Shifting the sight point from the touchdown point that you've been staring at since turning base to towards the end of the runway is the critical learning point and that's because it allows accurate sink assessment via peripheral vision. It takes time to get to this point in understanding and in ability to fly the approach consistently to arrive at the flare point on speed and at the same attitude time and time again. Once that skill has been developed it can be refined and your capacity and mental picture will refine to take in the small changes in sink, speed and power that are needed to land well every time. There will be an odd clanger from time to time and some you won't be able to explain because the wind changed, the power didn't quite pick up the sink, the runway was narrower, a different colour even.
It is frustrating but experience and recognising the picture takes time. From then on, you'll know when the picture is different and whether you were expecting that difference and you'll develop techniques to address the differences. Thinking ahead and reacting steadily with measured inputs rather than stabs and yanks helps a lot; particularly close to the ground. That applies to both control and power inputs. Be completely in trim prior to starting the flare.
In a nutshell: aim for utter consistency in circuits and approaches right down to the flare to enable capacity to learn the finer points. You know already when it's not going quite right, so think about each time it has gone well and each time it hasn't gone so well and think each of them through. Get an instructor to demo a landing from time to time and get them to talk out loud what they're sensing and how they're correcting and where they're looking and what they're reacting to in respect of wind/sink/power/speed. Critique their flying (perhaps to yourself, although any experienced instructor should be honest enough to talk through the good and bad of their own performance to aid your learning).
10,000 hours and still learning: if that's any consolation. My first aeroplane was a Tomahawk and I don't view it particularly fondly now. The 152 was much easier to land.
Last edited by shlittlenellie; 13th Apr 2013 at 19:24.