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Please help me with my landings

Asked by: 1938 views Flight Instructor, Private Pilot, Student Pilot

  1. I find my landings to be inconsistent. During my transition moment, my plane is always drifting left or right even if I correct for it. Then after touch down, even if I keep holding back pressure, the nose seems to come down hard. This results in a lot of minimal to significant side loading, especially on crosswind landings. I failed my first attempt at the FAA checkride because I couldn't demonstrate a soft field landing with a 12 knot crosswind.  The instruction on landings from my CFI is very minimal, and she couldn't demonstrate a soft field landing to me the both times I've asked her. Any tips on sight picture, pitch/power/airspeed, and what I should be feeling and how to correct for it? Any advice would be much appreciated. Thank you!

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1 Answers



  1. KDS on Jul 24, 2018

    It’s better to get advice from a CFI who is able to sit in the aircraft with you during the landings and my thought based upon what you wrote is that should be a different one than the lady who has been your CFI to this point.

    The lateral drifting is a matter of not using the correct amount of aileron. What MAY be happening is that you set it, get it right, and then leave it there. With a crosswind, the force vectors are constantly changing. Your speed is slowing, the airspeed is changing (probably slowing), and the direction of the wind is changing. This happens because the wind closer to the ground is not the same as the wind higher. It can also change due to structural or terrain interference with the wind.

    With today’s computer friendly students, I try to explain it as three separate computers. The aileron input (computer) keeps you on the center line. The rudder input (computer) keeps the longitudinal axis of the airplane aligned with the direction of travel, which is hopefully down the center of the runway. The elevator input (computer) is controlling the rate of descent to the ground. You’re the master interface of the three computers.

    If the aircraft nose is coming down substantially as you land, that is probably due to touching down too firmly. In a tricycle geared airplane, there is more weight in front of the main wheels, so if you touch down hard, the nose will want to come down. Of course, in a Cessna, if you do it hard enough the spring steel gear will give you a bounce back into the air. The way to correct that is to “hold it off, hold it off, hold it off” until she just doesn’t want to fly anymore. If you haven’t heard your instructor say “hold it off” at least several dozen times, you’re a very unusual student.

    Just a quick side-story. I once had a student who managed to spend some time in the cockpit of a 747 with the captain while overseas. He asked the captain if he “held it off” when he landed. The captain told him they didn’t land a 747 that way. My student said that he was concerned because his instructor always told him to “hold it off”. The captain said that while he doesn’t land a 747 that way, he often hears his instructor’s voice from many years ago say “hold it off” from back when he was learning to fly.

    The last point I’d suggest is to not make a soft field landing at idle. As my old instructor used to say “just take the color out of the prop”. By that he meant to speed the engine up just enough so the dark disc the was the prop arc became clear. That little extra RPM will make for a gentler touchdown.

    Lastly, and just to repeat what I believe is the most important point, see if you can’t find another instructor to go over your landings with you. Have that instructor sign you of for the retest. I think you’ll do just fine.

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