Over-shoot, under-shoot, lack of directional control, wing tip strikes… are all symptoms of mistakes made Prior to the pilot touches down. Mistakes that are easily to fix – but not necessarily in a way you might think.
I landed at the Nuttree Airport in some sort of Cessna 172 in 1968. We felt pretty smug. It’s a very smooth you, one of those landings that one could hear but not feel. Then a wind strong gust picked me up and I landed an additional time on a parallel taxiway. The pilot taxiing inside opposite direction was kind enough (or maybe stunned enough or frightened enough) to hold on to short of a turn-off so that i could move over to the parking apron. I couldn’t look him inside eye as we proceeded to go past. Red-faced, I mumbled some excuses to my passengers i didn’t believe. I had just made the three biggest (and most common) mistakes a pilot tend to make when landing.
Determined never to let that happen ever again, I spend a lot of time in the intervening 40 years thinking about stay away from these mistakes. The NTSB says that the full 45% of the weather-related accidents are caused by crosswinds and gusts. I do believe it. It is time for you to introduce some little known techniques that help alleviate problems with these accidents. But primary, we should look at their causes.
Landing too fast is brought on by flying the approach too fast or wanting to force the airplane relating to the runway before it is actually ready. The solution may be to fly a consistent approach at the same airspeed, picking a safe projected glide point (or PGP), and controlling the PGP until you land. But hold the airplane a foot or so off the runway until the airplane nose has rotated around the landing attitude. Hold that attitude before airplane lands. That way you may land at the correct speed.
Failing to cross control in the crosswind leads to floor loops, being blown off the side of the runway (the most common cause of accidents in the united states), wing tip damage, or, in my condition, flying over the infield and landing on the taxiway. To put that simply, cross controlling is with the rudder to keep the long axis of the airplane parallel to the long axis of the runway and using the ailerons to remain the airplane positioned over the runway. This guarantees that you will keep the airplane moving reducing the runway after this wheels touch.
Quit flying the plane prior to the plane is through flying is one of the most dangerous mistakes that a pilot could make. Its cause is not enough concentration. Its solution is good flying habits.
I was lucky in the Nuttree. If the crosswind had been from the opposite side, I could have been blown into a channel. Remember that just because the main gear is on the floor does not mean that there’s no ‘fly’ left in the airplane. Also remember that when you keep the airplane just above the runway until it absolutely, positively will not fly any more, then it will an unusually strong gust to position it in the air again.
It is simple to be lulled into this bad habits that trigger these mistakes. When the wind is gentle and also the runway is long, all will be forgiven. So the question is: how to retain these bad habits with developing?
I want to inform you of two exercises that have helped pilots more that i could have ever dreamed of. They are the ‘very slow Dutch roll’ along with the ‘controlled projected glide’ point. Neither is difficult and also dangerous. Both simplify and strengthen any pilot’s capacity land.
The very slow Dutch roll can be a simple exercise done for a safe altitude. It teaches two very important skills. First the pilot learns to continuously move this stick and rudders to overpower the airplane as circumstances change, and second, the pilot learns how to cross control the airplane in the most extreme circumstances.
Here is how to do a really slow Dutch roll. Pick a point on the horizon and hold it steady as you change the angle with bank, airspeed and flap configuration. Maintain constant altitude. Switch your bank very slowly but surely. Continue to increase your angle of bank until either the aileron or the rudder is forced to its limit. This can be the angle of bank for the maximum crosswind that the airplane are designed for. The cross controlled airplane slowly accelerates to the side for a minute or two. During this time, the pilot must shift the flight controls continuously as being the airplane accelerates to the side – an unanticipated selling point of this exercise.
Let me tell you about the projected glide point or PGP. When you approach this runway your eye can naturally gravitate toward a place on the runway that doesn’t move in your discipline of vision. The phenomenon is similar to when you are on the collision course with another airplane: it stays still inside your field of vision but just gets bigger. Properly, there is always a point among the bushes where exactly the ditto happens. This is the point that you would glide to in the event you never made that previous little flair to territory. This is an really valuable concept that can help you save many hours of landing practice. I never heard another flight instructor talk about it but Seen that many pilots take this technique.
You can regulate the PGP with power and drag while trying to keep the airspeed constant. To move the PGP closer back, reduce the engine’s power or improve the airplanes drag – constantly with flaps. To move the PGP faraway from you, increase the engine’s power or decrease the airplane’s drag.
Use the two concepts together to make consistent, safe landings. When established on final, operate the center line of this runway as your a blueprint point for very impede Dutch rolls. Use the ailerons to position the airplane on that extended centerline, the rudder to remain the long axis with the airplane parallel to that will extended centerline. Move the PGP to your same place every period. I recommend the runway patience. Consciously continue cross controlling before airplane slows to a taxi.
These two simple techniques will demand that you the same place in the runway every time in a landing configuration that compensates for crosswinds or gusts before airplane is going so slow that you can taxi to parking.
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