bobk wrote:SamKellner wrote:with students ready to start H-2 training.
That reminds me that we need to get working on the Training Manual again!! Up until now, it's been an "academic" topic, but with real students, there's now a real need.
Sam, as you work with your students, please let us know what kinds of on-line training materials you'd like to see at each stage. For example, if your students are having trouble with the difference between air speed and ground speed, please make a request, and maybe we can come up with a chapter that explains it for them.
As they say, necessity is the mother of invention!!!
Sam and Bob,
This is not so much for beginning pilots as it is for H2 and above.
Somewhere in my past readings I ran across a method that was of great value to me when flying cross country.
With the advanced technology available today knowing the wind direction when a pilot is about to land only takes a simple glance at your thousand dollar flight deck.
There have been several times while I was flying cross country that a basic GPS instrument (revealing speed over ground) saved my bacon alerting me as to which direction my final landing leg should be headed. (The direction with the slowest speed over the ground.)
Should exhausted batteries or lack of money be an issue a pilot would have to rely on primitive methods to set up a safe landing approach into the wind.
Long ago in an effort to extend my landing spot from my take off point for maximum cross country distance I made a poor landing decision. The poor decision kinked some very expensive Aluminum due to a surprising downwind landing.
I witnessed one of my Sky Dog Club members make the same mistake during the Chelan Nationals where the pilot, at the last minute, just short of the 90 mile airport goal, turned 180 degrees from his day long drift to land down wind in a wheat field. He took out a leading edge, two down tubes, and a king post on his Magic 3 Airwave glider.
Out of necessity I now set a priority of sacrificing a small amount of extra distance for a safe landing into the wind.
THE METHOD : was to pick out a good landing zone (LZ) while you still had several hundred feet of altitude. Circle while looking for telephone poles, power poles and other obstructions. Count on wire lines between poles. (not Italians or Germans
) Make your best guess on the wind direction and then pick out a definite spot on the ground that you can easily over fly.
Fly toward the spot and see if you have to crab to one side or the other in order to pass directly over the spot. This would indicate a cross wind from left or right reducing your possible 360 degrees of the compass to 180 degrees that the wind is coming from. Of course always turn into the wind the way you have to crab to over fly your spot.
Next turn 90 degrees to your course line then pick another spot on the ground that you can easily over fly.
Fly toward the second spot and see if again you have to crab left or right to pass over the second spot. This will reduce the 180 possible degrees of the compass down to 90 degrees from which the wind is coming from.
Next pick out your landing bulls eye (the third selected spot) that you intend to land on and see if you have to crab again left or right. This will reduce your 90 possible compass degrees that the wind is coming from down to 45 possible degrees.
At this point you will be on final approach and you should take note if you are sliding off to one side or the other of the bulls eye. Make this last crabbing correction to further be landing straight into the wind.
Maybe Bob could make some pictures up of this basic seat of the pants method
of determining the wind direction for landing.
Bob if you feel this would be anything good for the training manual you can edit it however you like and move it there. It might need some rewording if I’m being too vague. (some pictures would really help)
Bill C.
