Walked away from this one...

Rodelu · August 18th, 2004, 06:54

I decided to go flying on Friday the 13, just for fun, before the storm move any closer to our area.
I did some slow flight, steep turns, and stalls etc. enough to refresh my skills.
Everything went OK until my way back…First the wind had picked up a bit and now was coming
from the south at 8 kts. (active runway was 9L). No problem, nothing that a little side slip can’t fix…
I call the tower 7 out and he clears me for 9L. After my call, somebody else (corporate jet) calls
10 out, and tower clears him for the same runway. Just as I was increasing throttle to maintain a decent
speed for separation, tower makes me switch to 9R. At this point I’m probably 5 miles out, entering a pattern
that is busy with touch and goes. On a 3 mile final, tower tells me to follow “traffic on base”. I look
and the traffic was at my 2 o’clock about 300 feet higher and still on down wind, so my response was:
“tower: looks like I’m lower than the traffic and closer to the runway”, at that point the tower tells the other
guy to extend downwind and became irritated at them for not turning to base earlier…
Anyways at this point, I’m all setup for the landing, and realized that lowering the flaps to 30 degrees was
not a good idea, so I decided to go back to 20 degrees (bad mistake) I was at 300 feet. After doing this,
I feel the airplane sinking, so I added a little power and lowered the nose; my speed was around 65 kts
and was pretty much aligned with the runway when I begun the flare, and here is that I realize that was
little fast. I touched down flat and ballooned big time!. I think I added a little power at this point, so I would not
hit the gound too hard, BUT I was too fast to begin with, so when I touched down the second time, I started
some weird, kind of strong oscillation up and down on the nose wheel. Right after like the third one I started
counteracting them with the elevator and eventually went away…
It’s the first time that I experience this, so it freak me out. After almost 200 hrs of flying, I had some bad landings, but nothing like this.
I’m supposed to get better with experience right??
I think it was a chain of situations and bad decisions that accumulated, therefore the need to visualize the landing
waaaay before it happens. The retraction of the flaps started a bad chain reaction.
They say that any landing that you walk away from it’s a good, but I don’t want to have another one like this… [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img] [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img]

Any input is welcome, Thanks

Screaming_Emu · August 18th, 2004, 07:14

sounds like you did some porposing...done that before and its really freaky because I didn't know how to stop it. Luckilly my instructor was with me and we put the throttles to the firewall and that made us stop. All's well that ends well I guess, glad everything turned out ok ;-).

BoilerPilot2007 · August 18th, 2004, 08:04

We all have our bad landings... sure, with 200 hours you'd think that the bad landing days are over with, but I can assure you they are not [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

I'm glad you learned from that experience.. that's what flying's all about!

Silverhawk · August 18th, 2004, 09:03

Glad you're safe and learned a bit from that experience.. that what it's all about !!

I had a similar experience with the same result coming back from a XC .. porposing ( spelling ?? ) a few times before finally settling back on the runway.. definately one of my ugliest landings by far !! i should have just gone around but I never had it happened to me before and really felt out of control of the situation for a second or two before coaxing her down finally..

Afterwards I had wondered if I just added a bit of power as if I had ballooned a little and just held constant back pressure a little bit to see if that would soften it up a bit and smooth things out..

SteveC · August 18th, 2004, 09:14

Next time it starts porpoising, go around. It's all too possible for a porpoising incident to lead to a collapsed nose gear or a prop strike. Certainly most of these incidents are recoverable, but the odds of something bad happening go up substantially. Better to add power, go around, and take time to get set up for an approach with the proper speed and approach path nailed.

Chalk it up to another "learning experience". Kudos for posting it here and letting others learn from it also!

[img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

Mahesh · August 18th, 2004, 09:33

Yeap, that was porpoising alright.

It happened to me too. I was flying into an unfamiliar airport (York, PA) which had a displaced threshold. It was gusty so I kept some extra speed in. Well when I reached my touchdown point, I was too fast. Instead of being patient, I forced it down. Big mistake. I bounced once pretty high. This was my second chance to go around but I tried ot save it. So then the porposiing started and by the time I had it under control, I was near the left edge of the runway!

I was so freaked out I had a mechanic check out the nose strut. I was afraid I damaged the wheel bearing or the shock itself. He didn't see anything wrong with it. When I got back home, I told the flight school what happened and that I would pay for any fixes if there were any. They said never mind, these things happen.

However, a couple of weeks later I flew the same plane and saw in the maintenance log that the wheel bearings had been replaced. I hope it wasn't me!!

[img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif[/img] [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img]

Mahesh

SteveC · August 18th, 2004, 10:32

[ QUOTE ]
...However, a couple of weeks later I flew the same plane and saw in the maintenance log that the wheel bearings had been replaced. I hope it wasn't me!!

[/ QUOTE ]

Probably not. Wheel bearings won't normally be hurt by that kind of action.

Mahesh · August 18th, 2004, 10:45

SteveC,

Ohh good to hear that. I felt terrible that I flew that trusty old plane in such a manner! I guess all the impact is taken by the tire and the strut so if it were really bad, I would have had a bulge in the tire or a collapsed strut.

Mahesh

tonyw · August 18th, 2004, 10:55

Hey, I've flown there (York). It's got a nice long 5,280 foot runway. Know why it's 5,280 feet?

It used to be a drag strip.

Kind of cool, huh?

darrenf · August 18th, 2004, 11:14

[ QUOTE ]
Know why it's 5,280 feet?

It used to be a drag strip.

Kind of cool, huh?

[/ QUOTE ]

Hmm, I thought a drag strip was usually 1320' + a runoff area. I know of several drag strips with less than 4000' total length. In fact, many years ago I landed at one while visiting a race at an oval track next door.

Mahesh · August 18th, 2004, 11:20

[ QUOTE ]
Hey, I've flown there (York). It's got a nice long 5,280 foot runway. Know why it's 5,280 feet?

It used to be a drag strip.

Kind of cool, huh?

[/ QUOTE ]

Yeah! It is a nice little airport. I usually stop there on my way to Lancaster, PA or on the way back just for fun.

The runway is quite long, esp for a 172 which makes it even more embarassing to rush and porpoise on a landing. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif[/img]

Mahesh

tonyw · August 18th, 2004, 11:34

Well, that's what one of the locals told me.

Never thought anything of it until now. Now you went and raised some questions.

Maybe the guy was jerking my chain. I don't know jack about drag racing so when he said yup, this used to be a drag strip, I was like, oh, cool.

Then he went back to the rest of his buddies hanging around the airport and told them, "fooled another one."

Rodelu · August 19th, 2004, 05:03

Thanks everyone for the replies!!
I've seen/heard that term porposing before but had never experience it before, and I don't remember any of my instructors talk about it.
I feel better now that I learned what it was...kind of like when you go to the doctor's office and he tels you..."THIS is what you have..." [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/Smilecrunch.gif[/img] [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/Smilecrunch.gif[/img] [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/Smilecrunch.gif[/img]
Thanks again!

mastermags · August 19th, 2004, 09:47

Dont feel too bad about your landing. Ive been in kind of a rut lately where I havent been able to grease any of them in. Ive switched to a low wing, so that may have something to do with it. But after you get your private you feel like all your landings should be nicer than your student pilot days.... they wont be. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/spin2.gif[/img]

tonyw · August 19th, 2004, 09:50

Someone told me that there are only two kinds of pilots. Those that have just had a bad landing, and ones that will have one.

Doug Taylor · August 19th, 2004, 11:20

"You win some, you lose some."

Consider yourself lucky that you at least didn' thave 142 "backseat drivers" when this happened.

Mahesh · August 19th, 2004, 12:47

[ QUOTE ]
But after you get your private you feel like all your landings should be nicer than your student pilot days.... they wont be. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/spin2.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

Actually if I think back, I think my best landing ever was on the first landing of my first solo! It was so nice. Now they are more like controlled crashes. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif[/img]

Mahesh

Doug Taylor · August 19th, 2004, 12:55

I have long strings of good and bad ones. But largely, when you grease it in, people comment on how bad it was. When you prang it on, people comment how good it was.

It's all perception! [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

mtsu_av8er · August 19th, 2004, 13:02

[ QUOTE ]
I have long strings of good and bad ones. But largely, when you grease it in, people comment on how bad it was. When you prang it on, people comment how good it was.

It's all perception! [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[/ QUOTE ]

A couple days ago, I was flying with a student that was really having a hard time stablizing his approach. I explained to him that a great landing always starts with a great approach. So, I took the plane and demonstrated a perfect traffic pattern, and banged it down onto the numbers on the spot - carrier style. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img]

So, it's his turn and he flies his weird, funky pattern and makes it to the runway - where he makes the smoothest landing I've seen in weeks.

"Good lesson, Timmy - I'm going to eat a little bit more crow now..."

[img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

Mahesh · August 19th, 2004, 13:14

LOL.

It was so funny, my CFI had the worst luck with showing me landings. He is one of the best pilots I know and very good but whenever he said "can I demonstrate?", something or the other would happen and the smooth, precision touch down on the 1000 foot marker would turn into a slam 50 feet further.

Then I had this one CFI before the one above who one day covered up the instrument panel with a sectional to teach me how to fly looking out the windshield and not at the instruments. He told be to approach the runway and keep the plane off the ground with him controlling the throttle. BAMMMM! The chief flight instructor was in the runup area watching us and so we quickly split to the practice area.

I thoroughly enjoyed getting my ppl!

Mahesh

mastermags · August 19th, 2004, 13:34

Its amazing how a bad landing can ruin your day too. I went up on my second official instrument lesson the other day, did everything well, pretty much to PTS standards. Made a decent landing over at Monroe County. Came back to PDK, tracked the VOR to the field, set up everything just right... then flared too high and pranged it in.... and that landing was all I could think about for 2 hours [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/banghead.gif[/img]

Its like they say... theres way more to flying then landing, but landing is what the general population will judge you on.

flyover · August 19th, 2004, 14:07

[ QUOTE ]
I started some weird, kind of strong oscillation up and down on the nose wheel. Right after like the third one I started
counteracting them with the elevator and eventually went away…
It’s the first time that I experience this, so it freak me out.

[/ QUOTE ]

You may have gotten lucky on this one. Often when you start "counteracting" you end up chasing the oscillation and actually make it worse. I watched a nose gear get takein off a 172 that way.

As other have said best method is to stabilize at an appropriate pitch, slightly nose up. Then initiating a go-around would be the safest. After some experience you might elect to let it settle on the runway, using power as needed to avoid a hard landing (keeping in mind you are using up runway). But if in doubt about anything, go around.

Thathas worked for me from everything to a cub to a widebody.

tonyw · August 19th, 2004, 14:14

[ QUOTE ]
Its like they say... theres way more to flying then landing, but landing is what the general population will judge you on.

[/ QUOTE ]

Watching the Olympics and the gymnastics has made me realize just how similar flying and gymnastics are.

No matter how good your flying or routine is, people who don't know jack about it will judge you by your landing. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img]

Can you imagine that? Oh, that's gonna cost him -- no crosswind and yet he landed on the right wheel first. That's a mandatory tenth of a point right there! [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/spin2.gif[/img]

ready2fly · August 19th, 2004, 14:17

Yup, we saw a freshly-minted PPL porpoise a 172 down the runway....and eventually off of it into the grass and in so doing, taking out two runway lights in the process.

The good thing is, all walked away unscathed. Sad thing is, he had his very first pax on board. They were cool, but they haven't been back up with him either.

eodfe · August 19th, 2004, 14:27

Bad Landings happen, we just need to learn from them.

Today I landed with a crosswind in a 182RG, when the cross wind died, I was about 3 feet off the ground, I didn't take the crosswind correction out soon enough and the downwind wing started to float up and I was heading for the edge of the runway at 60 knots, I manged to save it but it sure did shake me up a bit.

August 18th, 2004, 06:54	#1
Rodelu Junior Member Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: USA Posts: 128	Walked away from this one... I decided to go flying on Friday the 13, just for fun, before the storm move any closer to our area. I did some slow flight, steep turns, and stalls etc. enough to refresh my skills. Everything went OK until my way back…First the wind had picked up a bit and now was coming from the south at 8 kts. (active runway was 9L). No problem, nothing that a little side slip can’t fix… I call the tower 7 out and he clears me for 9L. After my call, somebody else (corporate jet) calls 10 out, and tower clears him for the same runway. Just as I was increasing throttle to maintain a decent speed for separation, tower makes me switch to 9R. At this point I’m probably 5 miles out, entering a pattern that is busy with touch and goes. On a 3 mile final, tower tells me to follow “traffic on base”. I look and the traffic was at my 2 o’clock about 300 feet higher and still on down wind, so my response was: “tower: looks like I’m lower than the traffic and closer to the runway”, at that point the tower tells the other guy to extend downwind and became irritated at them for not turning to base earlier… Anyways at this point, I’m all setup for the landing, and realized that lowering the flaps to 30 degrees was not a good idea, so I decided to go back to 20 degrees (bad mistake) I was at 300 feet. After doing this, I feel the airplane sinking, so I added a little power and lowered the nose; my speed was around 65 kts and was pretty much aligned with the runway when I begun the flare, and here is that I realize that was little fast. I touched down flat and ballooned big time!. I think I added a little power at this point, so I would not hit the gound too hard, BUT I was too fast to begin with, so when I touched down the second time, I started some weird, kind of strong oscillation up and down on the nose wheel. Right after like the third one I started counteracting them with the elevator and eventually went away… It’s the first time that I experience this, so it freak me out. After almost 200 hrs of flying, I had some bad landings, but nothing like this. I’m supposed to get better with experience right?? I think it was a chain of situations and bad decisions that accumulated, therefore the need to visualize the landing waaaay before it happens. The retraction of the flaps started a bad chain reaction. They say that any landing that you walk away from it’s a good, but I don’t want to have another one like this… [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img] [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img] Any input is welcome, Thanks

August 18th, 2004, 07:14	#2
Screaming_Emu Old Skool Join Date: May 2002 Location: Atlanta, GA Posts: 3,091	Re: Walked away from this one... sounds like you did some porposing...done that before and its really freaky because I didn't know how to stop it. Luckilly my instructor was with me and we put the throttles to the firewall and that made us stop. All's well that ends well I guess, glad everything turned out ok ;-).

August 18th, 2004, 08:04	#3
BoilerPilot2007 Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2003 Location: Chicago Posts: 444	Re: Walked away from this one... We all have our bad landings... sure, with 200 hours you'd think that the bad landing days are over with, but I can assure you they are not [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] I'm glad you learned from that experience.. that's what flying's all about!

August 18th, 2004, 09:03	#4
Silverhawk Senior Member Join Date: Sep 2003 Location: Pittsburgh, PA Posts: 362	Re: Walked away from this one... Glad you're safe and learned a bit from that experience.. that what it's all about !! I had a similar experience with the same result coming back from a XC .. porposing ( spelling ?? ) a few times before finally settling back on the runway.. definately one of my ugliest landings by far !! i should have just gone around but I never had it happened to me before and really felt out of control of the situation for a second or two before coaxing her down finally.. Afterwards I had wondered if I just added a bit of power as if I had ballooned a little and just held constant back pressure a little bit to see if that would soften it up a bit and smooth things out..

August 18th, 2004, 09:14	#5
SteveC Moderator Join Date: May 2003 Location: GRR Posts: 8,354	Re: Walked away from this one... Next time it starts porpoising, go around. It's all too possible for a porpoising incident to lead to a collapsed nose gear or a prop strike. Certainly most of these incidents are recoverable, but the odds of something bad happening go up substantially. Better to add power, go around, and take time to get set up for an approach with the proper speed and approach path nailed. Chalk it up to another "learning experience". Kudos for posting it here and letting others learn from it also! [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

August 18th, 2004, 09:33	#6
Mahesh Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: Northern Hemisphere Posts: 1,311	Re: Walked away from this one... Yeap, that was porpoising alright. It happened to me too. I was flying into an unfamiliar airport (York, PA) which had a displaced threshold. It was gusty so I kept some extra speed in. Well when I reached my touchdown point, I was too fast. Instead of being patient, I forced it down. Big mistake. I bounced once pretty high. This was my second chance to go around but I tried ot save it. So then the porposiing started and by the time I had it under control, I was near the left edge of the runway! I was so freaked out I had a mechanic check out the nose strut. I was afraid I damaged the wheel bearing or the shock itself. He didn't see anything wrong with it. When I got back home, I told the flight school what happened and that I would pay for any fixes if there were any. They said never mind, these things happen. However, a couple of weeks later I flew the same plane and saw in the maintenance log that the wheel bearings had been replaced. I hope it wasn't me!! [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif[/img] [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif[/img] Mahesh

August 18th, 2004, 10:32	#7
SteveC Moderator Join Date: May 2003 Location: GRR Posts: 8,354	Re: Walked away from this one... [ QUOTE ] ...However, a couple of weeks later I flew the same plane and saw in the maintenance log that the wheel bearings had been replaced. I hope it wasn't me!! [/ QUOTE ] Probably not. Wheel bearings won't normally be hurt by that kind of action.

August 18th, 2004, 10:45	#8
Mahesh Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: Northern Hemisphere Posts: 1,311	Re: Walked away from this one... SteveC, Ohh good to hear that. I felt terrible that I flew that trusty old plane in such a manner! I guess all the impact is taken by the tire and the strut so if it were really bad, I would have had a bulge in the tire or a collapsed strut. Mahesh

August 18th, 2004, 10:55	#9
tonyw Old Skool Join Date: May 2002 Location: Maryland Posts: 15,137	Re: Walked away from this one... Hey, I've flown there (York). It's got a nice long 5,280 foot runway. Know why it's 5,280 feet? It used to be a drag strip. Kind of cool, huh?

August 18th, 2004, 11:14	#10
darrenf Old Skool Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Atlantic City, NJ Posts: 3,435	Re: Walked away from this one... [ QUOTE ] Know why it's 5,280 feet? It used to be a drag strip. Kind of cool, huh? [/ QUOTE ] Hmm, I thought a drag strip was usually 1320' + a runoff area. I know of several drag strips with less than 4000' total length. In fact, many years ago I landed at one while visiting a race at an oval track next door.

August 18th, 2004, 11:20	#11
Mahesh Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: Northern Hemisphere Posts: 1,311	Re: Walked away from this one... [ QUOTE ] Hey, I've flown there (York). It's got a nice long 5,280 foot runway. Know why it's 5,280 feet? It used to be a drag strip. Kind of cool, huh? [/ QUOTE ] Yeah! It is a nice little airport. I usually stop there on my way to Lancaster, PA or on the way back just for fun. The runway is quite long, esp for a 172 which makes it even more embarassing to rush and porpoise on a landing. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif[/img] Mahesh

August 18th, 2004, 11:34	#12
tonyw Old Skool Join Date: May 2002 Location: Maryland Posts: 15,137	Re: Walked away from this one... Well, that's what one of the locals told me. Never thought anything of it until now. Now you went and raised some questions. Maybe the guy was jerking my chain. I don't know jack about drag racing so when he said yup, this used to be a drag strip, I was like, oh, cool. Then he went back to the rest of his buddies hanging around the airport and told them, "fooled another one."

August 19th, 2004, 05:03	#13
Rodelu Junior Member Join Date: Jan 2002 Location: USA Posts: 128	Re: Walked away from this one... Thanks everyone for the replies!! I've seen/heard that term porposing before but had never experience it before, and I don't remember any of my instructors talk about it. I feel better now that I learned what it was...kind of like when you go to the doctor's office and he tels you..."THIS is what you have..." [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/Smilecrunch.gif[/img] [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/Smilecrunch.gif[/img] [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/Smilecrunch.gif[/img] Thanks again!

August 19th, 2004, 09:47	#14
mastermags Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Atlanta, Ga Posts: 1,300	Re: Walked away from this one... Dont feel too bad about your landing. Ive been in kind of a rut lately where I havent been able to grease any of them in. Ive switched to a low wing, so that may have something to do with it. But after you get your private you feel like all your landings should be nicer than your student pilot days.... they wont be. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/spin2.gif[/img]

August 19th, 2004, 09:50	#15
tonyw Old Skool Join Date: May 2002 Location: Maryland Posts: 15,137	Re: Walked away from this one... Someone told me that there are only two kinds of pilots. Those that have just had a bad landing, and ones that will have one.

August 19th, 2004, 11:20	#16
Doug Taylor Agent Smith Join Date: Dec 1969 Location: KSDL Posts: 39,771 Blog Entries: 1	Re: Walked away from this one... "You win some, you lose some." Consider yourself lucky that you at least didn' thave 142 "backseat drivers" when this happened.

August 19th, 2004, 12:47	#17
Mahesh Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: Northern Hemisphere Posts: 1,311	Re: Walked away from this one... [ QUOTE ] But after you get your private you feel like all your landings should be nicer than your student pilot days.... they wont be. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/spin2.gif[/img] [/ QUOTE ] Actually if I think back, I think my best landing ever was on the first landing of my first solo! It was so nice. Now they are more like controlled crashes. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/crazy.gif[/img] Mahesh

August 19th, 2004, 12:55	#18
Doug Taylor Agent Smith Join Date: Dec 1969 Location: KSDL Posts: 39,771 Blog Entries: 1	Re: Walked away from this one... I have long strings of good and bad ones. But largely, when you grease it in, people comment on how bad it was. When you prang it on, people comment how good it was. It's all perception! [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

August 19th, 2004, 13:02	#19
mtsu_av8er Old Skool Join Date: Dec 2002 Location: Utopia Posts: 12,403	Re: Walked away from this one... [ QUOTE ] I have long strings of good and bad ones. But largely, when you grease it in, people comment on how bad it was. When you prang it on, people comment how good it was. It's all perception! [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img] [/ QUOTE ] A couple days ago, I was flying with a student that was really having a hard time stablizing his approach. I explained to him that a great landing always starts with a great approach. So, I took the plane and demonstrated a perfect traffic pattern, and banged it down onto the numbers on the spot - carrier style. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img] So, it's his turn and he flies his weird, funky pattern and makes it to the runway - where he makes the smoothest landing I've seen in weeks. "Good lesson, Timmy - I'm going to eat a little bit more crow now..." [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

August 19th, 2004, 13:14	#20
Mahesh Senior Member Join Date: Mar 2001 Location: Northern Hemisphere Posts: 1,311	Re: Walked away from this one... LOL. It was so funny, my CFI had the worst luck with showing me landings. He is one of the best pilots I know and very good but whenever he said "can I demonstrate?", something or the other would happen and the smooth, precision touch down on the 1000 foot marker would turn into a slam 50 feet further. Then I had this one CFI before the one above who one day covered up the instrument panel with a sectional to teach me how to fly looking out the windshield and not at the instruments. He told be to approach the runway and keep the plane off the ground with him controlling the throttle. BAMMMM! The chief flight instructor was in the runup area watching us and so we quickly split to the practice area. I thoroughly enjoyed getting my ppl! Mahesh

August 19th, 2004, 13:34	#21
mastermags Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2003 Location: Atlanta, Ga Posts: 1,300	Re: Walked away from this one... Its amazing how a bad landing can ruin your day too. I went up on my second official instrument lesson the other day, did everything well, pretty much to PTS standards. Made a decent landing over at Monroe County. Came back to PDK, tracked the VOR to the field, set up everything just right... then flared too high and pranged it in.... and that landing was all I could think about for 2 hours [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/banghead.gif[/img] Its like they say... theres way more to flying then landing, but landing is what the general population will judge you on.

August 19th, 2004, 14:07	#22
flyover Old Skool Join Date: Mar 2004 Location: Georgia Posts: 3,389	Re: Walked away from this one... [ QUOTE ] I started some weird, kind of strong oscillation up and down on the nose wheel. Right after like the third one I started counteracting them with the elevator and eventually went away… It’s the first time that I experience this, so it freak me out. [/ QUOTE ] You may have gotten lucky on this one. Often when you start "counteracting" you end up chasing the oscillation and actually make it worse. I watched a nose gear get takein off a 172 that way. As other have said best method is to stabilize at an appropriate pitch, slightly nose up. Then initiating a go-around would be the safest. After some experience you might elect to let it settle on the runway, using power as needed to avoid a hard landing (keeping in mind you are using up runway). But if in doubt about anything, go around. Thathas worked for me from everything to a cub to a widebody.

August 19th, 2004, 14:14	#23
tonyw Old Skool Join Date: May 2002 Location: Maryland Posts: 15,137	Re: Walked away from this one... [ QUOTE ] Its like they say... theres way more to flying then landing, but landing is what the general population will judge you on. [/ QUOTE ] Watching the Olympics and the gymnastics has made me realize just how similar flying and gymnastics are. No matter how good your flying or routine is, people who don't know jack about it will judge you by your landing. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smirk.gif[/img] Can you imagine that? Oh, that's gonna cost him -- no crosswind and yet he landed on the right wheel first. That's a mandatory tenth of a point right there! [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/spin2.gif[/img]

August 19th, 2004, 14:17	#24
ready2fly Old Skool Join Date: Nov 2001 Location: DFW Posts: 7,079	Re: Walked away from this one... Yup, we saw a freshly-minted PPL porpoise a 172 down the runway....and eventually off of it into the grass and in so doing, taking out two runway lights in the process. The good thing is, all walked away unscathed. Sad thing is, he had his very first pax on board. They were cool, but they haven't been back up with him either.

August 19th, 2004, 14:27	#25
eodfe Junior Member Join Date: Apr 2002 Location: Centennial, Colorado Posts: 165	Re: Walked away from this one... Bad Landings happen, we just need to learn from them. Today I landed with a crosswind in a 182RG, when the cross wind died, I was about 3 feet off the ground, I didn't take the crosswind correction out soon enough and the downwind wing started to float up and I was heading for the edge of the runway at 60 knots, I manged to save it but it sure did shake me up a bit.

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