Consistent Landings

[bronxpilot]

I have pretty much mastered every other phase of the flight and my landings are keping me from flying solo. My instructor says I do some great and then the next one might be extremely bumpy. Does anyone have tips on how to achieve consistent landings? Thanks.

[JulietBravo]

What has your instructor mentioned about your bumpy landings? Rudder control, not flaring, etc... Anything he/she said you need to work on specifically or is it just random every once in a while?

[meyers9163]

I had a female student that sounds like this..... Finally I had her fly with another instructor who was more experienced then I was... What'd he recommend, "Dont land dont land dont let it land" and when she would come in I would keep telling her that.... Until finally she started to nail the landings.... Nice and smooth (hell some better then me). Hold it off.....

[mojo6911]

Airspeed control

[USMC-SGT]

You are well ahead of me, I have been flying for 6 years and have not mastered anything. As for my landings if they were all perfect I would not fly, it is the challenge that keeps me going up for more. When you get your ratings get your tailwheel endorsement, it will truly make you appreciate WORKING for a good landing.

[tpaRob]

I honestly didn't stick a good landing until my solo (solo'd at 13 hours). When I flew with my instructor he was always bumping the yoke.. weather he knew it or not he controlled more of the landings than I did. When it was just me I did way better than I thought I would.

I always turn the VASI on too. That way I know my glideslope is always the same. Then hold it off the ground without flairing too high and let it settle down. And.. like Mojo says.. airspeed control.

Know your landmarks. Know that you will be turning base and final at the same place everytime.

I am not a licensed pilot yet (13 hours left), but I play one when I'm solo.

[tonyw]

The best way to land consistently is to stop worrying about it.

You know what to do, right? You know how to do it and it sounds like you do it right quite a bit.

So just relax, stop gripping the yoke so hard, and just land it!

[PGT]

hold it off, hold it off, hold it, hold it, hold it

god I got sick of hearing that

[TUCKnTRUCK]

Don't look at where you want to land. Look a good mile past that.

Trim the snot outta the plane. If you drop the yoke, the plane should hold, or pitch for your ref speed.

Not to get too advanced, but, if trimed for your ref speed.. A little touch of power right when you think you are going to touch down will make the airplane nearly land it's self.

Ask the instructor to Hold the yoke fixed on a calm day, try to land using only rudder, trim and power. On final, trim for your ref speed with full flaps. Use power to control glide path. You've got to be smooth and deliberate. don't yank the power out, or toss it all in. When your body is just about screaming at you to pull pack on the yoke, smoothly add just enough power that the nose starts to rise, and leave it. This will help you work out all the other areas and aspects of aircraft control, and planning.

Instructor should be ok with this... as he/she already has his grubs on the yoke should he need to correct or take over, and it can be quite fun.

[PWK_Pilot]

The key to consistently good landings is not to chop the power too soon and to be SMOOTH with the inputs- I try to go to idle right over the threshold or a little sooner than that if I'm landing on a short rwy.I can pick a spot just past the numbers and land on that consistently[thanks Bob!] If you chop the pwr too soon and you are coming over the threshold a little slow[under VREF] and are heavy or windy you will hit the pavement firmly. A little fast and you may land flat which is not desirable. Of course keep those feet dancing on the pedals and track str8 over the centerline Try not to resist flying it on to the rwy- gradually bring the nose up slowly till you feel the mains touch and then yoke full aft. Peripheral vison is KEY and using the right flap configs under differnt conditions.

Peter

[moxiepilot]

look past the far end of the runway to assess height above ground for your flare

[azpilot84]

Couple of links for you:

http://flighttraining.aopa.org/cfi_t...m?article=4877

http://www.aopa.org/pilot/features/2...ttern0203.html

http://www.kingschools.com/webVideo/VideoArchives.asp

http://www.plasticpilot.net/blog/200...-strong-winds/

Hope these are helpful.

[bronxpilot]

thanks alot for the info guys. I went up today and did 12 touch and go's. About 8 or 9 were picture perfect, than the other ones had various problems like no centerline becuase of rudders, too much flare too early, too little flare too late. it's frustrating but I'm starting to get some consistency in the alarus I'm training in by pushing the nose down to maintain 70 knots the whole time on apporach, then holding off of the flare while we float and bleed off airspeed.

[mooneyguy]

Originally Posted by bronxpilot

thanks alot for the info guys. I went up today and did 12 touch and go's. About 8 or 9 were picture perfect, than the other ones had various problems like no centerline becuase of rudders, too much flare too early, too little flare too late. it's frustrating but I'm starting to get some consistency in the alarus I'm training in by pushing the nose down to maintain 70 knots the whole time on apporach, then holding off of the flare while we float and bleed off airspeed.

WOW 70kts in an alarus?? I only have a couple hours in one but if i recall stall VSO is like 39 kts??? I remember it will float all day with extra speed.
What is your speed across the fence? You would think with those short wings she would drop like an arrow, but nope...she will float long time

[LoadMasterC141]

Tim,
Did you manhandle that poor Alarus too? I felt like I had strapped wings to my back after flying the Twinkie for 20 hours in 3 days and then hopping into it.

For OP, practice practie practice. A good landing does not have to be smooth. It needs to be on the centerline and on the mains. You can work on the grease later!

[mooneyguy]

Originally Posted by LoadMasterC141

Tim,
Did you manhandle that poor Alarus too? I felt like I had strapped wings to my back after flying the Twinkie for 20 hours in 3 days and then hopping into it.

For OP, practice practie practice. A good landing does not have to be smooth. It needs to be on the centerline and on the mains. You can work on the grease later!

Jeremy, you know once you get past the fear of flying something that looks like it came out of a cracker jacks box it was/is a fun little plane to fly! The power off 180's where a lot of fun!

and ditto on the centerline and on the mains...I have been on airliners that have had some pretty nasty landings. One of the few times I have actually been scared on a landing was in a 767 landing in Honolulu. I though we were going off the side of the runway!

You will continue to have bad landings and you will also have good ones...dont worry about it!

I have it on good faith that my landings in a twin comanche where a lot better then a certain person here on JC who just became a CFI
so, that goes to show even CFIs have bad days!

[LoadMasterC141]

Originally Posted by mooneyguy

I have it on good faith that my landings in a twin comanche where a lot better then a certain person here on JC who just became a CFI

What? And Oscar told me I was nailing the best landings he had ever seen in the thing! Gee I wonder if he says that to all the students

[SpiraMirabilis]

I'll tell you what I used to tell my students: I'd 100x rather see you come in on approach speed, maintain directional control and land on the centerline and in the touchdown zone than anything else. Slam it in there if you can do all of the above, I don't care! A good landing is a consistently safe landing regardless of how much you bump it (unless you are porpoising.)

Once you realize -- hey, I am on approach speed, hey I am on the centerline, hey I am in the touchdown zone, hey these landings are safe if rough -- then you'll stop worrying about it so much and finesse will come with practice.

[RightSeatGirl]

Originally Posted by SpiraMirabilis

I'll tell you what I used to tell my students: I'd 100x rather see you come in on approach speed, maintain directional control and land on the centerline and in the touchdown zone than anything else. Slam it in there if you can do all of the above, I don't care! A good landing is a consistently safe landing regardless of how much you bump it (unless you are porpoising.)

Once you realize -- hey, I am on approach speed, hey I am on the centerline, hey I am in the touchdown zone, hey these landings are safe if rough -- then you'll stop worrying about it so much and finesse will come with practice.

Excellent post...and just wait...once you start flying transport category aircraft with a different CG every leg, you'll be thinking back to those Cessna days going ..."ooohh that was the life.." (when it comes to consistent landings anyway)

[Bumblebee]

Originally Posted by RightSeatGirl

Excellent post...and just wait...once you start flying transport category aircraft with a different CG every leg, you'll be thinking back to those Cessna days going ..."ooohh that was the life.." (when it comes to consistent landings anyway)

ain't that the truth . . . I just make sure everything is right . . . airspeed . . .rate of descent . . . I'd rather hit the markers and then worry about the landing.

[Crockrocket94]

Isnt approach speed, or at least VREF supposed to be around 1.3xVSO?

Sounds like you are approaching too fast if the VSO is indeed around 40.

[Capt. Caucasian]

On speed, on centerline, in the touchdown zone. Everything else will work itself out.

I used to tell my students during the flare to bring the nose up to meet the end of the runway. Kinda forced them to look far out instead of ten feet in front.

[bronxpilot]

On my checklist here is says 60 knots (with flaps) and 65 without is the appropriate approach speed so we pitch for 65-70. Then when we level it off and float to bleed off airspeed, we usually touch down around 30. Sometimes we do float, but no worries, we're using Runway 6/24 which is very long here at islip, so it can accomodate all the Southwest Airlines 737 traffic.

[Do3r17]

Yeah, I'm really pissed off at myself because I'm having a hard time landing. Then again, their 22knt crosswinds and I'm at 13 hours. In fact, I have yet to get a calm day. Gotta love Chicago.

[DE727UPS]

"Does anyone have tips on how to achieve consistent landings? Thanks."

Practice.

Practice, Practice, Practice.

Then, go out in challenging gusty winds and/or crosswinds and practice. If you master the challenging scenario, you'll find the easy scenario to be a no brainer. That said, perfection seems to have escaped me, and I've been doing it since 1976, so I'm not sure what to tell ya.....

Practice.