PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Teaching people to land a PA28
View Single Post
Old 27th Jul 2010, 15:26
  #7 (permalink)  
Sodastream
 
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Kent,
Posts: 15
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Although all SEP aircraft are different, the technique you apply to land one is the generally the same. They were designed by boffins who know more about aerodynamics than most mortal pilots and are generally benign to when landing.

Know your landing speeds. This will prevent you from ballooning. If you're not sure, it's all written in black and white in the POH.
Fly the approach at this speed. Use power to control the rate of descent and use pitch to control the airspeed. This will help keep the aircraft in the correct attitude for the landing.
Judge the flare by whatever method suits you. I look straight down the runway, and use the aspect of the runway edge. When it appears to be as high as my shoulders in my periphary vision, that's the time to flare.

Smoothly remove any power left and apply a small amount of back pressure. Now the important bit. Imagine the yoke is on a ratchet, it only goes one way and that way is backwards.
If you pull to much and the aircraft slowly rises, hold the yoke steady, speed will slowly reduce and the aircraft will begin to settle down again. If you don't apply enough back pressure you'll thump it in and probably bounce (followed by a go-around).
Once in the flare, keep applying more and more back pressure to hold the aircraft off the runway till it is good and ready to settle down. If done properly, should touch down just as the stall warning starts to chirp.

IMHO, It's all about getting the speed right.
Sodastream is offline