During The last few months I have lost confidence in getting the flare right – most of my recent landings have been safe but untidy. Some of the contributions on this thread have been extremely helpful in making me realise what my problem is.
Years ago, as a gliding instructor, I used to drive into my students the importance of looking well ahead once they were happy that they that they would end up on the airfield and had the speed under control. So I know that this is the key to a good flare and landing. In recent years though I am not sure where I actually look myself.
I spend about 3 hours a day on motorways, driving mostly at light ac approach speeds and, although I know that I react quickly to events in the far distance, I am again not sure where I look. I therefore tried out Corporate Yank’s suggestion of looking at the road at different distances and made a few interesting discoveries:
1. I found that looking (focusing) into the far distance in order to control direction required conscious effort from my eye muscles. This told me that I am not normally doing it.
2. When I look into the far distance, my natural tendency to wander slightly within the lane disappears. Control remained instinctive.
3. When I look into the distance, my response to events in my peripheral vision is slightly impaired although this may improve if I get used to it. Obviously this less important when landing an aircraft as you don’t normally expect someone to suddenly pull out in front of you, although regular users of farm strips might disagree with that.
I am now convinced that too much motorway driving has impaired my ability to control the flare and, now that I know it, I am hoping that my next landing will be better, just in time for my BFR. I might take an instructor on my next flight, just in case.
I hope that this might help others who may be having similar problems with landings.