I'm kind of tired for the first time....

[corytx]

Went flying today and we worked on landings (both with and w/o flaps). We did 10 landings in 1.5hrs plus worked on my S-turns. The only issue I was having was the flare on my landings, as in I wasn't. I kept hitting the nose wheel first then the rear. Man, a couple of those actually hurt a little . I ended up finishing the last 2 practice landings pretty well (those were with flaps) and my crosswind landing back at Ellington was pretty smooth. When I got home I ended up falling asleep on my couch, I was beat from all the multi-tasking. I now have a little over 8hrs of time and 19 landings, and my number of landings equals my number of take-offs .

 

[HAZ-MAT]

Ellington CT? I'm from up that way, and as a matter of fact, i took my intro flight from Skylark... if this of course is the same area we're talking about... best of luck with the flight training.

 

[corytx]

ellington

Nope Ellington Field in Houston, it use to be an AFB. The Air National Guard still operates out of there with F-16's and Nasa has the T38 trainers so we get to fly around some pretty cool planes.

 

[na265]

What school do you fly out of? I am based at EFD also. Lots of airplanes come through here, ptretty cool.

 

[Groundskprwilly]

yup...prior/during the flare transfer your vision down toward the far end of the runway.

 

[Timebuilder]

The other aspect of this problem is .....................timing.

(Ba dum dum!)

But seriously folks....

One of the most sticky problems for a student pilot is determining when to flare. Right now, you are in the "too late" camp, where the nosewheel hits the pavement. Not a good thing.

Then, there is the "too soon" group. Flare too soon and stall a couple (hopefully no higher) feet above the runway. A good way to damage gear and airplane.

Yes, by all means move your vision aim to a point about halfway to 3/4 down the runway on a typical 3,000 foot field during the flare.

After turning from base to final, you should have an aim point both on the runway and on your windshield, and once proper pitch is established for your speed and configuration those two points should line up with your eyes. Make small changes in order to keep these points aligned. This is a stabilized approach. I start thinking about the flare at about ten feet above the runway, but I don't go off half cocked. I wait until about five feet and slowly (not too slowly!) raise the nose as I pull the power slowly to idle. If the nose starts to sink, don't let it. The steadily decreasing airspeed will mean that you will need more and more up elevator to keep the nose up. While you are looking down the runway and running out of elevator you should feel the mains touching down. Once both main wheels are on the ground, SLOWLY lower the nose from its current position of about ten inches off the runway to a smooth touchdown.

Caution. Raising the nose too quickly in the flare can cause a banging of the tail. That little metal ring costs a bunch to replace if you shear it off. I know someone that paid for this ring in addition to his rental charges that week. Taking the tail apart to check for damage and to install a new ring was not cheap.

 

[labbats]

Practice a landing at 4000' with power off stalls. You will get familiar with the mushy controls and the necessity of overbanking at low airspeeds.

Start 200' above your pretend landing altitude. Hold your landing configuration and final approach speed right up to that altitude, then hold the horizon until it stalls. You just made a landing at altitude! It transaltes well.

Best of luck~

 

[BoDEAN]

Went flying today and we worked on landings (both with and w/o flaps). We did 10 landings in 1.5hrs plus worked on my S-turns. The only issue I was having was the flare on my landings, as in I wasn't. I kept hitting the nose wheel first then the rear. Man, a couple of those actually hurt a little . I ended up finishing the last 2 practice landings pretty well (those were with flaps) and my crosswind landing back at Ellington was pretty smooth. When I got home I ended up falling asleep on my couch, I was beat from all the multi-tasking. I now have a little over 8hrs of time and 19 landings, and my number of landings equals my number of take-offs .

When you get about 20-30 ft above the runway, get into level flight, and slowly start pulling back, and keep saying this outloud to yourself...."patience....patience" and it will come. I teach this, and it works well. Hold that #$*% off the runway, and she will obey =P

 

[corytx]

thanks everyone

thanks for the tips everyone. I think the problem is patience and relaxing. While turning to final I feel the workload increasing, watching airspeed, using radios, getting trim set, thinking ahead to the take-off part of the T&G, etc. My instructor keeps telling me to relax. Yesterday I had one really sweet landing, the wheels touched so soft that I only knew we were on the ground because of the soft squeak sound. Seems like I'm at the point where I have 2 or 3 really nice landings, then the others are fair. Big thing was I did not have a nose gear first landing yesterday, so I'm getting the flare down pretty well.