Crab

Crab is a crosswind landing technique where the pilot points the aircraft nose into the wind (upwind) to maintain a ground track aligned with the runway centerline during approach. Just before touchdown, the pilot kicks the rudder to align the nose with the runway (de-crab).

The alternative technique is the sideslip (wing-low) method, where the upwind wing is lowered and opposite rudder maintains alignment. Many pilots use a combination of both techniques. Autoland systems typically use the crab method with automatic de-crab at touchdown.