Crosswind Landing and the Airbus

[Bubba Dog]

JeffG with all due respect you pull power a little sooner with less drag out there on the wing,i.e. flaps 3. This comes from 8 years of teaching folks how to fly the KC-135,thrust and drag relationships are the same for all aircraft. Also by cracking your throttles at 50 ft you are limiting how much thrust can be applied,I never said it turned of the autothrust. It all happens in about 5 to 6 seconds,very quick,works for me but maybe not you. I always put the aileron into the wind after touchdown and keep the nose straight with the rudder and never had the first problem while maintaining forward stick pressure in up to 29 kts of crosswinds.. And your comment about ground mini is correct but sometimes ground mini can add a huge amount of airspeed and you need to be aware of this coming over the fence,i.e. sooner power pull or you will float forever. Also in some wind situations it hangs you on the edge of the approoach speed and you need to bump it up a bit. If I was landing at Reagan I would darn sure use flaps full versus 3 on a wet runway,are you sure there is only 20' difference,common sense tells you are at a lower approach speed,thus less diffuculty to stop the airplane.
I would rather try to explain why I went off the end with full flaps versus 3 flap anyday.

 

[Bubba Dog]

Also Jeffg I never got an ECAM warning when I cracked the autothrust,not enough time I guess.

 

[Jeff G]

The landing distance for flaps 3 vs. flaps full comes right out of the OPS system for every scenario I bothered to look up. It surprised me too. For a gross weight landing in calm winds, dry runway, sea level and standard conditions, landing distances are:

Flaps full: lo: 7174, med: 4883, man: 3970. vref: 134
Flaps 3: lo: 7167, med: 4837, man: 3942, vref: 138
Flaps 3 (+15 kt): lo: 8000, med: 5324, man: 4421, vref: 148

Go figure.

JeffG with all due respect you pull power a little sooner with less drag out there on the wing,i.e. flaps 3. This comes from 8 years of teaching folks how to fly the KC-135,thrust and drag relationships are the same for all aircraft.

This last bit is a true statement. But my guess is that the extra drag with flaps full doesn't have as much effect on float as the extra slats that also go out with flaps full. Which is why you (or at least, I) tend to drop in early with flaps 3 only: not as much lift. JMHO, and from empirical evidence only.

 

[Bubba Dog]

JEFFG my guess the reason you might be dropping in early is you are trying to see the same picture in the windscreen that you are for flaps full,i.e. in the middle. On a flaps 3 you aimpoint is more in the lower portion of the windscreen and sometimes we try to put it in the middle like a full flap resulting in an increased sink rate and dropping in as you say. Amazing about the landing distance.

Good luck and I wish I was still flying the Bus,it's a great machine for everyone concerned.

 

[Jeff G]

Could very well be the aimpoint. Good point.