Originally Posted by
KurtOlsson
I'm comfortable with a bit of a bump at landing. It's when the bounce is off just one wheel, the plane is tipping slightly to one side and you feel like the wing is about to hit the ground I get nervous.
This is not uncommon when there's a strong gusty crosswind. It's normal to land on one wheel when there's a crosswind, so that the aircraft is banked slightly into the wind. The idea is that the lift generated by the wings pull the aircraft to one side at the same speed that the crosswind is blowing the aircraft the opposite direction. The result, when done correctly, is that the aircraft is both pointing directly down the runway and travelling directly down the runway at the moment of touchdown. This is perfectly normal, and pilots are trained to do this. However, if there's an unexpected gust of wind just as one wheel touches down, or the pilot is clumsy, you can get the one-wheel bounce you describe.