This theory session covers crosswind limitations from take-off through to the after-landing roll, the crosswind component, and the two main techniques for correcting for drift during landing. The pre-flight brief and air exercise build directly on this content.
Draw the everyday parallel out of the students first: leaning into the wind while walking, or angling upstream while swimming or rowing, are all instinctive drift corrections. That instinct is exactly what we apply on final.
Notice how the plane *must* orient itself down the centreline when it rolls.
How could we help the aeroplane suffer less stress during the landing?
The key message: we already correct for crosswind on downwind and base in every circuit — today we make those corrections deliberate and precise at the moment when they matter most.
Click Direct-To to arrive at Revision.
The student may have already taken off directly into a strong wind and had to counter
drift during crosswind and base. This is to jog the memory and provide a scaffold for
adding the cross-wind drift corrections.
Orbit the scene and point out the wind arrow running straight down runway 35.
Walk the student around the circuit: on upwind, downwind and final the aircraft is aligned with the wind, so it tracks straight with no heading offset. On the crosswind and base legs the wind is now 90° across the track — that is exactly where we already crab to hold a square ground track.
Today's lesson extends that same instinct to the take-off, approach and landing roll, where the wind is across the runway itself.
Draw this as a quick sketch on the whiteboard if helpful: the runway, the wind arrow, and where corrections are applied.
Contrast this with the into-wind circuit two slides back: the wind is now almost square across runway 35, so every leg needs work. The take-off and landing roll along the runway feel the full crosswind — into-wind aileron and rudder to hold the centreline. Upwind and final need a crab to hold the extended centreline. The crosswind leg is now into a headwind while the base leg has a tailwind, so the base turn comes up fast and must be anticipated to avoid overshooting final. On downwind the crosswind pushes the aircraft toward the runway, so crab into wind to hold circuit spacing.
This is the same strong wind as the into-wind slide, just rotated 90° — a deliberately strong example so the corrections are obvious. A direct crosswind this strong would, of course, exceed the limits we cover next.
Click Direct-To to arrive at Crosswind Limits.
Check your aircraft's POH before the lesson and know the specific figure. Ask the student: "What is our aircraft's maximum demonstrated crosswind?" — they should know this before stepping to the aircraft.
Emphasise: setting a personal limit is good airmanship, not weakness. For a student at this stage, 8–10 kt may be a sensible personal starting point, rising with experience.
A useful PAVE question: "Does today's crosswind fit within all three limits?"
Ask the student: "If you're on final for Runway 18 and the windsock is pointing to the east — is the crosswind from the left or the right?"
The sock pointing perpendicular to the runway = 100% crosswind, zero headwind component.
Gusty conditions add complexity: the crosswind component is not constant, and the aircraft can be suddenly pushed sideways mid-flare. Reinforce the go-around threshold for gusty days.
BEFORE the next slide, use the opportunity to review trigonometric identities sin and cos.
PHAK Ch 11 covers the crosswind component chart. AFH Ch 6 (Crosswind Takeoff) and Ch 9 (Crosswind Approach and Landing) cover technique.
Drag the dial to set the wind direction and use the slider for strength. Set the angle to 15°, 30°, 45° and 60° in turn and let the student read the clock estimate before revealing the exact sine value. Note how the clock over-reads at the larger angles — the safe way to be wrong, since it plans for slightly more crosswind than there really is.
Today's wind — 20 kt from 320, about 30° off runway 35 — gives a clock estimate of half, i.e. 10 kt of crosswind, which is exactly right (sin 30° = 0.5).
Reinforce: the same crosswind that causes a gentle drift correction on downwind is the same wind that causes a sideways thump at touchdown if uncorrected on final.
Click Direct-To to arrive at Taxiing with strong wind.
Use a physical 3D model to help work through these.
The control-position rules matter most in gusty, strong conditions and for high-wing types. Ask the student to name the wind's quadrant relative to the nose and set the controls before releasing the brakes.
The quartering tailwind is the dangerous case: forward elevator keeps the wind from lifting the tail, and slow speed prevents nosing over under braking. Call out a few wind scenarios and have the student physically move the control wheel to the correct position.
Click Direct-To to arrive at Crosswind Circuits.
AFH Ch 6: the crosswind take-off requires anticipation. The into-wind aileron is at maximum before the roll begins, reducing progressively as the control surfaces become effective.
The reason for not forcing early lift-off: if the aircraft lifts off while still drifting sideways, the main gear contacts the runway with a side-load when it settles back — which can cause a collapse.
Orbit the scene and walk the five points from the previous slide along the ground track: the roll is drawn out so points 1–3 (aileron, rudder, easing aileron) are spread along it, then the positive lift-off, then the crab established into wind to hold the centreline extended up the upwind leg.
The track stays on the centreline throughout — the crab shows as the aircraft's heading offset into wind, not as a sideways drift off the runway.
The path starts at the end of base, before the turn onto final. Orbit so the student sees the crab clearly: down final the nose is offset into wind while the track stays on the extended centreline. In the flare the nose swings straight with rudder and the upwind wing drops slightly, so the aircraft settles onto the upwind main wheel first, tracking straight down the runway.
Points 2 and 3 happen together in the flare — they are drawn close to the threshold for that reason.
This is the key mental model for the student: it is one continuous technique, not a menu of choices. A beginner naturally straightens up early (it feels safer than holding the crab into the flare), so give them the wing-low to compensate and keep the aircraft on the centreline. As their timing sharpens, the alignment moves later and the required bank shrinks toward zero — at which point they are, in effect, flying the pure crab-and-kick.
Frame the "pure crab" and "pure wing-low" of the textbooks as the two ends of this one spectrum, so the student doesn't think they've been taught something different from the books.
The crab standard in transport-category jets is the late-alignment end (a 5° bank on a B737 final would put an engine nacelle close to the runway). The Australian Flight Instructor Manual prefers the crab; the wing-low and combinations are also fine.
The single most common early error is straightening up too early with wings level, then drifting. The second is holding the crab all the way to the wheels (landing sideways). Both are solved by teaching the rudder and aileron as a coordinated pair in the flare, timed to touchdown.
The weathervaning tendency increases as speed falls: the fin loses effectiveness while the aircraft's tendency to point into the wind remains. This is the moment most crosswind accidents occur — well after the runway threshold has been crossed and the technique feels "done."
Less flap is a trade-off: a faster, flatter approach with more positive control versus a longer landing roll. For early crosswind training, reduced flap keeps the aircraft more responsive at the moment it matters most. Always defer to the POH where it gives an explicit limit.