Where is your head?
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Weird instructor.
Hi DSoup,
Don't do anything of the sort, DSoup, the man's a menace and I suggest you should not spend another Loony on flying with him.
Better still, move to another instructor/club/school at once and report him to both the Chief Flying Instructor of the establishment and to Transport Canada. Otherwise he'll go on teaching this rubbish to some poor ab-initio students who don't know any better and will follow his teaching until serious harm results.
BP.
Despite my initial reaction saying that's crazy dangerous, we'll see how that goes.
It just sucks to pay extra money for dual instruction after already being licensed.
It just sucks to pay extra money for dual instruction after already being licensed.
Better still, move to another instructor/club/school at once and report him to both the Chief Flying Instructor of the establishment and to Transport Canada. Otherwise he'll go on teaching this rubbish to some poor ab-initio students who don't know any better and will follow his teaching until serious harm results.
BP.
The only time I've heard anyone talk about a head-to-one-side technique is in tail draggers. In some of these (e.g. Tiger Moth) it's the only way you can see ahead, during the hold-off, when 3-pointing it.
Is the instructor of an age where he might have learnt to fly in Tiger Moths?
OC619
Is the instructor of an age where he might have learnt to fly in Tiger Moths?
OC619
Only "critique" I can make on your landing technique, based on the description, is it could lend itself to porpoising, esp if combined with just the right gusty weather.
Does the stall warning start to sound just before touchdown? Ideally it should.
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The problem is not just with you but think of all the other students that he is teaching, he aught to be questioned.
Maybe he is just winding you up?
I remember in that lovely book (whose name I have forgotten) where "the instructor lit a match in front of (my) nose during a difficult landing. I was to thank him 15 years later".
I personally had an instructor who used to offer me a wrapped sweet just as my hands and feet were dancing all over the place landing a microlight! Pretty cool guy though, one of the best if a bit unorthodox.
Maybe he is just winding you up?
I remember in that lovely book (whose name I have forgotten) where "the instructor lit a match in front of (my) nose during a difficult landing. I was to thank him 15 years later".
I personally had an instructor who used to offer me a wrapped sweet just as my hands and feet were dancing all over the place landing a microlight! Pretty cool guy though, one of the best if a bit unorthodox.
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I remember in that lovely book (whose name I have forgotten)
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Fate is the Hunter - that's the one.
I would recommend everyone to read it, its a 'pilots' book going back to the 'good ol' days'.
Thanks for the reminder, memory is not what it was
I would recommend everyone to read it, its a 'pilots' book going back to the 'good ol' days'.
Thanks for the reminder, memory is not what it was
he was describing the methods used to teach him for flying and landing in lightning.
I'll have to go read it again, now!
FBW
Last edited by Fly-by-Wife; 9th Jul 2013 at 16:46.
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I'm 95% sure I got his meaning, especially since he said he's going to tape up some paper blocking my view straight ahead, he'd do the look out on the next flight so I'd HAVE to lean over to land. Not sure how else to take it.
98 hours in 7 years when I was licensed at 17 and stopped flying because well...students are pretty poor. That's why I also flew about 25 hours in the last year.
Thanks for the advice everyone, I'll talk to the CFI and see where the misunderstanding is.
98 hours in 7 years when I was licensed at 17 and stopped flying because well...students are pretty poor. That's why I also flew about 25 hours in the last year.
Thanks for the advice everyone, I'll talk to the CFI and see where the misunderstanding is.
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'Wheelie'
I think its safe to say that it's been established that the FI's technique is certainly 'interesting' at best.
I would just second what one or two others have said about the nose wheel being in the air for around 2 seconds. That would seem to indicate to me that your nose is in a high enough nose up attitude. You can't leave it up there much longer as at some point you do obviously need all 3 down and to bring the aircraft to a halt as no doubt you're not always going to be landing on a long runway.
I was always told to 'wheelie' the C172 in and then hold off, bringing the control column back and letting it settle onto the runway. I can't see that you are doing anything wrong??
I would just second what one or two others have said about the nose wheel being in the air for around 2 seconds. That would seem to indicate to me that your nose is in a high enough nose up attitude. You can't leave it up there much longer as at some point you do obviously need all 3 down and to bring the aircraft to a halt as no doubt you're not always going to be landing on a long runway.
I was always told to 'wheelie' the C172 in and then hold off, bringing the control column back and letting it settle onto the runway. I can't see that you are doing anything wrong??
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Over the years I have met a few instructors who seem to have developed their own personal theories and whacky techniques. After gaining my PPL I did a check ride at a new club. I could land light aircraft perfectly well using the normal techniques but this instructor insisted on applying a hefty burst of power during the flare to 'soften the landing'. The resulting landings, even his demos, were always ugly. Even as a fairly new boy, I wasn't comfortable with this guy's instruction.
Instructors vary. Some are experts in their field, some have very little experience, and a few seem to have lost the plot. The chap in question in this thread seems likely to fall into the latter category. If you have doubts speak to another more senior instructor or the boss of the school/club about it.
Instructors vary. Some are experts in their field, some have very little experience, and a few seem to have lost the plot. The chap in question in this thread seems likely to fall into the latter category. If you have doubts speak to another more senior instructor or the boss of the school/club about it.
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Landing an aeroplane is like a lot of other activites..once you can do it, the more you think about it, the worse it gets!
I can land perfectly well. Please don't ask me how though because I genuinely don't want to know. I don't even really think about it when I do it, I just do it. Obviously at one point I was trained how to do it. Being able to do it is good enough for me, I don't need to know all of the scientist stuff.
There was a thread on here not so long ago, I think it was on the subject of when to turn onto base leg or something like that. There were the most fantastic descriptions of angles and speeds; all sorts of wonderful things being bandied around.
I turn base leg when it looks about right. I haven't died yet.
Flying is only complicated if you wish it to be so.
As to the OP, your instructor sounds like a nutter, get another one.
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I had a hard time learning to land properly. Started learning at age 50 in a glider at High Wycombe, then visiting my sister in Maryland, had an hour of circuits in a 152 on the Eastern Shore just over the Bay Bridge; wind perpetually cross. So was the instructor. Everytime I got near to touch, he had control.
So back to Booker, and dear old Dudley Steynor, who used to instruct in Tiger Moths during WWII. He said I was over controlling, and asked me to put my left hand on my right wrist, and that simple trick cured the problem.
Since then done approx 8,000 landings and havn't bent anything yet.
So back to Booker, and dear old Dudley Steynor, who used to instruct in Tiger Moths during WWII. He said I was over controlling, and asked me to put my left hand on my right wrist, and that simple trick cured the problem.
Since then done approx 8,000 landings and havn't bent anything yet.
Last edited by mary meagher; 11th Jul 2013 at 06:57.
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Lots on here about how to land - from my understanding the OP does not actually have a problem landing, though not having flown with him I cannot be 100% on this, just that the check instructor requires him to use a new technique that to most seems a bit strange. I would like to hear of any other problems the OP has with the way he lands that maybe the instructor is trying to sort, but from what has been said so far he lands OK.
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I personally had an instructor who used to offer me a wrapped sweet just as my hands and feet were dancing all over the place landing a microlight! Pretty cool guy though, one of the best if a bit unorthodox.
Good on you Kevin, and thank you, that was one of the best flights !
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Dsoup, reading this thread a few points spring to mind. Firstly, its not clear what fault your instructor is trying to correct, you might start by aking him to explain in greater detail what he thinks the problem is. Secondly, you mentioned 152 and 172, if you are swopping between these there is some chance you are landing too flat in the 172.
Thirdly, the guy deserves the benefit of the doubt a little longer yet, he is an instructor, and might just have a very good reason for what he is doing. At 97 hours you sill have a way to go on landing technique and actually its a good time to try and break bad habits before they become engrained. The comments about peripheral vision made earlier might be correct, or you may be staring at the aiming point too long and getting ground rush and flaring late. You may not be doing these things much and your landings may seem ok but this guy might be trying to remove faults and help you improve
Finally, if you can ask him about the problem and discuss it you might have some ideas yourself about how to solve it. If the paper bothers you tell him you are quite prepared to imagine it being there if it helps. Try working with him, and if that doesnt work out go to the cfi, or even consider flying with the cfi to see what he thinks.
Thirdly, the guy deserves the benefit of the doubt a little longer yet, he is an instructor, and might just have a very good reason for what he is doing. At 97 hours you sill have a way to go on landing technique and actually its a good time to try and break bad habits before they become engrained. The comments about peripheral vision made earlier might be correct, or you may be staring at the aiming point too long and getting ground rush and flaring late. You may not be doing these things much and your landings may seem ok but this guy might be trying to remove faults and help you improve
Finally, if you can ask him about the problem and discuss it you might have some ideas yourself about how to solve it. If the paper bothers you tell him you are quite prepared to imagine it being there if it helps. Try working with him, and if that doesnt work out go to the cfi, or even consider flying with the cfi to see what he thinks.
