New Beginnings

[David Brown]

A new day, a new forum. Need to get some discussions going here. What are your views? Is it better to crab or slip when landing with a crosswind? I prefer a crab myself - landing an airplane with one wing low just seems .... unnatural...

I hate the slip! Unless the instructor wants me to slip, I'll crab every time!

[drewgriff]

I'm new to this can someone define a "slip" landing and a "Crab" landing?????

Thanks

[FlyingRon]

When landing in a crosswind, you have to correct for the drift on final. You can do this either of two ways, turn the aircraft into the wind in coordinated flight (crab) like you would in other flight regimes OR
bank the aircraft into the wind but hold the logitudinal axis of the plane parallel to the runway with the rudder.

There are advantages to both. In the long run, you must touch down in a slip anyhow (i.e., you need the plane pointed down the runway and no side drift), it's all a matter of when you make this transition.

The advantage of the slip is that you can get into that final orientation earlier which is easier for new pilots to learn frequently. Further, if you can hold it on approach, you can hold it on landing.
You may also need the additional drag.

On the other hand the crab, gives you more performance if you need it (flying coordinated is always better) and you may be able to land in stronger crosswinds for a couple of reasons:
1. Winds often lessen near the ground allowing you to track straight there even if you couldn't farther up.
2. You can sometimes get a little more authority kicking out due to inertia by straightening the plane at the last minute.

There's no "RIGHT" way. Both are tools that have advantages and disadvantages.

[drewgriff]

When landing in a crosswind, you have to correct for the drift on final. You can do this either of two ways, turn the aircraft into the wind in coordinated flight (crab) like you would in other flight regimes OR
bank the aircraft into the wind but hold the logitudinal axis of the plane parallel to the runway with the rudder.

There are advantages to both. In the long run, you must touch down in a slip anyhow (i.e., you need the plane pointed down the runway and no side drift), it's all a matter of when you make this transition.

The advantage of the slip is that you can get into that final orientation earlier which is easier for new pilots to learn frequently. Further, if you can hold it on approach, you can hold it on landing.
You may also need the additional drag.

On the other hand the crab, gives you more performance if you need it (flying coordinated is always better) and you may be able to land in stronger crosswinds for a couple of reasons:
1. Winds often lessen near the ground allowing you to track straight there even if you couldn't farther up.
2. You can sometimes get a little more authority kicking out due to inertia by straightening the plane at the last minute.

There's no "RIGHT" way. Both are tools that have advantages and disadvantages.

Cool guess I'll learn more about it once I start my lessons. From the sound of it crabs best but I agree it sounds like slip has its advantages

[Bill Campbell]

While I can do both, I prefer the slip. When I am sliding down the GS with the LOC centered, I just prefer to expect the app lights to be in front of me. So I do it the same way in VMC.

[Bill Campbell]

I land in a crab on a regular basis.

Greg, have you tried pyrinate?

[Frank Giger]

I love to slip!

[Hangar10]

Slip!

[Hank]

While I can do both, I prefer the slip. When I am sliding down the GS with the LOC centered, I just prefer to expect the app lights to be in front of me. So I do it the same way in VMC.

On an approach, I apply crosswind correction to center the needle [i.e., crab] as soon as I get lined up on the localizer/GPS signal. But I prefer VFR landings in a slip; so far, ceilings on instrument approaches have been high enough that the transition was easy [900' agl or better] at normal "final" altitudes of 100-200' agl. Gives a good feel for how well the landing will be to make the transition after turning final.

Turn final 500-600' agl, straighten out, check airspeed for proper deceleration, check the trees, transition to slip, check airspeed, check the trees, fine-tune slip, check altimeter vs. trees, finetune airspeed & slip, all the way down. Having VASI/PAPI lights when traveling is easier than looking for the runway number to clear the treetops at home--it's so nice to roll onto final and see the correct red & white lights!

[Thomas Stute]

I think that a general rule cannot be given if crab or slip lanings are better in crosswind conditions. Besides the wind conditions it also depends on the airplane itself: low wing, high wing, large spanwidth, low gear, polar inertia etc.
In most of my crosswind landings I make a slip approach and this is what I teach my students on C172, PA28 and similar aircraft. The advantage is that they always are in line with thw runways center line. This makes it much easier for a student pilot and the average pilot to master crosswind conditions. This of course is not possible when you are flying open class gliders like the Schleicher ASW22 with a wing span of more than 20m and a very low gear.