Olendirk

Guys,

Flying the 737 for 3,5 years. The last landings have been all some kind of hard or not nice aligned with runway. Im talking about some firm touchdowns and i dont know why. The guys to my left are doing quit fine;-), as usual. Argh, its like rollercoaster in flying, up and down,sharing my landing expeience? Will it get better one time?


Cheers;-)

Callsign Kilo

I'm a relative novice on the 737NG, however when are you chopping the thrust and are your eyes moving towards the end of the runway in order to judge the flare? Another reason for a firmer landing is becoming slightly unstable towards the end of the approach i.e either lateraly or verticaly. Just trying to use examples described by various LTCs at my airline. Probably nothing new to someone with your experience on type. Wouldn't worry too much, landings will always be a bit of a 'black art' and unfortunately cannot always be perfect. Anyone who says otherwise is not only kidding you but also themselves!

kijangnim

Greetings,

What matters most is the height at which you start your flare.
You flare too high hard landing too low hard landing.

Personally I dont look at the end of the runway ( most of the time you tend to go where you look at, means floating floating floating ) on the A330 20-30 feet on the 767 20-30 feet on the 777 30-35...
So next time the captain flares look at the radio altimeter (or listen to the call) and picture it
During flare, thrust redution is gentle, and just reduce your rate of descent to something less than 500 feet/mn
after few adjusments you will be called mister smooth, and you will ask for the after very nice landing checklist

Rainboe

You have discovered a mysterious effect I have been aware of for over 20 years, flying multiple types from twin engie turboprops to 747s, multiple variants. You can be landing fine, for 4 months, 6 months, then you will go through a month or 6 weeks of awful landings that make you look like an amateur. You just will not be able to connect, then suddenly you seem to suss it out again and every landing is a goodie, you can do no wrong, then suddenly you will slip back into just not being able to do it. Embarrassing, but it will pass. I don't understand it, but it happens!

Centaurus

My old Boeing Seattle instructor made it quite clear when landing the 737. The very second you commence the flare he said don't play around with the thrust levers - close them quickly - none of this gentle throttle closure as it only extends the float and landing run.

j_swift

I share the sentiments of a lot on this thread. The flare and landing can be quite elusive and embarassing. My technique on the A380 is to monitor the call out. At 40' (give or take) One's eyes are out to the far end and the flare begins ending at about the 20' call and watching the sink rate. A little more or a little less will account for wind conditions. I share the same sentiment about idling the thrust levers, it should be done qiute expeditiously as you begin the flare or you will be eating up precious runway. Reversers should be deployed forthwith or the braking action will rely entirely on brakes with heat build up. The A380 is unforgiving wrt brake heat build up. Manual brakes goes a long way to eliminate this for quick turn around limits. We don't have brake fans. She sits quite majestically. Alot of ground effect. Hope this helps.

Maude Charlee

It's a bit like being a golfer cursed with a case of the Yips (an inability to sink even simple putts).

I'm sure it happens to us all, and I know for a fact it definitely happens to me. I get a series of poor landings (like yourself, either uncomfortably firm or off-centerline - which I find particularly disconcerting) maybe every 5 or 6 weeks, and it lasts for anything from just a couple of days, to maybe a week or more. Fortunately all of them are inside the touchdown zone (quite happy to let pride take a fall in order to avoid a runoff), but not pretty to watch.

I find that they occur far more often when I'm feeling tired (not fatigued in the true sense), as I seem to have a little more difficulty concentrating. Maybe it is down to over-compensating for my tiredness and trying to concentrate too hard because I'm aware of being tired, and instead of flying nice and relaxed, I end up tense. Either way, the first poor landing makes me more conscious of trying to redeem myself with the next one, and yet again I end up tense instead of relaxed and thus the cycle begins.

Silly I know, but that's how I would describe my own experiences.