Soulman that's great in a Piper but try it in a jet and you'll;
1/. Smash the tail on the ground, or
2/. Drop 140 tons of aircraft in from several feet up...making the 'bumping down' landings discussed here look like greasers!!
The main undercarriage in a jet is almost always (edit: a long way) behind the axis around which the aircraft pitches...hence if you keep pulling back 'for a greaser' the opposite will result, you'll drive the wheels into the runway...presuming you don't bash the tail on the ground doing millions of $ of damage first.
You can get nice landings that impress the punters but that is not the imperative. You must land in the defined touchdown zone OR ELSE!!!
When you land a jet you, most often, fly an ILS and then when the talking radalt says 50' gently pitch up a few degrees, to arrest the rate of descent, and when you hear 20' gently reduce thrust and just let it land...timed right you get an 'acceptable' landing...it's all in the timing. To get a more consistant 'really nice' landing you can gently reduce back pressure (after the pitch up) to 'lift' the rear wheels enough to further cushion the touchdown...often, if done right, earning yourself a greaser...but not always.
In some conditions the most professional thing to do is just 'put it down' in the right place!!!
Now to the matter of 'wet runway' techniques.
The most abused/missunderstood technique is this thing about slamming an aircraft on the ground on 'wet' runways....it's a STANDING WATER technique NOT A WET RUNWAY ONE!!!!!
The number of dickheads, including senior captain/check captain dickheads, I've seen prolapse every heamoroid on the aircraft because a runway is 'wet' is truly amazing.
It's for landing on up to 1/2 inch of standing water...not bitumen discoloured by rain...even steady rain. Given most big runways are grooved is even less reason to ever have to drive an aircraft on using a technique designed to drive the wheels down through deep water to get to the actual runway!!!
Hands up any airline pilots who have an ops manual that allowes operations in standing water/innundated runways??
Chuck
Last edited by Chimbu chuckles; 22nd Feb 2004 at 15:55.