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“Dive Away From Wind?”

Chris Hill
Gemini Sparkle

Key Takeaways:

  • Pilots learn specific control positions for taxiing in wind to prevent upsets, a skill often challenging to remember and apply, especially with tailwheel aircraft.
  • A simplified technique for quartering tailwinds is to "dive away from the wind," which involves positioning ailerons and elevator to counter the wind's effects.
  • A significant mistake made by many tailwheel pilots is allowing their taxi speed to *exceed* the wind speed while applying these control deflections.
  • To effectively counter a quartering tailwind in a tailwheel airplane, it is crucial to not only position controls correctly but also ensure that taxi speed does not exceed the wind speed.
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I would hope that every one of us learned early on in our training the proper control positions when taxiing whenever there was some wind present. I’m sure we all remember the diagram showing in which quadrant the wind was and how the controls should be positioned to ensure that the wind didn’t get the best of things and put our airplane up on a wing tip, or on the prop in the case of a tailwheel airplane.

I know for me, as a student pilot, it was sometimes difficult to remember. I’d go through an intellectual process of ascertaining where the wind was coming from and then visualizing how the ailerons and elevator should be positioned to counter the effect of the wind. (“Windward aileron down and elevator / stabilator trailing edge down.”) And when I started my tailwheel training, it became even more important, because I no longer had a “training wheel” out in front to help me out.

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