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Old 9th Nov 2021, 11:26
  #60 (permalink)  
Pilot DAR
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Join Date: Aug 2006
Location: Ontario, Canada
Age: 63
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They way I teach landings is just through teaching 2 pitch changes, descent to level flight, level flight to initial climb attitude.
This makes sense to me. "Landing" is a term which could describe several points from final approach though to touchdown. The very nice photo of the PA-28 illustrates what I like to see a pilot doing. I've had the opportunity to teach off the ice, which often affords practically unlimited runway dimensions. With this, I have taught takeoff differently: I direct the student to apply and hold full nose up, and I apply the power. I apply enough to get the plane moving, and the nose to start coming up, but not enough to accelerate to flying speed - yet. When the nosewheel comes just off, I can have the student hold that attitude, and get used to it. This is both the ideal takeoff and landing pitch attitude. I allow the student to practice maintaining this attitude with small power changes, but with inadequate power to get airborne. When the student "gets it", I'll brief, and add power for takeoff, while the student holds that attitude - the airplane will become airborne when it's ready. A good landing is about the opposite of this. We practice a few times, with the correct pitch attitude being the focus of the exercise. This is a handy teaching tool on wheels, and more vital on the water.

Getting the pitch attitude right for a water takeoff is more critical. If the nose is too high, the plane will stick itself in the water with hull drag. I was training a pilot in his new Lake Renegade, which has oodles of power when you're light. He was getting airborne because the plane had the power to force itself out of the water in too high a pitch attitude - he was not learning. So I did the power, setting about 60%, and telling him to get airborne with that. Eventually, with a mile or so of lake, he was airborne, so he knew that a poor performance takeoff was possible, once he got the attitude correct.

The other thing which irks me are pilots/instructors who will touch down well upon landing, and then just drop the nosewheel to the runway, as though the flight is over, and they can just let go of everything. I was training a pilot on his new to him 182 amphibian, with its brand new $135,000 floats - with small nosewheels. Once, he just dropped those small nosewheels onto the runway at 70 knots or so. We talked.... I demonstrated a landing where I held the nosewheels off, until full nose high pitch control would no longer hold them off - then made him practice. I land every tricycle so as to be applying full nose up as the nosewheel settles on - just to reduce nosewheel wear and tear....
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