Originally Posted by
Jonty
What you need to do is bring in your peripheral vision to help estimate closure rate, how you do that is up to you.
Yes you use peripheral vision, but how do you create the best peripheral vision? By looking in the distance.
We are talking about a young F/O who is trying to get a good flare technique. In training it is key to give correct guidelines. Tell them where to look, don't say "use your peripheral vision". You tell them to look as far as possible to get the most of information possible. That is the end of the runway. And if the visibility is 550m, they will automatically look at the last visual centerline lights and follow along as the flare progresses. There is no issue with that technique in limited visibility, it still gives you the most possible information for you to use.
There is more to a flare than rate of descent. There is also wings level (which is on equal terms when starting line training with ab-initio's with rate of descent control, I would even say it is more neglected). When looking in the distance you create a dynamic visual picture that is a combination of direct info (roll, lateral position) and peripheral infor (rate of descent, the "rising shoulders"). Once they have this technique, it will help them in many situations. It will help them from the standard windless cavok day, to ferry flights, to high gross weight, to emergency flapless landings.
The attitude remark is correct but doesn't help when the situation is "unfamiliar" (like non-normals). It works as an initial guideline to initiate the flare (and creates "semi-boundaries" to avoid floats and nose gear contact), it also helps when transitioning from one fleet to the other. There is some truth indeed. But how do you determine correct attitude if you don't look at the horizon in the distance? How do you determine correct attitude in 550m visibility?