I think, in the end (as mentioned in the other thread on this same topic), you're not going to find any people who instruct in larger aircraft that will tell you to fly the approach slipped (cross-controlled). I'd argue that if you walked into any major carrier's training facility and had them load a crosswind scenario, they'd tell you to fly it crabbed and kick out just before touch. Heck, even the smaller regionals I worked with used that technique.As mentioned earlier, it's something taught to pilots in their initial training to make it easier to understand, picture and control, but I really doubt you'd see it being taught in the big stuff....and can we get back to reality here and cut it out with the "manual landing" junk? Unless it's a landing by the auto-magic, it's simply a landing.

Here are some extreme examples:Now this is an extreme case done for flight testing purposes. Notice how the aircraft actually touches down first and then the crab is taken out. In normal operations the crab would be straightened out just prior to touchdown to avoid side-loading the landing gear. The winds in the video appear to be greater than most operators would allow unless it was an emergency.http://youtu.be/_z2LtHrn9Jw

Edited December 6, 201114 yr by JoeDiamond

The "Chinese Landing" (One Wing Low) is used on smaller planes. The Boeing FCTM has us landing wings level. I guess the idea is that you don't drift that much during the flare.(You lower the upwind wing on smaller planes, don't you?)

I've got this technique from a RW airbus A320 pilot: I asked him a couple of years ago.Reading the FCTM, page 6.53: what I describe is the third of the tree crosswind landing techniques documented by Boeing.Maybe your airline wants you to land on both wheels?And you are right: it's the upwind wing off course.Bert Van Bulck

My understanding with the one-wing-low type things being discouraged in larger aircraft is it's just a fact of low-slung engines on low wing aircraft.You can't really slip it wing low enough to counteract a decent 20+ knot crosswing and not risk smokin' the engine on the pavement.

I've got this technique from a RW airbus A320 pilot: I asked him a couple of years ago.Reading the FCTM, page 6.53: what I describe is the third of the tree crosswind landing techniques documented by Boeing.Maybe your airline wants you to land on both wheels?And you are right: it's the upwind wing off course.Bert Van Bulck

You're right about all three methods being in the FCTM. I'd say I do leave maybe a hint of bank in, sometimes. That's probably from my turboprop days when you definitely used the one wing low method. That said, I don't think I've ever flown with anyone who comes in and slips before the flare. I've flown with pilots from around the world, and we all use pretty much the same technique.The landing in a crab can work pretty well if you're landing on a slippery runway.I wonder if the bank angle on A320 is less critical due to the longer legs.

I'll make a video tomorrow, demonstrating the crosswind technique, by simply crabbing into the wind, using aileron to keep the aircraft level. And just before just touchdown (around 5 ft), decrab using downwind rudder and upwind aileron.

There's a good video floating around of a 747 smashing engine #4 on landing. I believe it is also depicted on this page. 747's can't use the low wing technique, as explained in that link, so crabbing up to 45° either side is permitted. Personally, in low-wing aircraft, crabbing is the technique I use.

Try a B52... no need to de-crab. The wheels actually orientate them selves in the direction of the runway heading.

There's a good video floating around of a 747 smashing engine #4 on landing. I believe it is also depicted on this page. 747's can't use the low wing technique, as explained in that link, so crabbing up to 45° either side is permitted. Personally, in low-wing aircraft, crabbing is the technique I use.

A couple of years ago, I visited Brussels tower. A 747 was coming in (RWY25R). Someone from the tower said: "pay attention, he will drop a wing before touching". And so he did. It's quite spectacular because of the length of the wing, it swings quite some distance.This said, I'll be practicing the both wheels touching tecnique soon.Bert Van Bulck

I lived in Vegas for a couple of years and it is not uncommon for landings on the wesbound runways to have high crosswinds. The carriers crab their 737s into the wind - in some cases quite severely. Horizion drives q400 Dash-8s into Vegas from Santa Rosa. With that high lift wing, the planes would be nose down quite severely, and crabbed - it was a real sight to see them regain centerline and attitude. Good pilots.Further, when I flew the 777 simulator at the Denver Avsim Conference over at United, that plane requires the pilot to crab into the wind, then transition to wing down for line up. According to the instructor (and lead instructor for the 777 at United) the plane will drop from the sky if you try to crab it back.

It is generally not a good idea to side slip an airliner. The rate of descent is way too high and therefore it's quite a dangerous manouvre. The accepted technique for all but non passenger carrying GA aircraft is to crab. It's actually a good technique even for GA a/c.Kick the nose straight just before touchdown and at the same time push over the control column to keep the into wind wing from lifting. It's not a difficult manouvre and allows for a much more measured and stable approach.vololiberista

I've seen 747's use the low wing method in vids and RW. If anyone out there has the paperback "From the Flight Deck" book for the 747-400 Air Canada YYZ-LHR, the low-wing method is described in some detail.

A lot of complex terminology here, many will be uncomfortable with it, so a nice clear scenrio / video would benefit the masses, if anyone is up to it [i am not on my home computer for a week or so I am afraid]

First of all, FS sucks at simulating crosswinds and how aircraft react to it. Even full Level D simulators have a hard time with this. So bear this in mind, the discussion really only applies to real world. You can try to simulate it but the moment your wheels touch the ground in FS is not simulated very well when you have a crosswind or when you have rudder in for an engine inop scenario.The wing low method works in small aircraft, like the one you use in training. It is easier because the drag it creates is not significant and it doesn't involve perfect timing. You can just flare as you do normally and maintain the wing low cross controlled slip. There is none of the risks associated with a swept back wing either, or they are not as severe. You also don't have spoilers for roll control, adding un-necessary drag.Airliners or anything with a swept-back wing do not like wing low cross controlled slips. You have a huge fuselage so it requires a huge amount of aileron, which in most jets, means that you have some spoilers being deflected. So you end up with huge amounts of drag, and you reduce the amount of effective control throw available since it will likely take close to max deflection to maintain a proper slip. As others mentioned, you also have underslung engines which might touch with less than five degrees of bank. Look at the 747-8 clearance on the inboard engines. Any bank greater than 2 or 3 degrees right over the pavement would make me start to pucker a bit.So that leaves the de-crab method. The ultimate goal is to touch down flat as per the engine clearance concerns raised above. If you time it right this is perfectly achievable because it takes a few moments for the aircraft's inertia to get pushed downwind. Your energy is pointed along the centerline as you cross the threshold with your nose pointed into the wind. As you begin the flare you simultaneously press the rudder to align your nose with the end of the runway. As you do this, you should simultaneously and automatically be putting in aileron into the wind (do not wait for the wing to raise!). This is because as you de-crab with the rudder you are speeding up the up-wind wing and it now produces more lift than the downwind wing (you are also changing the effective sweep of the wings, creating more lift on the upwind wing and less on the downwind wing).The heavier the aircraft the greater its inertia and the longer you have before the wind starts to push you after you de-crab. If you de-crab too early or flare too much, then you give more time for the aircraft to be picked up by the wind and taken downwind. The lighter your machine, the more precise your timing needs to be. On the 744, it is quite easy getting this timing right because you have so much inertia. On an EMB-145, it takes finer control with better timing as your window is much shorter. If you find yourself in this scenario, no big deal, just start lowering the upwind wing and release some of the back pressure you put in with the flare to make contact with the ground on the upwind main gear. Unless you really screwed up the de-crab, or you flared really high, the landing will still be good.The interesting thing is, look at a 747 auto land. I can tell you that on the 747-400 the AP uses both methods. As you approach the ground around less than 500ft, the AP starts to put a blend of slip and crab. Not a full slip, but a 60%crab / 40%slip - a sort of blended technique. It is quite noticeable in the aircraft and you will see the engines come up a bit to deal with the extra drag. Then in the flare it will start a slight de-crab and will touch down slightly crooked, with rollout taking out the remaining crab if any remains. So I guess if you did the same then you could not be faulted. But it seems a lot more complicated than just using the de-crab method.I believe there are videos out there of the 777/744 auto land certification. You can kind of see what I talk about above in those videos quite clearly.

Here is a good example of why you should not land with too much crab, especially in a narrow runway. Only the pilot knows what happened, but I don't think the commentary is correct. I think the pilot forgot to compensate his flare for the visual illusion of landing in a really narrow runway. A narrower than usual runway gives you the illusion of being higher than you actually are. Which is why his flare seems very minimal and late.The other aspect could be that the short length could have been weighing on his mind and he did not want to float much. Or, it could have been a combination of both.Anyway, it is a good video of how not to land an aircraft. Nothing against the pilot, we've all had landings which we wish we could do over again.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_s3bFHeLnU&feature=relatedEnjoy