Windy Landing

[a1]

Is it normal to drift into the runway when there is just a little breeze? I know just a little breeze at low speeds could really make your plane drift and make it hard to line up. So is it normal for pilots to land like a crosswind landing even if there is low winds? Also why do i flare so much when there is wind? Is flaring 5degress normal in a 737?

Thanks

[ozzy72]

Any wind across the runway equates to a crosswind landing. You have to use some rudder no matter what, smaller lighter aircraft are more prone to being pushed of course.
Flaring at 5 degrees sounds not unreasonable to me... but I'm a warbird driver and always trying to do three pointers which makes things a little different

[Xyn_Air]

Lights, camera . . .details!  Heh heh.  ;)

OK, when you say light breeze, how light a breeze are you talking about?  5mph or 50mph?  Also, is the wind coming directly across (perpendicular to) the runway or at some other angle?

And, what aircraft are you trying to land in the wind?  I know you mentioned the 737, but any other aircraft as well?  If you are landing multi-engine aircraft are you certain your engines are set to the same level?  Also, is your rudder trimmed correctly?  Are you only drifting while landing, or while flying, too?

Finally, you may want to check a 737 operations manual to see what the proper amount of nose of pitch is for landing.  5 degrees doesn't sound too excessive for your flare.  Though, if you want a glimpse of calculating an exact angle, take a peek at this:

http://pdf.aiaa.org/preview/1978/PV1978_1296.pdf



A much easier to understand guide to landing in general (the whole process) with several good rules of thumb can be found here:

http://www.av8n.com/how/htm/landing.html

Unfortunately, I could not find any free flight manuals for the Boeing 737.  However, if it is an aircraft you enjoy flying a lot, it may be worth the $20 or so to buy one of the various guides that are out there.

Best of luck,
~Darrin

[beaky]

Bear in mind that x-wind landings in FS are just not realistic. Weathervaning in particular is a little exaggerated in most models. It annoys me, especially when I'm flying something in the sim that I've landed in real life... I know how they should behave, and they just don't have it right in FS.

But wind is wind, and it must be accounted for, even a little breeze. There's no such thing as landing "like a crosswind landing", you'e either doing it or you're not.
Just as a crosswind component of 5 knots requires a small heading offset in cruise, even flying a jet airliner, it must be dealt with on approach... even more so, because your groundspeed will be quite low on approach compared to cruise.
sure, a 5kt component is less of a big deal to a 747 than it is to a 172, but it cannot be ignored no matter what.

I see comments above about rudder, which certainly plays a role in x-wind landings (esp. taildraggers), but remember: drift (side-to-side) is corrected with aileron; the rudder is used only to align the nose with the runway to prevent side-loading the gear on touchdown.
To understand how much rudder and aileron is required, forget about any formulas or tables... always use as much as needed; no more and no less. Eyes on the target zone (where you want to flare), then just use feet and hands to keep that spot centered. You can use rudder early to stay aligned with the centerline (easier in light winds) or wait until you round out.

[a1]

What about bouncing? On some landing I experience a little bounce when touching down the 737. I know that a major bounce can destroy your landing gear but how about a small one?

One more.

Is landing a 737 on idle normal? I hear that when you reach the threshold or at someplace you pull the throttle back. I do that but every time I pull it back the aircraft starts to sink and i come in quite hard, not hard enough to kill everyone but hard.

[Nexus]

What about bouncing? On some landing I experience a little bounce when touching down the 737. I know that a major bounce can destroy your landing gear but how about a small one?

One more.

Is landing a 737 on idle normal? I hear that when you reach the threshold or at someplace you pull the throttle back. I do that but every time I pull it back the aircraft starts to sink and i come in quite hard, not hard enough to kill everyone but hard.

Small bounces are allright  8-)

I'd like to point out that every landing is slightly different, due to the changing circumstances of every landing, But with that said, yes...Boeing recommends that you start retarding the throttles at 50ft (which on a standard ILS is just over the threshold) and at the very moment the the main gear touches the ground, your throttles should hit idle and reverse thrust is applied.

But that's guidelines. I've heard and seen pilots use gazillion different techniques (even using pitch trim during the flare   :-?  )

[Asuka]

edit: argh, ya beat me.

Thats what the flare is for.

[Nav]

Covered in that tutorial of mine, a1:-

[i]"'Flaring' simply means that as the ground perspective kicks in, just before you touch down, you raise the nose (only a fraction, mind) to reduce the rate of descent. And then hold it there while the speed drops off and the aeroplane settles.

"I can