How to Properly Land a C-172.....

[CX880]

DCAinstructor is right. Althoughn I use 1500, if you do it correctly you should never have to touch the throttle untill touchdown. Just remember that the 172 has a very low stall number with full flaps and it will want to fly even at 55Knots touchdown speed. If you land at 65-70 you will bounce, if you have a crosswind and you bounce it could get ugly! Now, you can fly the approach at a higher speed but you should cut the throttle much earlier before reaching the threshold to bleed the speed. The 172 is a much more challenging plane to land but it makes good student pilots because the challenge.

 

[pilotyip]

Do I hear IP's are teaching to land power on? I have never heard of such a thing and never made a power on landing until I started flying the P-3. Yes during the early stages of teaching to land with power on as per above, but I would never solo a student who could not make a good landing when cutting the power at the threashold.

 

[midlifeflyer]

http://www.whittsflying.com/
This guy's site is AMAZING! I am surprised I dont see more of his stuff here.

Gene hangs out in usenet aviation groups; I heven't seen him participatin on a forum-based site like this one.

 

[VW Pilot]

All good comments...Thanx to all. By the way. the warrior is out of maintenence, so it's back to my favourite low wing trainer.

 

[kf4amu]

I had the same problem. Initial training in Pipers, went to Cessnas and didnt like them. They love to float. Pipers drop when you cut the power. Cessna's float. DCA is right, force a Cessna to the ground and you wont have a good landing.

 

[DCAinstructor06]

Do I hear IP's are teaching to land power on? I have never heard of such a thing and never made a power on landing until I started flying the P-3. Yes during the early stages of teaching to land with power on as per above, but I would never solo a student who could not make a good landing when cutting the power at the threashold.

I agree, I won't solo a student unless I can pull their motor in the pattern (base or DW) and have them bring the aircraft to a safe landing somewhere on the runway. I teach both, power on and power off. After all if they can't land with power on, they are in trouble when the winds get nasty.

 

[Amish RakeFight]

Maintain about 70 knots on final and crossing the threshold you should be about 65 knots. Keep the aiming point in your window and just point the plane towards this mark. Your focus should be just over the nose aiming for your touchdown point. When you get about 10-15 feet above the runway begin to slowly pitch the nose up. What you're essentially trying to do is prevent the plane from landing by holding it off. As you begin to pitch up, slowly move your line of sight focus from the touchdown point to the end of the runway and horizon. At this point you should be looking far ahead and feeling the plane sink. You'll feel the descent and see it in your peripheral vision. Continue to try to hold the plane off the ground as you flare.

Getting the landing right just takes practice. It's one of those things that one day it will suddenly click - and you'll begin to understand what it is you're supposed to be doing.

 

[skiandsurf]

I agree, I won't solo a student unless I can pull their motor in the pattern (base or DW) and have them bring the aircraft to a safe landing somewhere on the runway. I teach both, power on and power off. After all if they can't land with power on, they are in trouble when the winds get nasty.

Before I would solo a student....I would have the students close their eyes as I fly the plane. I would bring down next to the runway over the grass ( this at an uncontrolled airport). Then I would tell them to look at where they are, take the controls back, and maneuver the plane to land.

This gives both of us confidence in the students understanding and ability.

 

[DCAinstructor06]

Before I would solo a student....I would have the students close their eyes as I fly the plane. I would bring down next to the runway over the grass ( this at an uncontrolled airport). Then I would tell them to look at where they are, take the controls back, and maneuver the plane to land.

This gives both of us confidence in the students understanding and ability.

huh??? This demonstrates what? You want to up their confidence, Can their motor at 700 feet when climbing straight out. IF they remember to turn around and can make the runway safely, buy them a steak dinner. I would actually do this in the simulator with the weather at 1/2mile and 100ftovc. The sharp ones were able to intercept the backcourse and actually make the runway. The rest of the sheep just crashed straight ahead into the abyss.

 

[unreal]

Hi...

Just how is it done??? How do you properly land a C-172???
This week I went for my lesson. It was my first time in a C-172 SuperHawk....Big difference. This thing just wanted to haul A$$!

It begs to get off the ground! Anyways, I had trouble getting it back to the ground... I was told or have heard several times to land a C-172 that you have to stall it...Is this true? I have found this difficult in all the other Cessnas I've flown...which is why I do not like them....They all seem to float down the runway....I normally use the Piper warrior....my favourite...But it was in the hangar for 100Hr maintenence...

So how is it done? I keep bouncing my landings and this is extremely embarrasing and dangerous...I hold 65-70 Kts all the way to the runway,
but I bounce everytime!

My instructor likes the speed control but seems to think that I'm concentrating on a single spot to land on the runway rather than looking at the opposing end....I look further away but bounce anyways...Sigh...

Once I landed a c-172 fine without a bounce, and with that aircraft I have not been able to do it again.....Any advice helpful. Thanks.

One of my students was having issues with this. Let me see if I can help.

Before you even go and try to land the airplane again, go and review a couple common pitch attitudes.

First, review what Vy looks like. If you have your seat position set appropriately, Vy in the C172 should look like the horizon is passing right at the top of the glareshield. Make sure that your seat is set at such a height that your eyes are roughly even with the top of the door. You should only be able to see the first set of rivets on the cowling.

Second, go out and review what 90 knots level looks like. In a C172 (at least the newer models), this should be roughly 3 average sized fingerwidths between the glareshield and the horizon. Again, that's assuming the seating position I just described.

When you're actually coming down final, you should ideally be on a 5 degree glideslope at full flaps and 60-65 knots. I like closer to 65 knots. As you're looking down at the runway, you're obviously going to see the runway getting larger in your windscreen. Now, on that runway you're going to see a point (maybe a centerline or other marking), that is neither moving up or down in the windscreen as the runway is getting larger. That's called the "point of no-movement," and is basically where the airplane would hit the ground if you were to continue to fly it at that pitch and power setting. Keep an eye on that point as you're coming down final.

As you come closer to the runway, that point of no-movement is going to actually start to slide backwards towards your nose. When you detect that rearward slide, start a 3-second power reduction from 1500 RPM to idle. I don't mean a fast count. I mean a nice, steady "one one thousand, two one thousand, three one thousand" count. When you reach "three one thousand," your power should be at idle.

Directly after getting the power to idle, start your roundout by doing another 3-count. This time, you're going to smoothly add backpressure and raise your nose from that descent/approach attitude to 90 knots level. You should reach 90 knots level pitch as you hit "three one thousand."

By this point, you'll see the runway starting to rise up below you out of your peripheral vision. From that 90 knot level pitch, smoothly raise the nose to the Vy pitch attitude at the rate at which you see the runway coming up from below. You should reach Vy just as the wheels touch down, and at a full stall landing with no bounce and minimal float.

Anyway, it's 3am and I just worked an 11-hour duty day, so I hope I'm not leaving anything out. Feel free to add anything to this. Keep in mind that this technique does not fit everyone, so make any adjustments necessary.