Landing with half a wing missing

[texasfighter]

I'm told its possible but I have not pulled it off yet.

Technique for single engine plane? (I usually fly a P47M.)

Technique for twin engine plane? With a twin engine plane it seems like it would help to use differential throttle. This happened to me just tonight after I shot down a B17 in my 410. With his remaining two, he took off half of my left wing. With full right rudder and full right aileron and throttle off completely, I stabilized it for a minute or so. But I was losing alt steadily and it was apparent that I was not going to be able to ditch, much less steer enough to get to the nearest field. So I had to bail. If I could have used differential throttle control, I think I could have pulled off at least a ditch and maybe a landing. I assume I needed to use Shift-1 to select the left engine and pull it back to zero. Then use shift-2 to select the right engine and throttle it up most of the way or maybe full. Is that correct?

Thanks for any help! A video would be great if there is one out there.
Tex78

[BaldEagl]

Every plane is different with half a wing missing and the amount of damage changes what's required to land.    As examples Spits are generally easy, simply requiring ailerons to adjust.  In fact you can sometimes use auto pliot to fly home.  Most 190's are trickier.  Sometimes aileron and rudder will get you down smoothly, other times you need so much rudder that you'll need to land while flying a circular descent.  And then of course there's certain plane/damage combinations that are simply unflyable.

In general flaps help if you can slow down enough to get them out.  Having your nose up or down also makes big difference in handling as does speed.

I've landed hundreds if not thousand of planes of all types with broken wings.  I've even stayed in a fight more than a few times, sometimes even getting a kill or two.  Like everything in the game practice makes perfect (or at least good enough). 

If you think you're going down you may as well try everything at your disposal to get down safely.  If you have enough control to fly and what you're trying doesn't work reset and try again (if you have the option it might be best to practice with some alt so you have time to recover if it goes badly before attempting the actual landing).

Good luck.

[Vudu15]

I don't have any videos where I talk though landing with a half wing but I do have videos flying home and fighting with half wings, its not a great thing to have lots of practice flying broken planes but hey you make it home its worth so much more. but what Bald said is on the money, Ill see if I can set something up and show folks how it works.

[manglex1]

Another thing that really matters is which wing comes off. The torque of the engine will either be a big help or make it extremely difficult. Something I find helps is to trim ailerons all the way to the opposite side of the breakage and trim elevators all the way down. But, like the others have said, practice makes perfect.

[FLS]

The two problems with half a wing are reduced lift and the disparity of lift. One side now having more lift than the other. When you lower your flaps, cut power and climb to slow down if you need to, you reduce the disparity of lift because lowering the flaps creates a difference in angle of attack, the angle the air meets the wing, between the part of the wing with flaps and the outer part without flaps. In other words, every time you lower flaps you reduce the angle of attack on the outer part of the wing relative to the angle of attack on the part with flaps. This reduces the lift on the outer part of the wing and reduces the disparity of lift between the intact wing and the damaged wing.

The reduced lift requires higher speed and the biggest problem you'll have is getting slow enough to land without stalling the broken wing.

Keep in mind that if you can't roll enough with ailerons to stay level you can use rudder because it also adds roll when creating yaw.

[Ninthmessiah]

Trim aileron and rudder to the max to compensate for the disparity in lift.  3 notches of flaps, not all 5 [p47M].  The trick is not getting too slow and controlling your descent to as little as possible.  Get too slow and the 1/2 wing will stall and you crash.  If your nose dips and you pull on the stick, you'll just roll over and crash also.  So you want to land with a level nose, controlling the descent with throttle.  About -500ft/min.

[Flavel]

I wish there was a way to test damaged aircraft off-line.   Anyhow, that's the wish.  I do find that landing planes with good roll rates easier to do with damaged wings. 

Aside from applying opposite trim the only other thing I could mention is to give yourself plenty of approach as you prepare to land.  Also, its more important to land well then where you land.  Once your on the ground you can always taxi your plane back onto to concrete.

Now if I could just figure out how to control my plan sans rudder....

[Randy1]

The P47M is a bit trickier  than the P38.  The P38 flaps can be a big help but it can pitch over an M.  Maintaining speed as has been posted is the key.  Consider wheels up.

[hawkeye61]

Definitely dependent on plane type, any other damage you may sustain, and your initial energy state.

In general, if you pull or push the nose too much too quickly the plane will roll rapidly toward one side or the other - this is a byproduct of the lift disparity. You also now have to operate the aircraft within a certain speed range to maintain control. If you go too fast (depending on plane type) you will lose control authority due to compression effects, too slow and you will be below your minimum controllable airspeed and the plane will take you for a ride - most likely straight to the tower. Generally, you want to hang out slightly below your flap speed, but not too slow because you don't really know for sure where that minimum control speed is. If you notice you are starting to lose control, increase speed by lowering the nose/AoA and or reducing power to lower the nose.

For single-engine planes, I try to get control with aileron and rudder into the good wing. Trim full aileron and rudder in is usually a good way to go as it will make it a little easier on you instead of having to hold full deflection. In planes with selectable levels of flaps, I try to get slow enough to drop 1-3 notches. Almost immediately, you should notice controllability improve. You definitely don't want to go to full flaps* if you can help it - it is very likely you will not have enough control authority at low speed to keep the aircraft going where you want it and the nose will tend to seek the dirt after you get a sharp wing drop. Differential power is not an option here, but you can help or hurt your controllability by adding or reducing throttle at times.

*This is especially important to note on certain aircraft that have a "binary" flap system (Full Up or Full Down) like the Hurricane or Spitfire. You will likely have better control of the aircraft if you keep flaps up and just slow down. Flaps in the Spitfire and Hurricane are really intended only for landing (fighter pilots can discuss use of flaps in combat in another thread).

In twin engine airplanes, you can use the same techniques, though this time you have the bonus of differential power. Increasing power on the damaged wing side and/or decreasing power on the good wing side should help improve your performance and controllability. If need be, you can shut down the engine on the good wing side to further improve your situation. You may need to be very quick on the throttles to get them where you need them, though.

I've found without multiple throttle levers, controlling more than two engines is rather difficult to coordinate with the keyboard and a single throttle control. Losing part of a wing in a big wing bomber like a B-17 or a Lanc may require too much to be done too quickly to regain control of the plane.

[Drano]

In a P-38 the difference between making it back or not with a wing shot away is whether you can get the nose up and /or slow down enough to get flaps out. As there's no torque involved (unless you have an engine out too) you can just trim and flap and cross control as needed and I find it's a lot easier than most. You'll even be able to make a decent speed.

I got back once with both wingtips gone and no elevators after a battle with a formation of bombers adjusting climb and decent on flaps with the throttle.

[Rodent57]

Sadly, I've got a LOT of experience bring home planes missing control surfaces or major parts.  All of the advice above is sound. 

Below is my checklist when deciding on trying to ride my steed back versus taking a nylon letdown:

1)  Assess your condition: 
     -  Are you injured?  (If so, how badly?)
     -  Will you have enough time to Return to a friendly field at a lower than normal speed if necessary? (bleeding out, fuel state, or major fuel leak)
     -  What parts of the plane are you missing?  (Control and Aerodynamic parts)
     -  Are you able to move your nose up?  ( If not, just go ahead and Bail out early ... Hint: Rudders become emergency elevators if you roll out of level flight) 
     
2)  As soon as practicable (When it makes sense to try), perform a Controllability Check at an altitude at which you will have time to Bailout if things go poorly. 
     Note: For a beginner, I would not advise attempting to land with 'split flaps' unless the damaged flap is under an intact wing

3)  Presuming your controllability check panned out, plan your return routing for a long, shallow, straight-in approach

4)  HOOK - OUT (Just do it ... costs you nothing to try)

5)  If missing a portion of a single wing, fly your approach making turns into the good wing (its an aerodynamics thing).

6)  Fly your final approach 5 knots faster than the slowest speed you were able to attain during your Controllability Check, pull throttles to idle/off only when landing is assured

7)  Attempt to touch down centered on your landing surface (In cases where your gear fails on landing, you have max room to skid to a stop before leaving the concrete (or deck if its a carrier landing)

8)  If it is necessary to crab your plane to maintain control, continue the crab (Rudders into the good wing) until touchdown, then release rudder pressure to allow your plane to streamline   

CONTROLLABILITY CHECK CHECKLIST
     - Decelerate to approach speed (150 indicated [IAS] is a good ballpark number)
     - Confirm that you are able to adequately control your plane when configured with gear and flaps extended (or "NO FLAP" and/or "NO GEAR" should conditions warrant)
     - Attempt to turn your plane (in the direction of the good wing if you have a damaged wing)
     - Attempt move your nose up (Elevators, flaps, etc.) ... If you cannot keep your plane in a nose level/up condition, you are not going to land safely.   You can always descend by reducing speed to create a controlled stall. However, if you can not get your nose above the horizon then odds are that you are destined to to impact the ground in such a way as to cause grievous bodily harm.
 
If you can not do these things at 150 IAS ... BAILOUT

...

If you are able to do these things, decelerate to your landing speed (Generally 80-100 IAS) and repeat the CONTROLLABILITY CHECK above.

     - If you are able to adequately control your plane at 150 IAS, but have restricted options at or near landing speed, plan accordingly and make sure the only thing you have to do on final approach is slow down.


In a nutshell, the above will let you know if you need to bother trying to land. 

{Always remember this moto:  Go ahead and give this one back to the tax payers....its already paid for and besides, they'll make more}

- RODENT57
       

[rpm]

Trim aileron and rudder to the max to compensate for the disparity in lift. 

Step 1 in any aircraft with wing damage. Trim is your best friend.