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Old 29th July 2011 | 19:05
  #18 (permalink)  
Big Pistons Forever
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Veteran: Canadian Forces
 
Joined: Jan 2004
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From: Canada
Poor landings are almost always the result of two faults

1) Not being in a stabilized descending attitude on short final. Far too many students chase the airspeed instead of holding the appropriate attitude. This is exacerbated by not having the aircraft in trim. The result is the nose is always nodding up and down and the lack of a consistent picture makes it hard to judge the right place to start the flare

2) looking in the wrong place in the flare. It is tempting to look right in front of the aircraft but forcing yourself to look down to the far end of the runway will always work better

Good landings come from good approaches. If I am asked to help a new pilot with landings the first thing I do is go to the practice area and practice flying a circuit with the pretend runway at 2000 feet AGL. This allows the student to concentrate on flying a, on altitude, in trim, on speed circuit without the mental pressure of the looming runway. It also is good baulked approach practice ( A under emphasized skill IMO).

My experience has been poor landings are ultimately a reflection of gaps in fundamental aircraft control skills. Until those are rectified no amount of circuits will ever fix the problem.
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