Hi again control,
now that we are down to the problem, some more (anyone: correct me if I talk bull! It īs a long time since I flew a fixedwing - I donīt remember why these damn things fly at all, when there are no wings turning to get you off the ground!!):
Good point: do not look immediatly in front of the airplane (whatever is or happens there you canīt avoid it anymore so donīt bother looking there....) it is kind of like driving a car (try it yourself - if you look right in front of your car you start to need the whole lane besides that you donīt see jack ahead. When you return to looking forward a REASONABLE distance - 300 to 600 ft should do - you notice you suddenly do not put any inputs in your steeringwheel to stay straight AND you are able to track where ever you want.)
Back into the plane: Try to line yourself up early so for practise make a longer then regular final (to start practise donīt try short-softfield-high obstacle landings....)
TRIM your plane to your final-speed and do not hesitate to add power if you need to stay on your glidepath (you can practise power-off landings when youīre back on "track"....)Try to keep very little or no pull at all on the stick or wheel.
Finally try to make your control inputs cotrolled: roll in slowly but firm. Jerking in and out will not give your plane time to react and you will never figure out, how much your inputs actually do.
another one: Make a list of all the points (copy your landing-checklist and then add the points noted here wherever you think they should go) and practise off the airport - somewhere open - 200ft - just make sure there is no restricted area and track a road at little more than approach-speed.
THen go back to the field and shoot landings.
And here the most important one:
Specifically for that training:
Do not be afraid to go around: Whatever the "guys" say, you are there to practise something, and smack it in on a "gone not so good approach" just tightens you up.
Actually I did lots of go arounds, even when it would have been an acceptable landing, why?
I tried to land centerline, when I drifted off, I would apply a little power to "fly" back to center, if it took to long I ran out of runway and went around!!
And here one from myself (ALL the above I got handfeed by an excellent instructor!):
Screw the centerline of the airplane!!
How far from the centerline of your airplane do you sit? A foot or two or three(do you fly a widebody or what??).
Line up so you have the CENTERLINE OF THE RUNWAY BETWEEN YOUR FEET and/or knees!
So you do not have to be worried where the centerline "hits" the prop or cowling or whatever......you can look straight ahead, have the line coming straight at you and concentrate on greasing it on!! (I do not a lot of instruction, but when I get to it amazes me how many helicopterpilots with more than 1000 hrs do not know how to track straight when hover taxiing but to the dog-walk. Mostly I can straighten them out by having them concentrate to get a reference line between their feet AND knees......and to FORGET about having the heli-centerline on the runway centerline!)
Let me know how it works,
Have fun,
3top
