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X-Plane Assignment 1

15 points

Nathan Tyler Rose

Last edited 35 days ago by Nolan Henry Lach.

Overview

Generated by Coda AI

This assignment requires students to answer questions about interpreting METAR information, runway usage, and the effects of headwind and crosswind during flight. They must set up a flight simulator, then record and upload screen recordings of two stabilized circuits with headwind and four with crosswind at varying speeds for runway 28. Tips for flying in these conditions are provided. Deliverables include a completed PDF of the document uploaded to Brightspace, along with the recordings from specified tasks, which should be titled appropriately and uploaded to the same platform.

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Tasks

Task 0 - Questions

Answer the following questions. Some questions can be answered after completing the assignment.

General

KLAF 100213Z AUTO 27005KT 10SM SCT027 OVC031 18/15 A2982 RMK AO2 T01830150

When reading the winds in the METAR above, what is the wind direction and speed?

the wind direction is 270 which is directly west and at a speed of 5 knots.

If you are standing with your back to the west, on which side of your body will you feel the wind given in the above METAR?

your back.

Which runway at KLAF should we use?

Runway 28 to give yourself the least crosswind and most headwind.

Headwind

When flying into a headwind (relative to calm conditions), what considerations do I need to make for:

Turn to base: This turn will require more bank because you are trying to keep the aircraft in coordinated flight and not drift behind the base leg

Turn to final: This turn will require a slightly shallower bank because you do not need to fight the crosswind as much

Is landing with a headwind easier than in calm conditions? Why?

Most of the time yes, a headwind will make your groundspeed slower, which means when landing you will be moving slower which is easier to land than going fast.

In a short paragraph, compare landing with a 5 kts vs 20 kts headwind. Be sure to discuss airspeed, ground speed, descent angle, power input, and landing roll distance.

Landing with a 5 kts headwind or a 20 kts the aircraft should be flown at the same indicated airspeed. The main difference is ground speed and how much you will drift during the base and departure legs of a traffic pattern. Landing distance decreases as headwind increases, because the wind moving provides lift over the wing while your groundspeed remains lower. A higher crosswind will require a steeper final, because your airspeed needs to have the same maneuver speeds regardless of wind

Crosswind

Define these techniques:

Side Slip: This is my favored technique for landing with a crosswind. Using rudder to align your nose with the runway and tilting your aileron to control sideways movement. With this technique your are already setup to land because you want the wheel/side of the aircraft that is titled into the wind to touch first.

Crab: Crabbing is when the aircraft is skewed relative to the runway because it needs some thrust going into the headwind so you do not drift off of centerline. When close to touchdown you even the plane out to be straight with the runway because landing in crabbed position will not go well.

When flying into a left-quartering crosswind and using the crab method:

Which single control input (and direction) do I use to align the aircraft's nose with the centerline?

using right rudder compensates for the crosswind.

What happens to the aircraft if all other control inputs are null? Include direction.

If all other controls are null the aircraft will drift to the right because the wind is pushing the aircraft.

What control (and direction) will counteract the movement described above?

using aileron left to bank into the wind will compensate for the drift.

In crosswind flight training, your instructor will ask if it's a “sticks in” or a “sticks out” kind of day. What the heck does that mean?!

This means which way will you need to cross the sticks to compensate for crosswind, because opposite controls on a transmitter is pointing both sticks in or out.