Lost focus in the flare

[Pilawt]

I've never landed a Boeing.

But I have landed a boing-boing-boing-boing-boing ...

 

[Skyrys62]

In my limited time as PIC (porpoiser in command) I've always pulled the yoke back and bounced on the mains till I wasn't bouncing anymore...or added some power and settled it down. And ohhh yes, there was some side loading on a couple of occasions.
Funny how turning the yoke didn't help with that.

 

[exncsurfer]

Thanks for sharing.

I haven't bounced a landing yet, but I've only got 3 years of flying and maybe 125 hours total. I'm sure with enough flight time, it will happen but I will try to be on guard for it. I HAVE however sideloaded the SHHHH out of the 172 a couple of times.

There are two kinds of pilots, those that have bounced a landing and those that realize that they've bounced a landing. Haha, just kidding, good on you, keep up the good work.

 

[LSADug]

Now if ya wanna talk LSA, man some of those things are a bounce just waiting to happen. I think they’ll even bounce on departure...

Student pilot in a Skycatcher. I've bounced it twice.

Once I caught a gust just after landing with the nose still off the ground and the extra wind just picked me back up. I should have added throttle but...still learning. Landed hard the second time but didn't break anything.

The other time was early on while doing solo landings. I'm not exactly sure what happened. My CFI said I landed flat, possibly nose wheel first and bounced back up. Nothing broke, lesson learned.

The Skycatcher should probably be named 'Windcatcher'...

 

[Clark1961]

Student pilot in a Skycatcher. I've bounced it twice.

Once I caught a gust just after landing with the nose still off the ground and the extra wind just picked me back up. I should have added throttle but...still learning. Landed hard the second time but didn't break anything.

The other time was early on while doing solo landings. I'm not exactly sure what happened. My CFI said I landed flat, possibly nose wheel first and bounced back up. Nothing broke, lesson learned.

The Skycatcher should probably be named 'Windcatcher'...

I flew a few hours in an LSA club. They had an accident involving over gross operation before I was there. My private pilot DPE knew the instructor involved in the accident and the NTSB report was rather damning. Anyway the club specified approach speeds well over Vso*1.3. Quite predictably they had a couple “run off the runway going really fast accidents”. I tried to fly the way they wanted and bounced...a lot. I flew an approach at 1.3*Vso and landed nicely. Canceled my membership shortly thereafter.

 

[George Mohr]

I landed flat the other day, and bounced the nose gear a couple times. My thought was, "oh that's what that feels like... let's not do that again"

 

[mtuomi]

I’ll take the go around. I’ve seen too many people try to “save” a landing and it ended up putting the aircraft in a bad situation.

Too general, it depends on the situation. Do it in St Barths rwy 10 and you'll avoid an accident. Do it in St Barths rwy 28 and you die.

 

[jordane93]

Too general, it depends on the situation. Do it in St Barths rwy 10 and you'll avoid an accident. Do it in St Barths rwy 28 and you die.

I think it’s safe to say most people on this board aren’t flying into St Barth’s.

 

[RyanB]

Something to add, that some pilots tend to do, is ‘stair-step’ the airplane down. Meaning, they’ll start a flare, then release some back pressure to nose level, then start a flare again and so on. Doing so tends to either result in a rough landing or a porpoise and bounce once they do eventually hit. Holding a continuous flare throughout the round out is key, with only slight adjustments as needed before touching down.

 

[Paulie]

Too general, it depends on the situation. Do it in St Barths rwy 10 and you'll avoid an accident. Do it in St Barths rwy 28 and you die.

The landings are always towards the sea at St B. As well as take off.

 

[mtuomi]

The landings are always towards the sea at St B. As well as take off.

Err, no they are not.
Takeoffs are always 10, but landings are 28 until you hit 10ish kts winds.

 

[TylerSC]

Don't do that because you may bounce a landing.

I can't remember ever bouncing a landing and I can attest that I've never bounced a landing in my Cherokee...that is until last weekend. I was landing runway 24 at Falcon Field into the setting sun when off to my left, a flock of birds decided to play chicken. I was so focused on the birds that I lost sight of where I was in the flare and I waited a split second too long to catch it. I bounced the landing which was pretty embarrassing but I was with a pilot friend and he thought it was funny. It wasn't a hard landing but I did get the two for one deal.

Lesson learned - bird strikes probably cost less than rebuilding struts or repairing wing damage from a crappy landing. Focus on flying the plane, landing the plane and then worry about what may happen.

I bounced a PW-5 glider once. Thankfully it was on grass. There's no go around option. The first hit was a surprise, the second hit was an even bigger surprise. Somehow I kept the stick back and got out of the PIO after the second impact.