The endless landing practice

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Johann

Pre-takeoff checklist
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Johann
Hi,

Maybe the title is a little extreme, I've only gone up for landing practice 8-10 times (around a little over an hour each time usually, but sometimes to other airports so that takes time from pattern work).

I've read the threads about the landing plateau, frustration, and all that, and I know I just have to keep doing it, but what I'm wondering is... how many times did you go up for this until you were pretty consistent?
3 days ago I had a pretty good day, I felt that day I took a leap forward. Today I went back to before that. I'm just wondering what other's experiences are/were. I feel I have good days and bad days, is that normal? (there might be a pattern, earlier in the day tends to be better as mother nature is not trying to blow me off the runway).

Thanks!
 
Johann said:
Hi,

Maybe the title is a little extreme, I've only gone up for landing practice 8-10 times (around a little over an hour each time usually, but sometimes to other airports so that takes time from pattern work).

I've read the threads about the landing plateau, frustration, and all that, and I know I just have to keep doing it, but what I'm wondering is... how many times did you go up for this until you were pretty consistent?
3 days ago I had a pretty good day, I felt that day I took a leap forward. Today I went back to before that. I'm just wondering what other's experiences are/were. I feel I have good days and bad days, is that normal? (there might be a pattern, earlier in the day tends to be better as mother nature is not trying to blow me off the runway).

Thanks!
Click to expand...

I've heard around 400 hours ;) (not really kidding)

Just keep doing it and go with your CFI (provided you were solo) every few times.


Sent from my brain using my fingers.
 
ChrisK said:
I've heard around 400 hours ;) (not really kidding)

Just keep doing it and go with your CFI (provided you were solo) every few times.


Sent from my brain using my fingers.
Click to expand...

I'm pre solo, I always go with the instructor. He's crazy, but not enough to let me go by myself :D
So what you are saying is that even after the instructor says I'm good to go alone, it's still pretty normal to have crappy landing days?
 
Johann said:
I'm pre solo, I always go with the instructor. He's crazy, but not enough to let me go by myself :D
So what you are saying is that even after the instructor says I'm good to go alone, it's still pretty normal to have crappy landing days?
Click to expand...
Absolutely.

Every landing is different. Your instructor will release you for solo when you are consistently safe. Just keep at it and try different things.

Here is a crazy secret - your instructor isn't teaching you how to land. He is keeping you safe while you teach yourself.

Just make sure you nail your airspeed on final, feel for that settle to the runway, and flare(!!!), and you will get it.

Any specific problems? There are a lot of CFIs around here who can offer tips. Only your CFI knows best though!
 
Johann said:
I'm pre solo, I always go with the instructor. He's crazy, but not enough to let me go by myself :D

So what you are saying is that even after the instructor says I'm good to go alone, it's still pretty normal to have crappy landing days?
Click to expand...

Yep. Criteria for first solo is consistently safe, not consistently perfect.
 
I think there are different types of consistency. For solo, your instructor will want to see that your landings are consistently safe. Which does not necessarily mean all of your landings are "good."

I'm at 200 landings and have my checkride Tuesday (rescheduled, ugh). A majority of my landings are now good. I would not say most of them are "great." I was in the pattern practicing today, and my second short field landing sucked. I got left of centerline, then had a wing lift after touchdown. My final landing of the day was quite...firm.

Just keep at it. Make small adjustments that have a positive affect on your landings. Landing is the most challenging things a pilot does. Relish that challenge and meet it head-on. It's fun.
 
Hi Johann.

A retired military pilot and frequent GA pilot (thousands of hours) I talked to a few years ago said "You've got to keep practicing those landings." I still make one every now and again that I am not too proud of. With the wind always throwing curve balls, you have to fly the airplane all the way to the ground (in a tailwheel, all the way to the ramp). Don't be too hard on yourself, just keep practicing.
 
ChrisK said:
Absolutely.

Any specific problems? There are a lot of CFIs around here who can offer tips. Only your CFI knows best though!
Click to expand...

Problems?, that's an easy question :D

1) Airspeed control: Except for the occasional 100 MPH on final that I go around (happened once or twice), I think I get it right. It does take a lot of effort and thinking though, mainly because I have to look at the ASI, and of course it lags. I know I have to feel the speed (engine noise, air noise, feel of the controls), but the only way to learn that is through practice. Until then, it's the ASI or nothing. This is however the least of my problems I think, I don't usually end up floating.

2) Failure to judge altitude: I still don't get the feel of how high I am once I'm over the runway. I do try to remember to look through the side and not over the nose, and also to look farther ahead. Still it surprised me once a guy was mowing the lawn next to the runway, how much farther up I was than what I thought. I know exactly how big a guy on a lawnmower is supposed to be. If they only didn't paint those numbers so big...
Because of this I only think I'm close to the runway, and I have to make an effort not to flare too high, and also to judge when to pull back more because I'm settling.
I have better than 20/20 vision (for now), so it's not a physical problem (that would be easier to solve, wouldn't it!)

3) Maintaining the plane on centerline: I still don't have the feel for applying aileron to the side I have to correct to, while holding opposite rudder so I don't turn. We did one or two forward slips, and I think that helped a lot, but I have to practice that way more before I'm fluent at this.

4) Trim: I could trim the airplane for anything, given enough time!. While landing there's a lot of power changes, and flaps get lowered in increments, so there is no way I'm in trim every time (the configuration changes way faster than I can trim). I had in trim landings before, but there was a lot of luck in that. Again, it's just a problem of not having the feel of the trim wheel/yoke ingrained enough. This one is kind of annoying, since I never have enough time so I don't feel I'm making progress on this.
Except on no flaps landing, trim wheel all the way back gives me best glide (70MPH), which brings me at the right speed over the numbers.

I also happen to train at an airport surrounded by hills, and as pretty as they are, it totally messes with your head in the approach. For one runway you are pretty much going into a valley. I'm aware (my instructor pointed it out) that makes it take more time.

I think I pretty much listed all the component of the landing as problems haha. It must sound as if I'm crashing the plane on the runway every time. Thing is, they don't all manifest at the same time, and even when they manifest, the severity is not always the same, so I haven't broken anything, and I think I haven't really scared my CFI yet.

Thanks for the advice!
 
1) does your CFI remind you? I can still hear mine " I said 80"
2) pre-flare you are looking at 1 spot, but after the flare you have to change your view. Looking out the side could be developing a bad habit.
3) Think about it we are trained to drive on the side of a stripe not on top of it. Eventually, you won't have to think about it. you will just line up on the centerline
4) not trimming her out just builds muscles :)
 
I'm coming up on 600hrs and a few thousand landings and I still goof them up every now and then.

Now the more I fly the less frequent and severe the goofs become, but I have no expectation of ever being truly perfect.
 
I am a smidge under 500 hrs and just over a thousand landings, and I am definitely more consistent with my landings than I was at 100 hrs. My landings tend to be average to above average with the occasional great, and the rare WTF did I do. Every landing is a learning experience.

The things I consider important:
1. Speed, Speed, Speed.
2. Trim.
3. Sight picture.
4. Remember a Go-Around is not failure. It is your friend.
5. Landing on the center line is important, landing the plane straight is more important.

I think most of us have gone through what you are going through with landing. I did not discover these forums until I was midway through my IFR, and read everything I could on landing. The bottom line is understanding the technique is important, learning the technique is more important, practicing the technique is most important. I still critique every landing I do and see what I could do better, and I always find much to improve on.
 
There was a link to a great AOPA video (I can't believe I didn't bookmark it) with Rob Machado talking about when to start the round out. It helped me a TON.

Basically, and the best way is to watch a good HD youtube video a few times to spot it, but there's a point when you are descending to the runway where the sides of the runway seem to expand out very wide. When you're coming down the runway sides are very symmetrical and then all of a sudden they go very wide. That's when you start the round-out and look all the way down the runway and start the flare. That was a HUGE turning point for me. Be awesome if someone could link that video off the AOPA site - I've looked all over and can't find the dang thing.

Here's a good example. Watch what the runway does with the Cessna at 1:24:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIJ2QJhOwPM

For the Piper the same thing happens around 2:57.
 
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I guess you could call it endless practice because even after 30 or 40 years when you make a particularly squirrely one someone might come up afterwards and ask "Wow, are you guys okay?" :D
 
TRIM: Take the plane up fly at normal speed and in trim. Now add nose up trim one full flick, note the speed it settles at, now reduce throttle until you are level (not climbing) and note your power setting (most likely RPM unless you are training with a constant speed prop) continue this process until you find how many flicks it takes to get to what speed all the way down to stall speed. You may also want to see what RPM it takes to get a 500fpm descent at each power setting using the appropriate amount of flaps for that speed that correlates with downwind, base, and final.
 
Yes, it's normal; no, don't count other people's hours or landings... and if your mantra every time you start the engine is "my worst landing is one I have not made yet", you will probably be OK.
Because, really, it's true.
And your best landing is probably also one you haven't made yet.
Go fly, have fun, find out whatever works best, and be consistent with that once you find it.
 
Your best landing is when nobody's watching ,your worst is when half the airport is watching. Just remember every time you take off you have to land ,relax you will get better.
 
One thing I forgot to mention about landing is for me my best landings are the ones I do not force. It is about finesse. Your job is to get the plane into the right "state" and then "let the plane land."
 
I'm a recently minted pilot myself, so your issues are very familiar to me. I definitely had a plateau on landings, but did work my way through it.

This book helped me, and I recommend it to anyone. It's not necessarily for beginners, but is chock full of really smart thinking and advice.

Making Perfect Takeoffs and Landings in Light Airplanes by Ron Fowler
 
I most definitely got frustrated doing the same (wrong) thing over and over (and over). As everyone has said, keep working through it, you'll eventually get over your hurdles. BTW, did you mention what you think you're doing wrong, or what your instructor keeps telling you to do differently?

For me it was a combination of things (look further down the RWY!!) but the biggest difference was just the concept of leveling out before flaring. Sounds simple, but I just had the concept wrong. Instructor would say every time "you just gotta be smoother with it" but that didn't click until the first time that I smoooothly rounded out (leveled out) and stopped ballooning.
 
douglas393 said:
One thing I forgot to mention about landing is for me my best landings are the ones I do not force. It is about finesse. Your job is to get the plane into the right "state" and then "let the plane land."
Click to expand...

That's because "good" landings result from a chain of correct actions that lead up to the touchdown. If you focus on the actions rather than the landing itself the landing pretty much has to be a good one. If OTOH, you are obsessed with making a good landing it's all too likely you'll mismanage the airplane prior to the landing in way that messes it up.

IOW do the right stuff and the landing will be OK.
 
Thanks for all the advice.

Yes, my CFI points this and that, it's always pretty much one of the items on the list I gave. There's only so much he can do though!.

I don't (yet) feel that I'm terribly bad or stuck, so I'll just keep at it and see how it goes.

Ah, since we are on landings and you mentioned landing counts... how accurate were the counts from your CFI in your logbook?. Mine I think are very off. There was a time that I counted using the LiveATC recording, and I counted 15, but my CFI only put 6 on the book. I didn't mention it since I don't care, so just wondering (when they start counting for currency and such I'll be more strict about it).
Maybe he's counting only the ones he considers he didn't help much or at all. I don't see him writing anything down, so it also could be his memory is failing :dunno:
 
Johann said:
Problems?, that's an easy question :D

1) Airspeed control: Except for the occasional 100 MPH on final that I go around (happened once or twice), I think I get it right. It does take a lot of effort and thinking though, mainly because I have to look at the ASI, and of course it lags. I know I have to feel the speed (engine noise, air noise, feel of the controls), but the only way to learn that is through practice. Until then, it's the ASI or nothing. This is however the least of my problems I think, I don't usually end up floating.
Click to expand...

An important concept is that it's much easier to maintain airspeed if you hold a fairly constant pitch attitude. This allows you to keep your focus outside the airplane with just occasional glances at the ASI. It's pretty much a given that if you spend much time looking at the ASI the rest of your approach (alignment, aim point, vertical speed) will suffer. Find the pitch attitude that produces the airspeed you want and concentrate on keeping that constant while making small power adjustments to follow your intended glidepath.

And WRT power changes, a trick I think works very well for this is to make enough of a change that you can hear/feel the difference and then almost immediately move the throttle about halfway back to where it was before the change. This will help prevent overcontrolling on the power.


2) Failure to judge altitude: I still don't get the feel of how high I am once I'm over the runway. I do try to remember to look through the side and not over the nose, and also to look farther ahead. Still it surprised me once a guy was mowing the lawn next to the runway, how much farther up I was than what I thought. I know exactly how big a guy on a lawnmower is supposed to be. If they only didn't paint those numbers so big...
Because of this I only think I'm close to the runway, and I have to make an effort not to flare too high, and also to judge when to pull back more because I'm settling.
I have better than 20/20 vision (for now), so it's not a physical problem (that would be easier to solve, wouldn't it!)
Click to expand...
I think this is the hardest part of landing to learn. Fortunately it's also the most forgiving as long as you have a long runway and don't level off way too high (like 20 ft AGL). If you look at the far end of the runway you'll find it much easier to determine your sink rate but that view doesn't convey much information about your height above the runway so you have to shift your visual focus between the far end and closer in. Some folks like to look directly down to detect height but I've never liked that view and it's not possible in a low wing airplane.

IME, most people can easily tell the difference between 5ft AGL and 10 ft AGL looking forward. If that's hard for you, fly a few low passes at each height with your CFI calling out the distance between wheels and runway. If you start your roundout around 10 ft AGL and get the vertical speed down under 100 FPM by the time you're a foot or two above the runway the landing will take care of itself as long as you are slow enough that the mains touch first.


3) Maintaining the plane on centerline: I still don't have the feel for applying aileron to the side I have to correct to, while holding opposite rudder so I don't turn. We did one or two forward slips, and I think that helped a lot, but I have to practice that way more before I'm fluent at this.
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IMO the best way to learn this is to fly low approaches (without intending to land) with a strong crosswind. If you can go to an airport with intersecting runways on a windy day, use the one least aligned with the wind and practice holding the centerline from the time you turn final until you apply power and go around near the far end. If that doesn't help, have your CFI maintain heading (rudders) while you keep the plane over the center with aileron so you only have to deal with one thing at a time. When you're comfortable with that swap roles (you operate the rudder,, CFI has the ailerons) or just go back to doing it all yourself. When you go back to making actual landings keep in mind that you need to keep the bank in as you touch down (and beyond) and that it will require more and more aileron as you slow down to do this.

I had a lot of trouble with this at first because I was afraid to touch down if the wings weren't level. Eventually I learned that the airplane doesn't have any trouble rolling on one main wheel and once I made that a goal in any crosswinds my problems diminished considerably.

4) Trim: I could trim the airplane for anything, given enough time!. While landing there's a lot of power changes, and flaps get lowered in increments, so there is no way I'm in trim every time (the configuration changes way faster than I can trim). I had in trim landings before, but there was a lot of luck in that. Again, it's just a problem of not having the feel of the trim wheel/yoke ingrained enough. This one is kind of annoying, since I never have enough time so I don't feel I'm making progress on this.
Except on no flaps landing, trim wheel all the way back gives me best glide (70MPH), which brings me at the right speed over the numbers.
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Trim is important and one of the reasons why I never liked the Cessna concept of adding flaps in 10° increments at various points in the pattern is that this makes it far more difficult to get the trim correct. You might try reducing the number of flap changes to two, 20° on downwind abeam the numbers and full flaps after turning final.

In any case the two keys to getting trimmed are holding a constant pitch attitude (see issue #1) and relaxing your grip on the wheel/stick. I'm sure you've heard that a tight grip makes it difficult to sense control pressure and it's pretty much a given that you will try to crush the handle as you tense up for the landing. Compounding this is that it's often necessary to have a firm grip for roll control (i.e. in turbulence) and you have to find a way to back off on the grip every time you tighten it.

Some instructors have students hold a wooden pencil between their hand and the wheel/stick because you can sense the excess grip force more easily that way. I like the notion of forcing your hand to "cycle" between a soft and firm grip every couple seconds (kinda like squeezing a rubber ball for exercise) and feeling for trim pressure as you switch from firm to soft.

In any case when you can feel that you're holding some elevator force concentrate on holding your attitude while trimming the pressure away. It's not important that you get this exact, just get the pressure down to the point where you can't easily tell if you need nose up or down trim.

Once you have the trim set, on final with flaps extended you shouldn't have to make much if any further adjustment as long as you don't make big power changes.
I also happen to train at an airport surrounded by hills, and as pretty as they are, it totally messes with your head in the approach. For one runway you are pretty much going into a valley. I'm aware (my instructor pointed it out) that makes it take more time.

I think I pretty much listed all the component of the landing as problems haha. It must sound as if I'm crashing the plane on the runway every time. Thing is, they don't all manifest at the same time, and even when they manifest, the severity is not always the same, so I haven't broken anything, and I think I haven't really scared my CFI yet.

Thanks for the advice!
Click to expand...
 
Johann said:
Thanks for all the advice.

Yes, my CFI points this and that, it's always pretty much one of the items on the list I gave. There's only so much he can do though!.

I don't (yet) feel that I'm terribly bad or stuck, so I'll just keep at it and see how it goes.

Ah, since we are on landings and you mentioned landing counts... how accurate were the counts from your CFI in your logbook?. Mine I think are very off. There was a time that I counted using the LiveATC recording, and I counted 15, but my CFI only put 6 on the book. I didn't mention it since I don't care, so just wondering (when they start counting for currency and such I'll be more strict about it).
Maybe he's counting only the ones he considers he didn't help much or at all. I don't see him writing anything down, so it also could be his memory is failing :dunno:
Click to expand...


Maybe this can help...long before I soloed, (in the 9 week T&G stage:mad2:) I noticed my CFI fiddling with the VOR OBS dial.:idea: He was counting off the landings on each of my climb-outs. That way, If we got extended (happened often before I started doing lessons @7am in the summer) we had an accurate count. I think my record was like 11 T&Gs...

I use the same trick when doing pattern work.
 
Owad1971 said:
Maybe this can help...long before I soloed, (in the 9 week T&G stage:mad2:) I noticed my CFI fiddling with the VOR OBS dial.:idea: He was counting off the landings on each of my climb-outs. That way, If we got extended (happened often before I started doing lessons @7am in the summer) we had an accurate count. I think my record was like 11 T&Gs...

I use the same trick when doing pattern work.
Click to expand...

Holy Crap. I'm so stupid.
 
Henning said:
TRIM: Take the plane up fly at normal speed and in trim. Now add nose up trim one full flick, note the speed it settles at, now reduce throttle until you are level (not climbing) and note your power setting (most likely RPM unless you are training with a constant speed prop) continue this process until you find how many flicks it takes to get to what speed all the way down to stall speed. You may also want to see what RPM it takes to get a 500fpm descent at each power setting using the appropriate amount of flaps for that speed that correlates with downwind, base, and final.
Click to expand...

What Henning says is what cracked the code for me.

Getting out in the practice area to see that power (RPM) settings for what flap setting and airspeed created a 500fpm descent really helped me.


As they say, teaching you to take off is just $100. The remainder of the budget is teaching you to land.
 
Owad1971 said:
Maybe this can help...long before I soloed, (in the 9 week T&G stage:mad2:) I noticed my CFI fiddling with the VOR OBS dial.:idea: He was counting off the landings on each of my climb-outs. That way, If we got extended (happened often before I started doing lessons @7am in the summer) we had an accurate count. I think my record was like 11 T&Gs...

I use the same trick when doing pattern work.
Click to expand...

I often use the 2nd CDI dial as a reminder for the wind direction.
 
Maybe he does use the VOR or something like that to count them, I'm always so "busy" during that time that it could go unnoticed.
I'll pay attention next time (and crash the plane for looking at his hands :D).

One more question, and I don't remember seeing this in the forums before. He always tells me to point the nose at the numbers. "Keep the nose on the numbers" during the approach. I guess it just so happens that in that plane with that configuration that gives you the right pitch attitude, but I'm asking because I don't remember anyone giving that advice but my CFI.
 
Johann said:
Maybe he does use the VOR or something like that to count them, I'm always so "busy" during that time that it could go unnoticed.
I'll pay attention next time (and crash the plane for looking at his hands :D).

One more question, and I don't remember seeing this in the forums before. He always tells me to point the nose at the numbers. "Keep the nose on the numbers" during the approach. I guess it just so happens that in that plane with that configuration that gives you the right pitch attitude, but I'm asking because I don't remember anyone giving that advice but my CFI.
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I always aim before the numbers so I can set it on the threshold stripes, but for basic trainers on typical runways, the numbers are fine (except for 'short field' landings). If you find yourself getting steeper and steeper to keep the numbers in the same spot on the windshield, you need to reduce power/slow yourself down.
 
Johann said:
He always tells me to point the nose at the numbers. "Keep the nose on the numbers" during the approach. I guess it just so happens that in that plane with that configuration that gives you the right pitch attitude, but I'm asking because I don't remember anyone giving that advice but my CFI.
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Henning said:
I always aim before the numbers so I can set it on the threshold stripes, but for basic trainers on typical runways, the numbers are fine (except for 'short field' landings). If you find yourself getting steeper and steeper to keep the numbers in the same spot on the windshield, you need to reduce power/slow yourself down.
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The CFI is teaching you an "aiming" spot. Read your ground school text on landings and you'll see a discussion about selecting a good aiming spot helps you achieve a good landing spot. Aim beyond the numbers, and you're going to be way down the runway when you touch down. Aim at the middle or bottom of the numbers, and you'll be touching down with plenty of runway left.

Again, +1 to what Henning said about too steep of a downward pitch angle being an indicator of being too fast.


One idea is to ask your CFI for a lesson that just focuses on establishing proper speeds and descent rates. Do this up in the air at 3000-3500 feet using a fence, road, or other straight line as an imaginary runway. Practice doing left and right patterns, speeds, and descents. Do it in the air will help build experience and confidence without worrying about needing to actually land the aircraft.

Then once you have the descent and approach part done, then add the runway environment. Keep nailing the speeds and 500fpm descent. Start learning the sight picture. Memorize the good picture. Work toward achieving that picture each time.

Keep a good attitude, and keep trying.... eventually you'll hear that lighbulb click on and you'll have a big grin that you did it and did it well.
 
I am pre-solo and still working on landings...going on about 20 hours and I am still not consistent enough for my liking. It is the only thing preventing me from soloing and I am not willing to push the issue until my CFI and I am satisfied I won't die when I land on my own. :)

I am optimistic and look forward to getting it...last run we did 11 touch and gos and on the last one I realized that I was giving up on the flare and letting the nose down when I should be trying to keep the nose off. Silly me. :dunno:
 
I do not remember any particular trouble during primary training, but my sloppy airspeed control dodges me even now. I found that my best landings are when I keep to Vref very exactly, +/- a knot, and aim with wind correction from very far away on the final. Alternatively, I can follow PAPI with power adjustment. Again the more precise, the better.
 
Glad I found this thread. I've already gotten great tips. Thanks.

I've hit a training plateau. I'm training in a Cherokee. My takeoffs and most of the procedures (slow flight, stalls, even steep turns) is pretty good, usually within PTS. Radio work is great I think, I really enjoy talking on the radio. I listen to a lot of ATC so I guess it helps. I just passed 40 hours and I have 64 landings in my logbook. I have not soloed yet primarily due to not being able to consistently land without help. In calm winds, I can usually land without help, but it seems that whenever we go up, I get 12+ knot cross winds with gusts to over 20. The approach is usually (not always, but usually) good. I can maintain speed and centerline down to about 100 feet AGL and as I get over the runway, it starts to go south. I can't keep centerline and I can't judge how high I am and I usually flare too high. I'm afraid that I'm going to hit the ground so instinctly, I start pulling back too soon.

As for the procedure in cross-wind landings, it's aileron into the wind and use rudder to keep the plane from drifting to the side, correct? On the approach, my instructor has me crab into the wind, so how does that change what I wrote in my previous sentence?

Also, my other weakness is not being able to spot traffic near the ground. Up in the sky, no issues seeing other planes, but nera the ground with the different colored buildings and backgrounds, much harder. I train at a pretty busy airport so this ability is pretty important. Any advice?

Thanks.
 
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orange said:
As for the procedure in cross-wind landings, it's aileron into the wind and use rudder to keep the plane from drifting to the side, correct?
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Use rudder to keep the airplane's longitudinal axis parallel to the centerline. Use bank to keep it over the centerline. The wind can change, it can be gusty, so you will have to make constant adjustments.

Ask your instructor to do some crosswind approaches via the wing-low (slip) method. There is nothing wrong with crabbing, but entering the slip early gets you more practice time in since you need to do it anyway before touchdown regardless of how you correct for the wind during the approach.

orange said:
Also, my other weakness is not being able to spot traffic near the ground. Up in the sky, no issues seeing other planes, but nera the ground with the different colored buildings and backgrounds, much harder. I train at a pretty busy airport so this ability is pretty important. Any advice?
Click to expand...

What is your vision?

Do you usually wear sunglasses? If so, maybe they are too dark. You ought to also try non-polarized ones if yours are polarized.
 
AggieMike88 said:
Getting out in the practice area to see that power (RPM) settings for what flap setting and airspeed created a 500fpm descent really helped me.
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That will also help if you decide to get your instrument rating later!
 
How far down the runway are you watching during that last 100 feet? Your view should transition toward the end of the runway and you can glance to the side to judge how high you are above ground.

Seeing aircraft amid ground clutter is difficult. When you lose them, keep looking. If necessary, ask tower to tell you where they are.
 
What's this busy airport reference? Only 1 airplane should be using the runway at a time! Period! Otherwise it's called a runway incursion and someone will get violated.

Exception is LAHSO and IIRC students may not accept one.
 
Johann said:
Hi,

... how many times did you go up for this until you were pretty consistent?
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Years :redface:

Funny, I wrote this without reading any of the other posts… and #2 said 400 hours. I'm at 380 and think that estimate sounds about right.
 
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orange said:
I just passed 40 hours and I have 64 landings in my logbook. I have not soloed yet primarily due to not being able to consistently land without help.
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Q: If your problem is consistent landings before you solo, why do you only have 64 in 40 hours?:confused:

Time for pattern work- practice counts! And if it is 12G20 whenever you go up (on the verge of a 152's envelope); I'd get used to landing in 12G20!

As far as watching for traffic: on short final if it's not on the tarmac, it doesn't exist. Watch the runway and your visual cues.
 
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