Why You Can't Hold Centerline on Landing | Coordinating Rudder and Aileron

Even when there's practically no wind, we find ourselves drifting off the centerline on landing? Why is that, and how should we think about landings to help hold that line?

[Queenlene]

has my instructor not told me this?! 😩i struggle with centerline so much. I’m going in with a new attitude tmrw! Thank you!

[athgt]

Great video. IMHO aligning and holding centreline is one of the few things that is a bit easier in real life than in a sim. In front of a screen, perception of where exactly the aircraft is moving towards is more difficult. IRL you also have better realisation of the effects of your control inputs.

[benc]

Depends a lot on the particular airplane. Left turning tendencies mostly go away when you pull the power to idle. If your aircraft's fin is offset to counter those tendencies (set for neutral rudder during cruise), you'll need a bit of left rudder when you pull the power off for descent and on short final because the fin is set to yaw the nose to the right. So watch out for this and don't be surprised if you need a bit of left rudder. In the end, it doesn't matter what causes it. Your job is to use rudder to keep the nose pointed straight down the runway, and ailerons to kill any drift away from centerline. And a lot of the time, the two controls will need opposite inputs, sort of like chewing gum and walking at the same time. Also, a pilot tends to land on the side of the runway corresponding to the side of the plane he sits on. Left seaters tend to land on the left side of the runway and right seaters tend to land on the right side. Doesn't seem to matter if it's a Cessna 172 or a Boeing.

BC
26, 000 hrs

[-TK-]

WOW. great video.. This would explain why I am all over the place when I am trying to land and all I did was make a slight adjustment to the left or right and I turn the plane with out wanting to. Very helpful Thank you.

[andrewmaclean]

Im about 13 hours in (though its been EXTREMELY spread out due to weather), and I'm struggling with landings so bad. Even with calm winds I feel like I'm super wobbly in my approach, swerving left and right while trynna stay coordinated and constantly overcorrecting. Doesn't help that I've had to switch planes a ton and I've only had one lesson where we practiced slow flight, (which was in a different plane) I def think I need to practice it more bc my terrible approaches make a clean landing near impossible. Is it normal to be struggling this bad 15 hrs in? I feel like most people get it down pretty fast but it's my 2nd day of doing nothing but pattern work and my landings are not only not smooth but some of them have been legit dangerous. Idk how I'm ever gonna get this down haha

[archerpiperii]

This should be required viewing for every flight student. And after watching this video, chair fly the process until it becomes automatic.

Phoenix, AZ

[predatorec]

Remember that most aircraft have differential ailerons to counteract to a certain amount the effect of adverse yaw during turning, This channel is awesome!!!

[paulcrooks]

You're absolutely amazing. I never thought of applying right rudder on landings as it applies to pitching up

[Richard-ibkp]

One thing that seems to never get mentioned is the wind change on final. When you are fighting to cross control the airplane 500 feet agl and below the winds are stronger and perhaps from a different angle than in the flare. It’s a good idea to make sure at the higher altitudes on final you have adequate rudder authority to straighten it out but for more practical use, fly the plane down centerline and accept the crab angle til over the numbers and then apply whatever correction is needed before the flare. The correction is typically much less down lower and better than wrestling the plane all the way down final. If you have to accept a small angle on landing it’s not the end of the world in most cases. What you don’t want is to land with a high crosswind component beyond your ability or that of the aircraft. Side load on the gear should be kept to a minimum.

[hugus]

I don't know if this happens in real life but when I play msfs 2020 and i'm going to land i can't use rudder to align properly cuz the plane destabilizes like crazy, and I don't do it very hard either, I hope it's just a simulator bug

[RedSailor]

and I was just thinking about this ... neat!

[Jacktherookie_]

Dammit get rid of cockpit cam from my plane 😂😂

[HeatMyShorts]

I'm just a self-taught/YouTube-taught Simulator 'pilot' but I think this will be very helpful. Thank you

[Anthonyoutsidethebox]

What if i'm drifting right of center line or yawing to the right after leveling off in ground effect and pulling back on the yoke? landed on 19L and wind was 220 at 8kts

[MrDanoman]

Great video...!! Another 'force' that will cause it is all of that you said with the addition of Ground effect. The cushion of air added with the torque through the center line of the prop will exaggerate this effect as you approach you're aircrafts stall speed.

[MrMarkguth]

Idk, I just tell
Myself straight with rudder and Aileron into wind, and it just happens

[sojufighter]

I really needed this. MORE. RIGHT. RUDDER.

[alphaprince]

Now the classic CFI “Right Rudder” meme makes sense to me

[Shanexxx]

Interesting! I was about 40 hours in and didn’t have much trouble with straight in landings anymore. I guess I was at the point where my “muscle memory” would accurately auto-correct things like adverse yaw. But I should probably get in the habit of consciously remembering the forces and which way they pull, both for myself and maybe even upgrading to CFI someday.

[joerasmussen]

It strikes me that you end up on average using more right rudder than left rudder during a complete flight. Am I right?