Crosswind kickout

Just looking at the airplane made me wonder how it was possible to make a crosswind landing without dragging a pylon-mounted wing engine on the runway. My curiosity was satisfied when I occupied a jump seat on a 707 flight to Kansas City. The captain established a sizable crab angle while on final to compensate for a strong left crosswind. We crossed the runway threshold while still crabbing, and I began to wonder when the captain would transition from a crab to a wing-low slip, the time-honored method of making a crosswind landing. But he held the water wagon in a crab even as he pulled the thrust levers to idle and began to flare.

Omigod! I thought. We’re going to land sideways and shear the tires from their wheels. I looked at the co-pilot, but he didn’t appear concerned. Just as the mains on both sides of the airplane were about to touch, the captain applied right rudder to straighten the airplane and simultaneously cranked the control wheel hard left. The airplane banked into the crosswind and the left main landing-gear wheels kissed the concrete.A conventional crosswind landing failed because I could not slip steeply enough on short final.

I had just witnessed a masterfully executed crosswind landing utilizing the kickout technique.

Although it might seem that this method involves simply delaying the transition from a crab to a slip until the last second, it is more subtle than that. Instead of establishing a slip and then landing, this technique involves a transition to a slip that is interrupted by a landing. In other words, the airplane is so close to the ground while still crabbing, that it is the act of lowering the wing that forces the upwind tires to touch down; it is banking the airplane that causes touchdown. The idea is to plant the upwind gear on the ground and thus eliminate the need to enter a wing-down slip that would otherwise be used to prevent drift.

In this manner, the pilot does not have to sit and wait for the aircraft to plop down while hovering in a flare above the runway in a steep, uncomfortable slip. By lowering the upwind wing while the aircraft is only inches above the runway, the upwind tire is lowered onto the ground. It is easy to determine when the aircraft has been banked sufficiently. You’ll feel the upwind tire making ground contact. Simply stated, the kickout method of coping with a crosswind is a slip entry terminated by a landing.

Simultaneously with the application of upwind aileron, it is necessary to kick the airplane out of the crab with firm and opposite downwind rudder so that the wheels are aligned with the runway at the instant of touchdown. Once the upwind tire contacts the ground, aileron pressure is increased to keep it there. Rudder pressure continues to be applied as necessary to maintain runway heading. The final step is always the same. Allow the downwind tire to touch, followed by the nosewheel or tailwheel.

After I had learned to make this kind of crosswind landing in big jets, I wondered if the same technique could be used in light airplanes. To my delight, I discovered that this somewhat unorthodox method of making a crosswind landing is equally useful in lightplanes even if they don’t have underwing engine pods.

I was returning to Camarillo, California (CMA), in a Beech Bonanza B36TC on a day when the wind was gusting with gusto across Runway 8. A conventional crosswind landing failed because I could not slip steeply enough on short final to offset the drift. I was about to divert to an alternate airport when I decided to try the kickout method.

I held a large crab angle on final and was grateful that there was no such thing as a maximum-allowable crab angle. There is, of course, a limit to the amount of slip that can be maintained in any given airplane. I held the crab until only inches above the runway and checked the descent with a touch of back-pressure. With the mains only seconds from scrubbing, I simultaneously kicked out of the crab and lowered the left wing. The left tire plunked onto the runway. The simple act of banking forced the upwind tire onto the ground.

The kickout method isn’t for everyone. But for those who want to try something new and effective, wait for a day when the windsock points across the runway, hire a proficient instructor to ride shotgun, and give it a try.

www.BarrySchiff.com