Landing?

A

Art Master

Pre-takeoff checklist
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Art Master
I was in PPL training, and into my first landing. Had read up on how to do it, but my instructor never did "coach" me in. So I'm so close to touchdown, when I'm thinking, "why is this plane not touching the ground?" I waited a bit longer, nothing. My instructor didn't say anything, so I figured, maybe I should slack the elevator. BANG! Yep... I landed alright. :yikes:f
 
He was amazed at your ,pitch, power and patience, just speechless! It must have been good until you let the nose come down.
 
I mean sure you'll eventually learn that you don't actually land the plane and that the plane lands itself but come on YOUR FIRST ONE? Your CFI should have been on the controls quite a bit! =)
 
Interesting approach, my instructor just faked me into landing for the first time. We were practicing the old flare and hold technique attempting to get closer and closer without touching down. He just sneakily pulled the throttle on me and I probably had one of the softest landings ever lol.
 
BillTIZ said:
It's like dad teaching his daughter to drive. Hang on tight!
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LOL, my friend had me teach her daughter to drive last year, worked the other way around.:D She was far too timid, now she knows how to get on an on ramp.:yesnod:
 
ChrisK said:
I mean sure you'll eventually learn that you don't actually land the plane and that the plane lands itself but come on YOUR FIRST ONE? Your CFI should have been on the controls quite a bit! =)
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I like telling this story so much that I've probably posted it on PoA before but here goes:

On my first landing attempt in a 152 my CFI had me "follow along on the controls" as he made the landing and that went pretty well as you would expect. On the next circuit he left his hands off and verbally coached me through the whole process and having a little experience manipulating the controls of a Cessna under my belt (this was after all my second lesson and by my own accounting had gotten pretty good at straight and level flight with a few turns thrown in) along with some reasonably still air I managed to make a pretty decent approach, flare, and touchdown following his guidance.

But either because he was impressed with that one (unlikely) or he was overly impressed by my ability to make the airplane do what he told me to do (also unlikely) or he just got lazy and complacent (my best guess), he instructed me to "just do the same thing" on the third time around but this time gave no coaching at all. I managed to configure the flaps as before and got lined up nicely on final all by myself and in hindsight I suspect the CFI had mentally "left the airplane" by then. At about 50 AGL my survival instinct (aka ground shyness) kicked in and I began to pretty much level off at 30 AGL without adding significant power. As you might guess the next thing that I noticed was the stall horn beginning to bleat and my reaction to that was to dump the nose abruptly (still no action or comment from the CFI but I think he was beginning to wake up now).

Then a synapse in my brain fired and resurrected a bit of advice I'd picked up during a ground school session the previous evening along the lines of "when flaring to land, don't ever push the nose down") so I immediately corrected my "mistake" and yanked the wheel back. By now the CFI was fully awake and becoming "greatly concerned" about his immediate life expectancy among other things (remember I was nicely centered over the runway at 30+ AGL). He grabbed the wheel (none of that "my airplane"/"your airplane" stuff here), firewalled the throttle and planted the airplane on the mains. Because the other 152s were already scheduled I had booked the slightly more expensive Aerobat for this lesson and it had a G meter with mechanical recording which indicated that we experienced well in excess of 6g (pointer was pegged), we hit hard enough that my butt was quite sore, and a witness later told me the 152's main gear legs were splayed completely out to the sides briefly with very little if any space below the fuselage.

That pretty much ended the lesson that day except for the CFI's colorful language as he chewed me out for such a bonehead move. And that's the last time I ever dropped an airplane onto a runway (from more than a foot or two), honest.:wink2:
 
I had my first impromptu flight lesson (he was flying somewhere and had an extra seat) in a CFI friends Tiger. He thought that I had started SEL training so shortly after takeoff he handed it to me and I kept climbing and got it trimmed and turned onto the heading he gave me. Leveled out, trimmed, pulled the throttle back, etc. We keep going along and then he points out the airport and says do this this and this. I do that that and that and we end up on downwind with me still flying along. Then base and then final and I expected him to take it but I flew it down to the asphalt and he only piped up about 5 feet off the ground with pull up a bit more. When we get out I mentioned "That wasnt to bad for my first powered landing eh?" Boy did his eyes grow a little. He thought I had some training in powered planes. Apparently I did well enough for him to let me fly back and land again so I cant complain.
 
Seanaldinho said:
I had my first impromptu flight lesson (he was flying somewhere and had an extra seat) in a CFI friends Tiger. He thought that I had started SEL training so shortly after takeoff he handed it to me and I kept climbing and got it trimmed and turned onto the heading he gave me. Leveled out, trimmed, pulled the throttle back, etc. We keep going along and then he points out the airport and says do this this and this. I do that that and that and we end up on downwind with me still flying along. Then base and then final and I expected him to take it but I flew it down to the asphalt and he only piped up about 5 feet off the ground with pull up a bit more. When we get out I mentioned "That wasnt to bad for my first powered landing eh?" Boy did his eyes grow a little. He thought I had some training in powered planes. Apparently I did well enough for him to let me fly back and land again so I cant complain.
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If you manipulate the throttle like it was a spoiler control (sans external forces) an airplane lands pretty much like a glider (other than the potentially useful option of going around). That said, gliders are still easier to land.
 
gismo said:
If you manipulate the throttle like it was a spoiler control (sans external forces) an airplane lands pretty much like a glider (other than the potentially useful option of going around). That said, gliders are still easier to land.
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Yeah that is the way I found it. That and it takes a lot more pressure on the controls than I was used to. One problem is though that I naturally prefer the throttle in my left hand... :(
 
gismo said:
I like telling this story so much that I've probably posted it on PoA before but here goes:

On my first landing attempt in a 152 my CFI had me "follow along on the controls" as he made the landing and that went pretty well as you would expect. :wink2:
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Great story!
 
gismo said:
That pretty much ended the lesson that day except for the CFI's colorful language as he chewed me out for such a bonehead move. And that's the last time I ever dropped an airplane onto a runway (from more than a foot or two), honest.:wink2:
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Great story but i'd think the CFI should be chewing himself out for spacing out on your third landing ever...
 
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