Tips on learning to land?

[Doug]

Hi, I have about 6 hours flight time at this point. Over the last 3 or 4 lessons I have been in the process of learning to land, with varying degrees of success. Of course I have been learning to land in one sense or another since my first lesson, but the act of the CFI expecting me to land it has only come on recently. Anyhow the first couple times I had pretty smooth conditions and did OK. I think there was one landing where I prettty much did the whole thing, and the instructor gave me a slight rudder nudge to get me center. Other than that I have needed various amounts of assistance. Especially when needing to crab or sideslip. Today I tried two landings...but they were kinda tough since the runway was covered in snow and there was a slight crosswind. I had a tough time judging things, although it was a good experience.

Anyway, I am not discouraged, but I am looking for tips from people on the board about learning to land. My CFI has gone over all the theory and offered his tips, but it's always good to hear from as many people as possible.

So if you have any tips, it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Doug

 

[great cornholio]

I used to tell my students that the landing flare was really a 3 part step. The steps are descent level off and hold off. During the descent is just like the final approach picture. Now it is time to level off the plane at the right spot (just a foot or two above the ground) the plane should be in level flight right above the ground for a few seconds. Now its time to try to hold the plane just off the runway. To do this you are going to have to add back pressure as the the airspeed slows. You will have to pull back just a little more to make sure you get in the right attitude for landing (so you land on the mains first) in most G.A. airplanes that landing attitude should look just like the takeoff attitude so in a cessna you want the nose to be just below the tops of the trees at the end of the runway. The most common errors that I can remember my students doing were forgetting the level off step. They would go straight from the decent to the pitch for landing. When you do this too fast you will balloon up and gain a few feet of altitude loose your airspeed then fall hard to the runway. Another problem that is common is that students would forget to put the airplane in the nose up attitude needed for landing and would either land on all three wheels at the same time or would hit nose wheel first. Hopefully that will help you some with the flare.

Now its time to talk about how to keep the airplane on the runway and over the centerline. I can't tell you how much of each control to put in becasue it changes every time. It depends on too many things just like you cant tell someone how hard to turn the steering wheel when they are learning how the parallel park. Just remember these two things and it will be pretty simple. The rudder is used to keep the nose pointed straight down the runway. Ailerons are used to keep the airplanes track from drifing from the centerline. Lets say you have a right cross wind. (it doesnt matter how much cross wind there is because the flying is done the same just bigger inputs for more wind) If you fly runway heading then you will see that you are drifting to towards the left side of the runway. To fix this you will need to put in a crab angle. To do this fly a heading that is slightly right of the runway heading. IE if runway heading is 090 then fly a heading of 095. (like i said before the amount of heading change depends on the wind. and it often changes many times while you are on final) Now the plane is gonna look like it is flying crooked through the air. However you will be trackin right down the cernterline of the runway. Now you are on short final and it is time to take the crab angle out because if you don't then you will land with side load and thats no good. To take the crab out push enough rudder (in this case left rudder) to get the nose to point straight down the runway (this will change often always becasue the more wind you have the more rudder you need) if you just kick in the rudder and nothing else then the plane will start to drift away from the centerline. (in this case it will start drifting towrads the left side of the runway) to fix this you need to put in some aileron to stop to drift and get you back over the centerline (once again the more wind you have to more control deflection it will take). Hope this helps don't get to confused on which control to put it just do what it takes to get you over the centerline with the nose pointed sraight down the runway and remember aileron gets you over the centerline and rudder makes your nose point straight down the runway.

 

[BoDEAN]

I agree with great cornholio.
I teach 3 steps. Look at the numbers, keep a descent coming. Once you get to about 1/2 wing span above the runway, level off, start looking at the end of the runway. Once you feel the bottom of the plane start falling out (descending), SLOWLY pitch up into a flare that looks similar to when you took off. Remember, be patient with the 3 steps, and it will work!

 

[Doug]

Excellent advice so far. I am also looking for advice for setting up on final. Basically getting it setup, and then riding it all the way in. I have a lot of problems with getting aligned well on final, and then having to get realigned over and over again, I can never seem to get it to "stick", except for one time, but the winds were really calm. I guess it is just one of those things that take practice so you can "feel" the corrections you need to keep you aligned.

 

[kj6991]

Doug. your right. It really is all about feel, and just like anything, it will take some practice. BoDean's concept is good as well. Go out to the practice area and put the airplane in a landing config and work on different rudder pressures, because rudders are one of the most important keys to a good landing. Find a road and use it as a runway and practice turning base to final while using various rudder methods to keep centerline with the road and see how much rudder its gonna take to keep centerline. i do this with my students on their first few lessons and it seems to help. stick a couple of good landings and your money in the bank. it's all about confidence.


kj

 

[great cornholio]

Getting lined up and staying lined up just takes practice man. You have less than 10 hours so you have nothing to worry about right now. You will just have to do it a few times. Sometimes you will turn too early and undershoot and other times you will turn to late and overshoot the runway. Once you do it enough times you will be able to find the right spot to turn more and more. Once you are on final you need to keep adjusting the track because the wind is always changing so you need to change your flight path to stay on final. The more time you get the more ahead of the plane you will be. For example now you dont notice that you are drifting until you have already drifted 20 feet. Soon you will only drift 10 feet before you notice and it will keep getting better and better. Over time you will notice drifts of only a few feet and eventually you will even see the drifts coming and then you will stay on centerline. There is not really too much you can do besides practice practice practice.

 

[Doubleo6point9]

One other thing you should also really work on is maintaining the proper airspeeds throughout your entire descent/approach. I don't have a whole lot of time to elaborate on it right now so maybe someone else will but it will definately help you maintain a stabilized approach which in the end will make it alot easier for you when you're starting your round out and flare. It'll also save you some headaches later on when you're learning soft/short field landings.

 

[Doug]

Excellent advice. In response to maintaining airspeeds. My instructor has kept me focused for the most part on riding an airspeed, not really worrying about altitued(except for the altitude you are at on downwind). Basically then just reducing power using flaps and maintaining that same airspeed till you flare....that it will all work out to the proper rate of decent.

The road thing seems like a good idea. He had me use a road to line up with when doing turn around a point, and that worked pretty well for me.

From the looks of the "lesson plans" I should be working heavily on landings in the next couple lessons, so I am sure spending a good amount of time working at it will allow me to get comfortable with them.