A flight study of the sidestep manoeuvre during landing

Abstract

Flight measurements have been made of two types of manoeuvre which might be used to correct lateral errors occurring at the end of an instrument approach. These are, the true banked co-ordinated S turn, and the sideslipping turn with wings held level. The tests showed the true banked S turn to be the more effective method. Measurements on fourteen aircraft showed that at least ten seconds might be needed to make corrections from quke small displacements, even with a very manoeuvrable aircraft. A simple theoretical analysis, which supported this conclusion, also allowed the minimum practical manoeuvre time for any initial displacement to be calculated, once the available rate of roll, and an overriding maximum angle of bank, had been established. Measurements of the lateral characteristics of the test aircraft, which included a small delta-winged research aircraft and several large transports, enabled tentative requirements for satisfactory rolling performance to be proposed.