"Fly it on."

[GravityHater]

I have had several instructors say this over the years when I was learning to fly larger, heavier aircraft. None of them really expounded on what they meant by this. I arrived at my own meaning and wanted to see how others would put this into words.

 

[30West]

To me, the term "fly it on" has the same meaning as "drive it on". That was always the term I used with students when they came over the numbers too fast and tried to force the aircraft onto the runway before it was at the proper speed and attitude. Also known as the "Pile Driver".

On larger aircraft like the DC-10, power is carried longer, usually until around 50 ft or so, and gradually brought back to idle during the flare. I suppose that could be called "flying it on"
Though if you really want to split hairs, technically you fly every landing on unless you plan on letting go of the controls during the flare!

No official definition in the AIM so it's pretty much open to individual interpretation.

 

[Waldom]

To me, the term means any landing that does not involve a full stall at touchdown. A full stall landing is used when performing 3-point landings in many light conventional gear (tailwheel) aircraft.

 

[avbug]

Generally "fly it on" is a slang term that means whatever the instructor thinks it means...and has little meaning to the student because the student has no basis for understanding this terminology. It's nonsensical.

I see pilots all the time landing mindlessly; getting to the runway, retarding the power, and waiting for the airplane to land itself. Oh, the pilot may hold it off and wait for it to stall, or try to plant it, or some variation in between...but all too often I see pilots landing who aren't so much landing the airplane as the airplane is landing them. What's to worry...we're there. Excitement's over. We're here. Just touch the wheels and roll to a stop.

Back in the day...flying meant the landing was never over until in the chocks. We've got a way from that to some degree, and I see the landing being over half-way through the approach to landing in too many cases. Pilots who are content to take whatever they get instead of deciding on a specific course of action and making it happen. Float until it lands...when the airplane decides it's ready. Airspeed up and down. Off glidepath. Land long, land short, and my favorite all time hated saying about landings...any landing you can walk away from...

Ranks right up there with the diatribe about "there's thems that has, and thems that ain't yet...garbage. Fly it on. Take control, take initiative, make the airplane do what you want. Don't just arrive in the vicinity of the runway and keep pulling back until eventually ground contact is made. Fly it on. Be in charge, ahead of the airplane, and master of it's domain...or something like that. If airplanes really have domains. Make it your domain if it makes you feel better. (Just be sure to put newspaper on the seats...)

Some use the term to mean anything other than a full stall landing...you're still flying, still have energy and lift to fly, and you're putting the airplane on the runway when you want it to be there, rather than letting it peter out on it's own. Whatever, and to each his own. I like full stall landings, but everything has it's place and time.

Bottom line, fly it on can mean whatever you want it to mean, though if you're going to use such terms, it's best to ensure that the person to whom you're speaking understands it the same way as you. For the flight instructor who uses such terminology, the instructor should be explaining what he means when he says it, and using that to build a lesson or a point. Trite ambiguous expressions don't help anybody without definition.

 

[Amish RakeFight]

Ditto to avbugs response.

 

[DC8 Flyer]

I think the "fly it on" term means to hold what you have, pitch attitude anyway. The only "big" jet I have flown is the DC8 and it takes very little attitude change once you bring the power out (at about 100 feet) to touchdown.

The devil is in the details of how you manage the airplanes energy once you bring the power out since it does fly in a nose low attitude on approach. Some guys do it in a two step process, power out raise the nose, land. Others bring the power out slowly while raising the nose to the landing attitude and land. Both ways seem to work just fine.

 

[GravityHater]

Thanks,
I think what the instructors were trying to tell me was,

"In this airplane, you do not try to stall the wing and wait for the resultant increased sink rate to assure contact between wheels and pavement. In this airplane, you directly control sink rate, while the wing is still fully flying, and you cause the wheels to contact the runway in this (unstalled) state."

So it may be the same as others have put in their words.
Thanks!

 

[FN FAL]

Ditto to avbugs response.

Hahahaha...his response reminds of that scene in the MIB movie where Will Smith's character is in the room with all the guys testing for the MIB job and the Marine is asked why he wants to apply for the job and the leatherneck jumps to attention a belts out the rote response, "yadda yadda yadda...the best of the best of the best, SIR!"

And then Will Smith makes fun of him.

 

[KeroseneSnorter]

Hahahaha...his response reminds of that scene in the MIB movie where Will Smith's character is in the room with all the guys testing for the MIB job and the Marine is asked why he wants to apply for the job and the leatherneck jumps to attention a belts out the rote response, "yadda yadda yadda...the best of the best of the best, SIR!"

And then Will Smith makes fun of him.

Yeah, what he said!!

 

[phishn@daves]

Ditto to avbugs response.

Can you all ALWAYS ditto me on AVBUGS responses.

Just want people to think I know what I'm doing.

BTW, if AVBUG replies to any more of this thread,..........Ditto.

 

[avbug]

"In this airplane, you do not try to stall the wing and wait for the resultant increased sink rate to assure contact between wheels and pavement. In this airplane, you directly control sink rate, while the wing is still fully flying, and you cause the wheels to contact the runway in this (unstalled) state."

Ditto. What he said. I think you've got it.

 

[GravityHater]

Ditto. What he said. I think you've got it.

now that there is a real compliment!
Thanks Avbug. Thanks for helping us all to learn a little more each day.