Originally posted by Wolfala
How about we kick up about 5 or 10 kts of crosswind and see how well these techniques work out.
A 5 mph crosswind is generally no problem, unless it is 90 degrees to the runway heading. However, bump it up to 10 mph and things get interesting, especially if flying an F4U. Taking off with a crosswind is usually less daunting than landing with one, at least in my experience.
My son-in-law likes to play AH2 when he visits. So one evening, just for the fun of it, I set a 10 mph crosswind from sea level to 2,000 feet from 135 degrees. He elected to take off in an F4U with the wind from his right-rear quarter (bad idea). He managed to get airborne, but nearly drifted off the runway. He made a left turn and set up for landing. He had a great deal of trouble with the landings. He could get on the runway, but was so crossed up that he ground looped it 4 times out of 5. Getting frustrated, he takes off again. This time he takes my advice and decides to land with the wind at his left-front quarter. Far less drama and no ground loops. He did, however, tend to drift to the edge of the runway. That is something easily countered when you gain some experience. He eventually learned to line up off-line and allow the aircraft to drift to where he wanted it at touchdown with a minimum of side slipping. Needless to say, it takes some practice to master crosswind landings in a taildragger.
There's no doubt in my mind that most of the player base would either ground loop or simply crash if there was a crosswind set-up in the MAs. Over the years, the CMs have set-up cross winds in the AvA (old Combat Theater), and the results were often comical. Most players just landed into the wind on the grass and taxied to a runway. You don't learn much that way, but it is a solution of sorts.
My regards,
Widewing
