Aircraft flying sideways?

General Discussion & Community Support General Discussion
1

Hi guys,

Got a peculiar question - sometimes when flying with Live Weather the aircraft will start flying “sideways” - centering the camera behind it clearly shows the difference.

Here is the comparison between Live Weather and default Few Clouds:

Microsoft Flight Simulator 22_08_2020 14_27_44
Microsoft Flight Simulator 22_08_2020 14_27_441920×1080 2.88 MB
Microsoft Flight Simulator 22_08_2020 14_28_01
Microsoft Flight Simulator 22_08_2020 14_28_011920×1080 3.33 MB

The wind shown would confirm why the aircraft is positioned slightly to the left (333/29):

Microsoft Flight Simulator 22_08_2020 14_28_19
Microsoft Flight Simulator 22_08_2020 14_28_191920×1080 3.64 MB

My question is (as a noob), is that normal for the aircraft to fly like that with the wind coming in from the other side?

Thanks :slight_smile:

2

In short, yes.

The direction that the pilot, or more often in tubeliners, autopilot has to point the nose of the aircraft to maintain a particular heading is affected by what can be very high speed winds, at altitude, so it will make it look like the aircraft is flying a bit crab-like.

It’s not just at altitude though, maybe search Youtube for some crosswind landings and you will see dramatic examples of this.

3