30+ hours, I had a terrible landing, wasn't even a landing!

[UA-RESURRECTED]

The airplane started bouncing down the runway and I felt very uneasy at this point. As much as it is embarrassing, it is simply scary and puts a swift end to an otherwise good day. By the 3rd bounce I could not seem to stop it I thought I was gonna lose complete control. I punched the throttle and soon after managed to start a climb. I was so rattled by the whole experience I majorly f*cked up and retracted the flaps all at once. The fact is I knew better, but wasn't thinking clearly at the moment.

I have over 30 hours, should I be doing things so dangerous as this? I want to be the best pilot I can be, but these experiences really humble you.

Any advise would be appreciated. Kream926 need not reply.

 

[Learsforsale]

The airplane started bouncing down the runway and I felt very uneasy at this point. As much as it is embarrassing, it is simply scary and puts a swift end to an otherwise good day. By the 3rd bounce I could not seem to stop it I thought I was gonna lose complete control. I punched the throttle and soon after managed to start a climb. I was so rattled by the whole experience I majorly f*cked up and retracted the flaps all at once. The fact is I knew better, but wasn't thinking clearly at the moment.

I have over 30 hours, should I be doing things so dangerous as this? I want to be the best pilot I can be, but these experiences really humble you.

Any advise would be appreciated. Kream926 need not reply.

If it was easy (and/or cheap) everyone would be a pilot.

 

[RefugePilot]

30+ hours and you can't grease every landing, you obviously are not cut out to be a pilot.

 

[fletch717]

Don't think of it as being humbled, Think of it as a learning experience. I have a "learning experience" every now and then. Get used to it, as they say " I have heard of the perfect pilot but I've never seen one."

 

[RefugePilot]

Hey just kidding.

I soloed a student last week and I had only flew with him a few times but he showed no bad habits, so I signed him off. On his second landing he bounced quite a few times. If you think its frightening from the cockpit you should try it from the ground when your signature is riding in a log book in the airplane.

Next time you bounce go around on the first bounce, oh and don't bring the flaps out all at once. But you already knew that, but now you really know it. Have your instructor show you how to use power to cusion a bounce or baloon.


Sounds like a good flight in that you learned something.

 

[wmuflyguy]

The airplane started bouncing down the runway and I felt very uneasy at this point. As much as it is embarrassing, it is simply scary and puts a swift end to an otherwise good day. By the 3rd bounce I could not seem to stop it I thought I was gonna lose complete control. I punched the throttle and soon after managed to start a climb. I was so rattled by the whole experience I majorly f*cked up and retracted the flaps all at once. The fact is I knew better, but wasn't thinking clearly at the moment.

I have over 30 hours, should I be doing things so dangerous as this? I want to be the best pilot I can be, but these experiences really humble you.

Any advise would be appreciated. Kream926 need not reply.

I wouldn't worry, It won't be your last bad landing and it probably won't be your worst. It happens

My worst landing to date happened a couple months ago, just didn't have it that day., had to go check the gear to make sure it was still under the wings. The captain had a good chuckle.

 

[ksu_aviator]

Not to rag on the original poster, but why is advice so commonly misspelled?

Any how, back on topic. I would expect 30 hour pilots to have bad landings from time to time. What I wouldn’t expect is for a 30 hour pilot to have enough sense to get out of a bad landing and go around. You did go around and for that you should be commended. Just because you are cleared to land doesn’t mean you have to land. (Oh and be sure to log 4 landings, after all you flew upwind legs on every bounce, even if they where brief.)

Like they said above, this is a good learning experience. Talk with your instructor, identify the cause of the bad landing and vow to never ever do it again until the next time you do it again. You will do it again, everybody does. I’ve been on 737’s that have bounced, I wasn't flying of course they would never let me on one if I didn't buy a ticket! As long as you are flying, you will have bad landings. Always evaluate the events that lead up to the bad landing and learn from it.

 

[gringo]

Don't sweat it.

Like they say- if you can walk away from it, it's a good landing. If the airplane flies again, it's a great landing!

Even the pro's screw it up once in a while!

 

[sleddriver71]

Two days ago it seemed like every landing I made was hard. It's like I just had an off day. Then yesterday, flying the same airplane in the same conditions (night), every landing was really smooth. Just treat what happened as a learning experience. The important thing is not to dwell on how bad you did in that case but instead how you will do better next time.

 

[RunUp]

My worse landing was in a 172 on a crosswind runway right in front of a SWA 737 waiting to depart the main runway. Actually, it wasn't even a landing...I just flew the beast into the ground. I happened to glance over at the airliner and saw both pilots with there noses pressed against the windscreen with looks of horror on their faces. Talk about feeling humbled. It is a miracle that I didn't wreck. Luckily my instructor was back in the hangar reading the newspaper, so he didn't see it.

Like someone said earlier, if it was easy, everyone would be a pilot.

 

[Pilot124]

Sounds like you started chasing the flare (porpousing) Sp??
Next time that happens hold the yoke a little aft to stop the porpousing and be prepared to go around.

 

[banned username 1]

Wait until you do it with 200 people in the back. Then you'll know what feeling bad really feels like.

Shake it off. It may be your first, but it won't be your last.

 

[Pantherjon]

Yep, even the pros do it from time to time..I remember a couple years(maybe 8?..lol) years ago when coming into KSAV that the landing was hard enough to jar open almost all of the overhead bins While deplaning the co-pilot, who was FP, was profusely apologizing to us and stated he had dialed in the wrong barametric pressure which led him to believe he was 20feet higher then he actually was..

 

[JumpCaptain]

Don't sweat it. All pilots have big egos and we all try to fake like we were born great pilots. The truth is we were all a little nervous when we first started out. We all bounced and ballooned.

Now get your a$$ back out there and try it again!!

 

[minitour]

No big deal man. I had a student just nailing every single landing...we're talking from discovery flight right out of the box, this kid could flat out fly and LAND the airplane. Greased it on every time.

Know what? I wouldn't let him solo until he d*cked up a few.

The thing I want to see in that situation is JUST what you did...firewall it and go around.

The fact that you brought the flaps up all at once isn't much of a concern either. Did you miss a checklist item? Yeah... Does it happen at your point in the game? Yeah... Does it happen to 50,000 hour pilots? Yeah...

What did you learn?
1. I don't have to land every time.
2. If it starts to go TU, go around.
3. Always use the checklist.
4. It wouldn't hurt to brief a go-around upon turning final so that procedures (flaps in increments) is in your head, just like you brief "what if SHTF on takeoff?" every time you fly.

You learned at least four things from one experience....4:1 is pretty damn good if ya ask me.

Keep at it!

-mini

 

[Swass]

I had a similar experience with about the same amount of time you have, the only difference was that it was a severe crosswind gust that came literally two feet from touching the left wing. I had full deflection as soon as I recognized what was going on and it was almost too late.

Talk about crapping yourself. Scared the bejeevers out of me. You did a good job by going around, a fully developed porpoise will likely cause you to prang the nosewheel and or the prop if your not careful.

 

[SkyBoy1981]

....and stated he had dialed in the wrong barametric pressure which led him to believe he was 20feet higher then he actually was..

WTF? Who looks at the altimeter on landing? Radar altimeter maybe..but that doesn't have anything to do with barometric pressure. Am I missing something?

 

[8inMan]

Just a lame excuse I think.

 

[User546]

I wouldn't sweat it. You got out of the situation, and hopefully you learned a good lesson on how to (and not to) handle the situation in the future.

I made a bounced landing on my first solo (second landing!). I was doing touch n go's on a 4,000 ft runway, and when I came in I hit the nose wheel first on the runway, and at that point I felt like I was along for the ride. The aircraft was porpoising on it's own, and no matter what input I gave the controls, it wasn't responding. Then about three quarters of the way down the runway I remember the aircraft starting to veer off towards the side where I anticipated the next bounce would be off the side of the runway in the dirt. So instinctively I gunned the power full throttle, and noticed I was able to get a decent amount of control, so I held off the airplane from hitting as long as I could (probably over the dirt at this time), and eventually the aircraft started climbing back out under control before hitting the dirt.

I'll never forget that moment. It had happened to me one time before while practicing touch n goes with m instructor, but he had taken control of the airplane and hadn't taught me how to solve the problem.

I've done it one other time since, and a quick reaction of full power, and holdin the airplane up in a slight nose high attitude worked beautifully and quickly before it got out of hand.

You're one of us now...

 

[wmuflyguy]

Just a lame excuse I think.

Exactly.

I would maybe buy it, if the Radar Altimeter(RAT) screwed up. Since, people get used to certian cues, and all of a sudden there gone, it can throw you into a tizzy.

Just off of IOE, the RAT decided to go TU. Well since I was new, I wasn;t so great on the landings, when I never heard the altitude call outs, I was slow to start my flare.....then boooooooooooooooooooooingggggggggg.

I learned a valuable lesson that day. Stay in the cockpit after a bad landing.