"Bob Moore" wrote in message
. 122...

CROSSWIND LANDINGS

Make a normal approach. Maintain runway alignment by
crabbing. Before touchdown, gradually remove as much
of the crab as possible with rudder. It may be necessary
to land with some crab angle if the crosswind is high.
This presents no problem if the angle is not excessive
and the flightpath is aligned with the runway.

I had an interesting experience about a year ago when I went for a week of
IFR training in the BE76 Duchess. Most of my flying has been done on the
M20J ("Gear? Nah we just glued wheels on...") and the PA30, which, though
better than the M20J in crosswinds, still has its vices.

The BE76 was, by comparison, a complete no-brainer from landing #1. You
just point it in roughly the right direction and a combination of its
momentum and the trailing link gear does the rest. By the end of the week
I'd even forgotten all the one-liners I use with my passengers to laugh away
bad landings... ;-)

It strikes me that the technique used in any aircraft type is likely to be
dependent on how much residual crab angle you can get away with. With no
other considerations, you'd always land an aircraft with no crab angle: but
when some crab angle is acceptable, you might as well use that capability to
manage down any other risks, like kicking off the crab too early.

In a sense it's a bit like the question of why airliners fly wings level
even under asymmetric power. The best answer I heard was :"because they
*can*".

Julian Scarfe