CFI Central Pilot Proficiency

Practice Crosswind Landings Whenever You Can

Since most airports are designed with runways aligned into prevailing winds, many pilots don’t get much work with crosswind takeoffs and landings.

Thursday, February 29, 2024 at 08:38 PM ET

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A red and white windsock. [Adobe Stock]

Key Takeaways:

Crosswind landings pose a significant safety risk, contributing to many accidents, especially for smaller airplanes, and pilots often lack sufficient practice.
Pilots must determine the crosswind component using aircraft resources (POH, E6B) and understand the "demonstrated crosswind velocity" as a test limit, not an operational limitation, while always staying within their and the aircraft's capabilities.
Effective crosswind landing techniques include the crab method (maintaining ground track with nose into wind, then aligning with rudder at touchdown) and the sideslip method (banking into the wind with opposite rudder to counteract drift), with a go-around being the safest option if control becomes compromised.

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“How are your crosswind landings?”

“We’re about to find out.”

Meg Godlewski has been an aviation journalist for more than 24 years and a CFI for more than 20 years. If she is not flying or teaching aviation, she is writing about it. Meg is a founding member of the Pilot Proficiency Center at EAA AirVenture and excels at the application of simulation technology to flatten the learning curve. Follow Meg on Twitter @2Lewski.