Welcome Guest. Sign in or Signup

4 Answers

When do you pull the throttle during landing?

Asked by: 8606 views General Aviation, Student Pilot

I am a student pilot, who wanted to know the following. During landing, when should I pull my throttle to IDLE? I do well on my PAPI glidescope, as soon as I cross the number on the runway, I yank my throttle back and the nose will drop, to counteract, the reaction I pull the on the yoke and the the plane will swing all over the place, thus a go-around or a hard landing-- I welcome your opinions or references.

I am well familiar with the rounds outs and flairs.

Ace Any FAA Written Test!
Actual FAA Questions / Free Lifetime Updates
The best explanations in the business
Fast, efficient study.
Pass Your Checkride With Confidence!
FAA Practical Test prep that reflects actual checkrides.
Any checkride: Airplane, Helicopter, Glider, etc.
Written and maintained by actual pilot examiners and master CFIs.
The World's Most Trusted eLogbook
Be Organized, Current, Professional, and Safe.
Highly customizable - for student pilots through pros.
Free Transition Service for users of other eLogs.
Our sincere thanks to pilots such as yourself who support AskACFI while helping themselves by using the awesome PC, Mac, iPhone/iPad, and Android aviation apps of our sponsors.

4 Answers



  1. Derek Schwalenberg on Nov 08, 2012

    Pull the throttle back more slowly and the effects will be less pronounced requiring less aggressive maneuvering and reducing the chances of go-arounds or hard landings.

    +1 Votes Thumb up 2 Votes Thumb down 1 Votes



  2. Wes Beard on Nov 09, 2012

    I echo Derek’s advice. The slower you can pull the power back the better you are going to be. The idea is to be 50 feet above the runway as you cross the threshold. At this point, try to pull the throttle back so that you are idle just before touchdown.

    Also, as you have already experienced, when pulling back the power you must pull on the yoke to maintain that sight picture to land in.

    +1 Votes Thumb up 1 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes



  3. Nathan Parker on Nov 09, 2012

    I pull the throttle to idle well before the runway. Short final at the latest, unless I’ve screwed up.

    Smooth is always better than abrupt, no matter what we’re talking about in an airplane. Even the word “yank” gives me shivers. Still, your reflexes to fix a sight picture that is rapidly changing should be instantaneous. If pulling the throttle idle makes your nose swing in any direction, then you aren’t reacting fast enough. Plus, you should know that the nose is going to drop as you pull the power to idle and your back pressure on the yoke should be increased as the throttle is being reduced.

    +1 Votes Thumb up 1 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes



  4. Tom on Nov 10, 2012

    You will know when you need to pull the power all the way out, but as long as you are on final, one hand on the throttle to control decsnt rate and one hand on the yoke to control pitch for your airpseed. In a textbook worl you can set the power and get the pitch set and bring all the way down, but in reality it needs changes, but small changes, if your desceneding too much, addd 100 200 RPM, and adjust the pitch to get your target speed.But as stated before you should not be making any drastic “yanks”.

    +1 Votes Thumb up 1 Votes Thumb down 0 Votes


The following terms have been auto-detected the question above and any answers or discussion provided. Click on a term to see its definition from the Dauntless Aviation JargonBuster Glossary.

Answer Question

Our sincere thanks to all who contribute constructively to this forum in answering flight training questions. If you are a flight instructor or represent a flight school / FBO offering flight instruction, you are welcome to include links to your site and related contact information as it pertains to offering local flight instruction in a specific geographic area. Additionally, direct links to FAA and related official government sources of information are welcome. However we thank you for your understanding that links to other sites or text that may be construed as explicit or implicit advertising of other business, sites, or goods/services are not permitted even if such links nominally are relevant to the question asked.