Our good friend Jason Schappert of MZeroA Flight Training has a number of videos posted on YouTube, including this one that addresses the one thing that most pilots need help with — landings.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBYbT6riWXE&w=560&h=315]
Question for Jason. Every aviation training manual has a depiction of an airplane with the four fundamental forces – lift, drag, weight, and thrust. Thrust is illustrated by an arrow in front of the airplane pointing straight out ahead of the airplane, and is said to be the forward force produced by the powerplant/propeller which overcomes drag, the force pointing to the rear. Why do you say that the power should be used to control the altitude?
Loved the tips! Excellent advice. What’s great about a prop is that it can act as a brake when you pull the power completely. Once one is comfortable with a “formula” landing as taught in primary training, it might be appropriate to expand the pilot’s operational envelope with some different scenarios. Perhaps throttle off completely once established on final. (You’ll find out if you actually had the runway made! Good to know if you actually lose an engine) Perhaps no flap landings to note the speed and decent rate differences. While trying those adventures, be sure to cut yourself some slack on other good landing criteria while attempting to master new skills. Sometimes it seems as if we focus a bit to intensely on “nailing” the touchdown point on the runway. Not saying you shouldn’t be able to – you’ll actually have to for the commercial check ride, just saying it may be overemphasized after initial training. And in real life, isn’t a smooth landing with no injuries to the plane or occupants more valuable than hitting the touch down point? Do we really need to hit the 500 foot hash mark in a 172 landing on an 8,000 foot runway? Many of the landings made in the Rockies are at high altitude with lots of wind. Sometimes cross wind, sometimes just turbulent high winds and this presents special challenges. High winds give lots of turbulence and appropriate timely control inputs are critical. Now try not to over control after getting the hang of high wind, high turbulence landings. The focus on landing under calmer conditions can be bringing the mains into contact as smoothly and lightly as possible. Think “Butterfly with sore feet”. That usually works for me. If you are thinking about not bruising the tires, it may help avoid the flare mentality.
Jason’s first tip, on airspeed, is questionable. Without naming a particular model, he recommends a 90kt downwind, 80kt base, and 70kt final. Here are a couple of problems that can come from trying to use a ‘one speed fits all’ concept. Some models have an 85kt maximum limit for use of flaps. At 90 kts on downwind, you will not be able to lower even 10 degrees of flaps. The workload on base could be extra difficult trying to descend and lose airspeed at the same time with a clean configuration. Most likely, your line of flight is going to look ugly – i.e. not steadily descending to one aiming point but looking more like a roller coaster. Pulling the nose up to reduce speed will cause ballooning, and now you are also overshooting, so the next thing may be an aggressive downward pitch to try to get back where you were. There’s your roller coaster flight path.
For one of the most common aircraft, the C172R, 70 kts on final will result in an excessive float in typical conditions – partial fuel load with only two on board, and fairly light winds. Once you have reached the runway, you are in a sense stuck between a rock and a hard place. You know (or should know) that you should be landing a fairly short distance past your aiming point, but with the excessive speed, you’ll be floating well past that area. When back pressure is applied during the flare with excessive airspeed, it is really easy to balloon. Now you have to deal with an airplane 10 to 20 feet in the air running out of airspeed. You can’t force it down to land near the aiming point without probable damage. You can’t pull the nose up to bleed off the excessive speed because you balloon. You have to fly several extra seconds just inches above the runway hopefully not making any costly mistakes, and you are eating up a few more hundred feet of runway.
Check the POH for the manufacturer’s recommended approach airspeeds and plan your pattern so you easily stay within the airplanes limitations. With the most popular aircraft today, there’s a lot of variation. The POH recommended airspeed will provide the proper control sensitivity and allow a safe landing at the desired touchdown point (of course you still have to execute).
Warren,
You raise some valid points however I think you heard things that weren’t part of the video. His point on airspeed was clear (at least to me) that regardless of what you are flying you need to hit your target airspeed and then he clearly states “here’s an example”. He also states he’s continuing to slow as he crosses the airport fence, implying that when he gets to the landing phase he is even slower.
Could he have stated the airplane he uses those speeds on? Sure he could have, but to me it didn’t matter. The point on airspeed is 100% correct. Like you said too fast regardless of what you’re flying and a float or balloon is in your future.
Warren,
The words I use are “know YOUR airspeeds” I then give the example of what I do in my airplane.
I never said 90-80-70 was an end all be all for everyone 🙂
Jason
“I’ve got three tips that I know are going to make your landings that much easier. And the first is this. It’s airspeed. (#1 – Airspeed is king on screen). You’ve got to know your airspeeds. And it’s one thing to know them and it’s another thing to nail them. Here’s an example. On downwind I like to be ninety. On base I like to be 80. And on final I like to be 70 and continuing to slow as I cross over the airport fence. (On the screen notes are added: Downwind 90, Base 80, Final 70).”
Jason, I think the above is pretty close verbatim to what you said. I interpreted this as a CFI, and also thought about how a student would interpret it. You are talking to a large audience flying many different models. From my experience observing many different instructors and students, when an instructor says “I like”, that will always mean that that’s what I expect to see and that’s what we will do. I still don’t see anything that said for me that those speeds were for your airplane only. ‘Know the airspeeds for your airplane’ and ‘in my airplane I like ….’ , etc., would have left no doubt.
I was trying to keep it short yesterday and today, but as usual I’m not successful. As to ’70 on final and continuing to slow’, I’ll add one more thing in view of your comments and DeWayne’s. An experienced pilot can deal with a lot of variables, but for a student pilot, a stable airspeed helps to anticipate the point at which the power is chopped and the flare is begun. At a steady airspeed, the pilot’s eyes will be moving toward the aiming point at a steady rate. If I understand what you are saying, you will have a more transitional speed on final – I suppose 70 for a while, but ‘then continuing to slow’. This change in airspeed could have a negative impact on the pilot’s visual queue’s – the best example I can come up with is how a ‘change-up’ pitch can fool the batter. Getting down to the steady airspeed at which power is reduced and the flare started would, for beginners, seem to eliminate some variables that can play some visual tricks. After the flares and landings are developed and show consistency, then it’s time to introduce the variables.
Warren
It is OK for the pilot to glance (GLANCE!) to the left on landings. Take a quick peak to judge wheels above tarmac and the runway edge to line up. Also I teach that the “perfect” (are there any Perfect?) landing will be accompanied by the stall warning horn at or just a twitch before touchdown. Keeping nose off the ground will also provide aerodynamic breaking. I agree, looking far down the runway is key to landing success,
Much of my time is tail wheel time. I’m a CPL and have been flying for nearly 50yrs. Your comments on landing seem to be aimed at trike geared aircraft. In my early flying we were had drummed into us that airspeed is all important for safe flight [all stages] and never forget that power controls attitude and elevators control speed – especially important for landing. Maybe down in this part of the world there is greater emphasis on this aspect but I suspect that the problem is that students are not talking through what they are doing and so giving cues to the instructer that would enable him to intervene appropriatly.
Every landing I do whether it’s in my 172 my Bonanza or my Aeronica 7 AC champ. I nailed the air spade on final bring it down and every time I touch down I am in a full stall landing. I do every landing I do whether it’s in my 172 my Bonanza or my Aeronca 7AC champ. I nail the air speed on final bring it down and every time I touch down I am in a full stall landing. I don’t drive any airplane onto the runway.
Jason, you nailed it!
I went through 3 different flight instructors, received my LS license and was never able to land correctly, or very smooth at all until my last instructor noticed that during my flare I could not see the end of the runway. Of course he had spent a lot of hours in the plane with me during the training and had continually used the word flare. I thought that meant to continue to pull back on the stick until the airspeed bled off enough for the plane to literally fall out of the sky. Fortunately I was always close enough to the ground that we never bounced but he did have students that did bounce the plane and one even flipped it over after the bounce. Others bounced and then came back down on the nose wheel, breaking it off, and of course a prop strike.
It was only after he told me about not loosing sight of the runway that I finally started working on the landings myself and figured out exactly what you are saying.
Thank you for putting this information out. If we can get this out to everyone (especially the CFI community) there will be countless people saved from injury or worse, and more aircraft without damage.
Thanks for the kind words Bill! So glad the tips helped!
Jason
You did not specify whether you were talking knots or mph!
Isn’t “flare” still appropriate” for tailwheel aircraft?
Bernie, ‘flare’ is appropriate for all aircraft. Jason’s explanation is incorrect. In the first graphic, the flare (also called roundout) is where the green line gradually curves from the descent to the horizontal. The same applies in the second graphic with the tailwheel, except the artist for some reason didn’t show the transition quite as gradual. The third graphic talks about the float, or the distance traveled past the aiming point in the flare, and is a reference to the flare being part of the roundout. In chapter 8 of the FAA Airplane Flying Handbook, where you can find these graphics, there are multiple references of the terms flare and roundout, and that they have the same meaning.
Small airplanes approach about 100% above their stall speed (ex: C172R Vso 33 – approach speed range 60-70). That is the reason why their nose position is relatively low on final. Jets approach at only 30% above stall speed and therefore have a greater angle of attack on final but the descent angle is basically the same (i.e. everyone is on glide slope). Jason is saying that jets flare and small planes don’t because he thinks the higher nose attitude of the jet on final is the flare, but that is not correct. It is a higher angle of attack, nothing more. The flare or roundout is where the green line curves to the horizontal, and where all airplanes flare. In a small airplane, it starts about 10 to 20 feet above the runway.
The url at the bottom for the commercial jet landing is a nice video showing a jet flaring just like a nosewheel or tailwheel does. Look closely for the increase in pitch which transitions the jet’s descending line of flight to the horizontal.
Ref: FAA Airplane Flying Handbook chapter 8 page 8-5 section ‘Roundout (Flare)’ (this url includes chapters 7-9). http://www.faa.gov/regulations_policies/handbooks_manuals/aircraft/airplane_handbook/media/faa-h-8083-3a-4of7.pdf
Inline image
Image result for tailwheel touchdown
Inline image
Commercial jet landing
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVUv2X5Uekc
Sorry the website editing rejected the graphics. They can be found at:
http://www.faa.gov/regulations_policies/handbooks_manuals/aircraft/airplane_handbook/media/faa-h-8083-3a-4of7.pdf
page 8-5, figure 8-6.
page 8-8, figure 8-9.
http://www.faa.gov/regulations_policies/handbooks_manuals/aircraft/airplane_handbook/media/faa-h-8083-3a-6of7.pdf
page 13-4, figure 13-1.
Sorry I think the website editing rejected the graphics. They can be found in the FAA Airplane Flying Handbook:
page 8-5, figure 8-6.
page 8-8, figure 8-9.
page 13-4, figure 13-1.
Great tips on landings.
Thanks Joe!
Jason