Is the landing flare really all that complicated?
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Is the landing flare really all that complicated?
ATSB have released a paper on how to judge the flare in light aircraft landings. The authors of the paper were given a government grant. After ploughing through a plethora of maths and physics to discover how to fly the last few seconds of flight path I confess to being totally bemused on what pre-solo ab intio pilots will gain from reading it.
The introduction discusses "impoverished" and "rich" visual judgement of the flare. Example:
Pilot performance was generally superior to non-pilot performance. However, both pilots and non-pilots were found to demonstrate flare timing biases during impoverished visual conditions (i.e. reduced depth cues) - indicating that strategies based on perceptions of environmental distance and/or critical runway angle must also have played a role. Importantly, very accurate timing judgments were possible with richer visual displays (i.e. additional depth cues) that provided performance feedback. Thus, we conclude that entry-level flight simulators can be used for flare timing training if certain minimum visual display conditions have been met.
Anyway, read it for yourself if you have time. There is no doubt at all, the authors have gone to a lot of trouble in their research on the subject, but at the risk of being called a cynic, I don't think the subject matter is worth the financial cost of the grant.
http://www.atsb.gov.au/publications/2006/grant_20050119.aspx
The introduction discusses "impoverished" and "rich" visual judgement of the flare. Example:
Pilot performance was generally superior to non-pilot performance. However, both pilots and non-pilots were found to demonstrate flare timing biases during impoverished visual conditions (i.e. reduced depth cues) - indicating that strategies based on perceptions of environmental distance and/or critical runway angle must also have played a role. Importantly, very accurate timing judgments were possible with richer visual displays (i.e. additional depth cues) that provided performance feedback. Thus, we conclude that entry-level flight simulators can be used for flare timing training if certain minimum visual display conditions have been met.
Anyway, read it for yourself if you have time. There is no doubt at all, the authors have gone to a lot of trouble in their research on the subject, but at the risk of being called a cynic, I don't think the subject matter is worth the financial cost of the grant.
http://www.atsb.gov.au/publications/2006/grant_20050119.aspx
'Our data provided some support for the hypothesis that pilots initiate the flare when their perceived time-to-contact with the ground reaches a critical value'.
No ****, Sherlock!
No ****, Sherlock!
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There was an item in the Aviation Safety Digest quite a few years ago which was written by somebody by the name of Jacobson.
It went through explaining all the maths, etc, and the technique works quite well and consistently.
Jacobson Flare, anybody?
It went through explaining all the maths, etc, and the technique works quite well and consistently.
Jacobson Flare, anybody?
stall / spin awareness research
the research and its outcomes must directly benefit Australian civil aviation safety
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Is the landing flare really all that complicated?
Well in a word YES, so difficult in fact, some of the people I fly with decide to leave it out altogether!!
Oh my aching back...
Well in a word YES, so difficult in fact, some of the people I fly with decide to leave it out altogether!!
Oh my aching back...
Nunc est bibendum
Originally Posted by yowie
...when I have "had a hard one",it really wasn't my fault!
Flares......?
Well I just plain dunno......
When I was a 'sprog' in a DHC-1, my good ole instructor , 'Mr. Spike J'....
(NSW Aviators from 40 years ago MAY remember these times...) used to say to flare at "The Ht. Of A Double Decker Bus".........
Unfortunately, to my poor inexperienced senses, 'Double Decker Busses' varied from anywhere in between 76'agl to 4'agl......sometimes with almost disarrrstrous results..
However, when I got my first hundred hours and was eventually sent FIRST SOLO, I had that bloody bus down to a VERY FINE art!!!!!!!!!
And, I must hasten to say, I have never 'looked back' since.....
These blokes could have had my advice for free!!!! I was that proud, all the buttons on me chest, just 'flew' off.....
Now, I can FLARE / flare / almost flare / LAND / almost land ANYTHING...from ANY height....and the poor old pax don't even know we have 'caressed' mother earth..... ah....patience is a virtue.....and, Thanks Spike, you dun good!!
When I was a 'sprog' in a DHC-1, my good ole instructor , 'Mr. Spike J'....
(NSW Aviators from 40 years ago MAY remember these times...) used to say to flare at "The Ht. Of A Double Decker Bus".........
Unfortunately, to my poor inexperienced senses, 'Double Decker Busses' varied from anywhere in between 76'agl to 4'agl......sometimes with almost disarrrstrous results..
However, when I got my first hundred hours and was eventually sent FIRST SOLO, I had that bloody bus down to a VERY FINE art!!!!!!!!!
And, I must hasten to say, I have never 'looked back' since.....
These blokes could have had my advice for free!!!! I was that proud, all the buttons on me chest, just 'flew' off.....
Now, I can FLARE / flare / almost flare / LAND / almost land ANYTHING...from ANY height....and the poor old pax don't even know we have 'caressed' mother earth..... ah....patience is a virtue.....and, Thanks Spike, you dun good!!
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Over the years I have found if you have the speed spot on, the flare and touchdown will generally be when and where you expect them.
There again. after a few years on the B744, it takes a few circuits before I can adjust the brain to a Piper flare height.............and then makes you concentrate when you get back into the B744 so that forget and wait to flare at Piper height!!!!
And as for "Pilot performance was generally superior to non-pilot performance"...........duh!!!! Thats why the pilots sit in the seats at the front, and the non-pilots sit in the seats at the back.
There again. after a few years on the B744, it takes a few circuits before I can adjust the brain to a Piper flare height.............and then makes you concentrate when you get back into the B744 so that forget and wait to flare at Piper height!!!!
And as for "Pilot performance was generally superior to non-pilot performance"...........duh!!!! Thats why the pilots sit in the seats at the front, and the non-pilots sit in the seats at the back.
Landing flare - very simple!
Just take the square root of your airspeed, multiply by your height AGL, apply a correction as per the compass card and pressure error chart, apply a factor of 3.2 times the flap setting in degrees plus a double decker bus, and...bugga - too late!
Just take the square root of your airspeed, multiply by your height AGL, apply a correction as per the compass card and pressure error chart, apply a factor of 3.2 times the flap setting in degrees plus a double decker bus, and...bugga - too late!
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For those who do not understand Pass-A-Frozo's comment, the current Chief Chief Chief of Air Force has a bit of a twitwittwitch. Had it for 36 years that I know of, made worse by a Mirage ejection in the mid 70s.