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4 Answers

Simple Tricks to Avoid Flaring Too High?

Asked by: 6968 views Private Pilot

When transitioning from the C-172 to the C-182, my CFI pounded into my head how heavy the nose is and to avoid landing nose-wheel first at all costs to avoid buckling the firewall. The result is that I find myself consistently flaring too high, out of fear for flying into the runway nose-wheel first, which results in a "drop-in" landing every time. In addition to "good old practice", does anyone have any simple tips or tricks that could help me find the right point to begin the flare? I haven't quite cracked the "Jacobsen Flare", which strikes me as good in theory but tough to apply in practice. Thanks!

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4 Answers

  1. Best Answer


    Jeff Burosh on Feb 13, 2016

    Dear KS,
    Much of the determination of round out height comes from sight picture. I suspect the problem you are having only partially has to do with the initial admonision from your instructor to \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\”flare higher\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\”. I suspect the main culprit is your perception of closure rate with the ground. The way the runway \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\”looks\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\” from your vantage point affects how you act in terms of reducing descent rate. After all, that is really what we are doing in a round out and flare – reducing descent rate! Many things affect your sight picture and perception of closure rate with the ground. If the ground \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\”seems\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\” to be rushing up quickly to grab you, your natural reaction is to round out early. Visual illusions such as narrow runway, wide runway, runway slope, etc, can all affect how high you think you are and how quickly you think you are falling.
    If we look at approach speeds for the 182, we see that about 70-75KIAS are normal. For a i3 degree approach path, we should have about 300-400fpm descent rate. This translates to about 5fps. So if we did nothing to stop our descent, we would IMPACT the runway about 1 second after we were 5 feet above the runway. Your eyes are only about 5 feet off the runway when you are sitting in the seat!
    The point I am trying to make is, you do NOT need to be worried about striking the nose wheel. You SHOULD be looking down the runway a bit. I find I always have more trouble with flare when I happen to be looking close to the airplane. Focus in on your aim point to the runway until you are about one span length (not wing span, just one wing length) away from the ground. At that point, as you raise the nose, let your gaze raise as well! You should now be looking more down the runway. This shift in view point, will aid you in judging how much more altitude you have to lose. At this point, you should be relatively flat in terms of pitch attitude. But do not stop flying. People often tend to flare and just hold. This is NOT setting you up for the best outcome. You need to keep making small inputs to pitch, bank and directional control until you are literally taxiing! Watch any good autopilot make an auto-landing. The wheel never stops moving until the airplane is on the ground.
    I would not normally advocate you take your eyes off the runway during a landing, so in order to determine how high one span length off the runway is, you might either carefully look out the side window (to observe the wing in relation to the runway) and front window simultaneously or take another pilot and have them flare and you look at what the sight picture looks like. Either way, the proper altitude will be close enough to the runway that the runway will fill most of the windscreen.
    If none of what I have written helps, let me know and I will see if I can come up with some more idea. Good luck.

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  2. DenisK on Feb 13, 2016

    I always lined up, got close, then looked out at a 45 degree angle, to get the correct sight picture, then checked the attitude, nose to tail, at the same time, THEN flared. Getting the correct sight picture, is something that has to be learned by doing. If you have a long runway ahead of you, try keeping a little power in to keep everything smooth, and also gives you more time to get the attitude just right. It’s just like the 45 degree angle used to determine when to turn in a airport pattern, just much closer to the runway., but you don’t have to lean out of the seat! Sounds like your cfi traumatized you!

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  3. Brian on Feb 14, 2016

    At roughly half the height of the tree line look at the horizon, or where the horizon should be if you’re on a shorter runway (this is not always the same as looking to the end of the runway) and flare when it feels right. Aircraft type is irrelevant when considering most small piston singles/twins.

    PS the whole concept of the aircraft nose being heavy is just silly. The point of rotation is the CG, as such weight has no effect on the rotation about it. The control forces are heavier, for aerodynamic reasons; not because the nose is heavy.

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  4. K S on Feb 17, 2016

    Thanks very much Jeff, Denis, and Brian for your very thoughtful replies!

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