Pilots practice landing in strong crosswinds

Question: Planes making a sideways landing in a strong crosswind make for remarkable videos. How does the airplane landing gear handle the added stress of such landings? Is there a risk of loss of control once the airplane comes into contact with the runway? Is it much more difficult for the pilot to realign the airplane on the runway after touchdown?

– Thomas Payto, Tarpon Springs, Florida

Answer: If you look carefully, the airplane will yaw before touchdown to be more closely aligned with the runway. The pilot uses the rudder to reduce the crab angle just prior to touchdown. This reduces the sideload on the main landing gear.

During certification flights, the manufacturers demonstrate crosswind landing without yawing prior to touchdown to test the capability of the landing gear. While the gear is designed to take the load, it is a lot of force.

Pilots practice crosswind landing frequently. It is a necessary skill for a professional pilot.

Q: Why do some airports have only parallel runways, such as Atlanta, and others have parallel and perpendicular, such as O’Hare in Chicago? It would seem that parallel-only airports raise the likelihood of crosswind issues.

– Scott, Jacksonville, Florida

A: The simple answer is: It depends on the shape and size of the land upon which the airport is built.

Each airport design has benefits and challenges. Parallel airports like Atlanta and Los Angles flow traffic very quickly with incoming airplanes landing on the outboard runways while departing planes take off on the inboards. This works very well until the crosswinds exceed the capabilities of the airplanes (usually around 30 knots).

Airports with multiple runways pointed in different directions handle the crosswinds better but do not flow traffic as quickly.

As with all things, there are benefits and compromises.