswind while carefully, but aggressively, maintaining your directional control on the runway centerline with your feet on the rudder pedals, initially using only minimal brakes if needed. Do not allow any crosswind drifting off the runway centerline as you accelerate for takeoff. As the airspeed builds, the ailerons will gradually become more effective and you will need to reduce these control inputs accordingly. How much and when is determined by maintaining a wings-level attitude throughout the takeoff roll.

Observe and correct any unwanted banking during takeoff with corresponding aileron adjustments. At a slightly higher than normal rotation speed, adjust the pitch (rotate) to a liftoff attitude and allow the nose to yaw into the crosswind at liftoff as you then neutralize the flight controls for a normal, coordinated climb profile. Then correct for any crosswind drift by crabbing into the wind to climb along the extended runway centerline.

Sideslips for crosswind landings are controlled in two ways: ailerons, which eliminate undesired lateral drifting away from the runway centerline, and rudder, which maintains the airplane’s longitudinal axis parallel to the runway centerline. This combination of cross-controls is the challenging part, especially during shifting or gusty wind conditions. Be careful not to overdo your control inputs. Use only what’s needed to make the aircraft do what you want it to, thus avoiding the dreadful “drunken pelican” approach that overcontrolling creates.

Finding and carefully maintaining just the right combination of aileron and rudder inputs needed to offset the wind’s effects is your goal. For training, it is sometimes helpful to separate these two control elements, with the CFI handling either rudder or aileron while the student controls the other. Then switch these control management roles. Once the fundamentals of each control’s inputs have been learned, the student can then tackle the challenge of handling both aileron and rudder controls simultaneously.

Don’t forget to also eliminate the huge common error of not increasing the upwind aileron input as the aircraft touches down, or even worse, neutralizing them. This ugly habit causes the upwind wing to rise and is the primary cause of loss of directional control during landings. Remember, in crosswinds, the airplane has not completely landed until it is safely parked and tied down.

Bob Schmelzer is a Chicago-area designated pilot examiner, a United Airlines captain, and a Boeing 777 line check airman. He has been an active Gold Seal flight instructor since 1972.