Crosswind Landings & Takeoff — Prep for PPL Checkride

Are you intimidated by crosswind landings and takeoffs? Or, just want to learn more and freshen up?

In this video, I teach Leif, a Student Pilot who is preparing for his Private Pilot Checkride. We waited until the time was right to do this lesson and fly in some actual challenging winds. While these aren’t the craziest crosswinds you can get, it’s always best to do flight training in the actual conditions if possible.

Leif did a great job recognizing the flying techniques required for but the landings and the takeoffs. It’s always a challenge when learning to fly airplanes, because the winds are basically trying to push you off the runway. As pilots, we need to fly so that the nose is lined up with the runway centerline (tip to tail, or longitudinal), and also prevent drift with aileron deflection.

We do all of this in a Cessna 172 at our home base in Homer, Alaska.

We also crab into the wind on final approach to landing. There are different ways to do the crosswind landing technique. But with enough practice, and flight training, even a student pilot can become a seasoned aviator.

You can really see the growth of Leif throughout the lesson. He’s a sharp student pilot (and now actually a private pilot) who was a really fun student to have. He passed his checkride with “Flying” colors just a week or so ago!

Let me know if you have any more questions about crosswind landings or takeoffs.

Throttle On!

AUTHOR

Chris Palmer

Chief Flight Instructor and President of Angle of Attack. Founded in 2006.