737-700 landing techniques
 

Hello chaps
I'm busy with my 737-700 line training and i'd like to know if anyone can give me a technique on how to keep the centerline while flaring.I carry a steady approche all the way bang on but the moment i start flaring i tend do drift away from the centerline.Any help is appreciated.Thank you

737 Drift on Flair
 

Which way do you drift?

The usual reason for this problem is not looking far enough down the runway. You are most likely looking right over the nose.

Jet

The thing lands like a covered wagon. Don't worry about smootness, just get the "bricks" on centerline and blame your F/O;)

Most of the time i drift left but it happened few times on the right as well.I'm right seat driver blame is on me till i get it right

Wrong, until you get that upgrade ;) look down the runway, land it like a cessna - you might need the slightest bit of slip during flare if you choose not to touch down in crab - but if you mainly drift to one side i couldn't guess what the issue is...

Look along the runway to keep and keep the windscreen wiper pivot point on the centre line once you have kicked off the drift.

Any one who can't get a good Landing out of the 737NG after a bit of practice is not very good.

A student of mine had a similar habit. The previous aircraft he had been flying had had a flat (horizontal) glareshield coaming and he was subconsciously replicating this by aligning the angled B737 coaming with the runway resulting in slip/drift every touchdown after a nicely flown approach. Might be worth a look. As the other posters have said, look well down the runway during the flare as well.

Good luck with your training.

Thank u all guys for your inputs i'll try and apply them and i know surely it'll work out.i'll keep you guys posted

Go back into the simulator and get the instructor to position you at 200 feet on short final and practice the flare and touch-down until you have the problem hacked. Now position same way but this time with 35 knot cross-wind and practice that until you are quite confident of placing the aircraft exactly where you want it. You will probably require at least ten landings on each sequence before you can consistently fix the problem.

I have frequently flown with pilots (experienced and not experienced) who for some reason cannot "see" a crosswind. Again the fix is in the simulator. In this case, the instructor should freeze the simulator at the very moment of touch down on the main wheels. Then note the magnetic compass heading compared to the runway magnetic heading and see how much drift you touched down with. Repeat exercise until you can consistently touch down without drift - that is compass heading same as runway magnetic heading and on centre-line.

If your company refuse to give you extra simulator time then buy yourself an hour in a full flight simulator and tell the instructor what I have written here. It is your money so you direct the show how you want it.

Hmm, one of boeings preferred landing technique on contaminated and wet runways is touching down in full crab. Dunno if you should actively train that out of a new pilot as it can be necessary especially in a strong crosswind in those conditions. Crab does not mean drift either, but it means a huge difference between runway heading and aircraft heading. Landing crosswind limit for the 700 is 40kts both on dry and wet runway which means you have to be able to use all three boeing described landing methods and any mix between them.

From the FCTM: Sideslip only (zero crab) landings are not recommended with crosswind components in excess of 17 knots at flaps 15, 20 knots at flaps 30, or 23 knots at flaps 40. This recommendation ensures adequate ground clearance and is based on maintaining adequate control margin. Don't think you are below that with 35kts crosswind.

But simulator training in itself is not bad and usually is what a competent company does anyway if it becomes apparent during the first few days of line training that it is needed.