Landings: At Last

Today was a day of breakthroughs. A lot of the pilots I have talked to have told me that there comes a moment in time when suddenly, landings just "click." You grasp the mechanics of landing and suddenly you can put the plane on the ground, no problem. I was eagerly awaiting the click, as I'd been having massive difficulty with the landing process from power management to the deadly flare. It seemed that every landing was too slow, too low, or too fast. I had a scary tailstrike which struck fear into my heart.

On my last lesson, my instructor was tired of watching me struggle, so he took me out to the practice area and worked on rudder control with a series of exercises. He then had me fly the plane back to the airport using only rudder, and then we did a series of landings where we split responsibility of duties. He would do power while I did pitch, and then vice-versa. Those exercises solidified landing in my head, and I ended the day by squeaking out a fairly good landing.

Today, we preflighted the plane and Bryan briefed me. He told me that we'd go for a change of scenery and fly to Bartow, a mere seven miles from the Winter Haven airport. There we would do some touch-and-go's and then head back to Winter Haven for simulated power failures.

Normally, Bartow is a controlled airport, but it was after 5PM and the controller had gone home for the day, so the tower frequency on the radio became a CTAF. We called our position and entered the pattern at a 45-degree standard entry, then circled around to land. The runway at Bartow is much wider than the runway at Winter Haven, and the different sight picture helped me immensely.

I pulled the power, pushed the flaps, executed a passable flare, and squeaked down for the best landing I've made to date. It may not have been a perfect 10, but in MY book, it felt amazing: no bounce, no porpoise, no balloon, just a perfect greaser of a landing. I smiled ear to ear as I pulled the flaps up, pushed the carb heat to COLD and advanced the throttle. The plane soared into the sky and I executed five more successful landings (there was a bit of a crosswind, so they weren't perfect by any means, but they were my best landings yet) before we left Bartow for Winter Haven.

On our return to Winter Haven we entered the pattern, did one touch-and-go, and then Bryan demonstrated a perfect simulated engine failure. He pulled the throttle, pitched for our Cessna 150's best-glide speed of 70mph, and circled the plane in for a perfect landing. We took off again, and I made an attempt at the same procedure, which was scary but which went fairly well.

At the end of the day, I logged 9 landings and 1.2 hours of time. It was the first time I'd flown to another airport, and the first time I made what I felt to be good landings. I felt really good about myself coming home tonight, and I'm excited for the next time I get to go up!

Control Shyness, Overcontrol, Landings

Control Shyness, Overcontrol, and Landings

Control Shyness

Today was another productive flying lesson. Over almost two hours in the air, Bryan and I did at least ten solid traffic patterns and focused on learning to land. I identified a number of areas for improvement and felt like I learned something, which is always good.

Because I had not flown in a couple of weeks, I feel like my skill level was not where it was when I finished my last lesson. I am building skill, but it’s two steps forward and one step back with these sporadic lessons. It’s better than not flying at all, but it would be nice to go more consistently.

The first few traffic patterns were sort of drunken. In fact, on the first one up Bryan asked me what exactly I was doing. I was having a hard time focusing for some reason, but with his coaching I was soon straightened out and flying right. There was a slight wind blowing out of the Northwest which created some complications to handling as the active runway is on heading 050, just North of East. Immediately after takeoff it was necessary to kick in a little rudder to compensate for the wind and not drift off the extended centerline of the runway. Turning was a little more bumpy than usual, and I found myself having a harder time than usual holding an appropriate distance from the runway on the downwind leg. Also, when “abeam the number” and reducing power, I have a tendency to drift right. Bryan coached me on all of this, and as the lesson progressed I made an effort to tighten my turns and watch my position around the field.

Another problem that cropped up while flying today was on the base segment of the traffic pattern. Base is when you turn into the field so that you are flying towards but perpendicular to the runway. Turning to the base leg, one should be about 700 feet above ground level (AGL) and the runway should be about 45 degrees off the wing. Apparently, my perception of 45 degrees is incorrect, and I have been turning base much later than I should and flying a huge pattern. Bryan coached me on that and helped me tighten my pattern a little more, which led to better and better approaches to the runway as the lesson went on.

One of the big things I have been struggling with is control shyness. Control shyness is what I call the tendency of the student pilot to be afraid of the controls of the airplane. Sometimes when we are flying, I see that something is askew, but instead of fixing it I tend to ignore it or just live with it. This is incorrect. Bryan emphasized with me that if something is askew, as the PILOT IN COMMAND it is my responsibility to fix it. For example: if I over-turn and am at an odd angle to the runway, my tendency is to sort of “go with it.” This is wrong. There are many things that can go wrong in the air, and by “going with it” I am increasing the odds of instability or loss of control. “Grab the controls and make it right, man,” Bryan told me. “You’re flying the darn thing, you may as well use the controls you have.” He’s right.

The challenge here, though, is that I suffer from another student-pilot tendency: the tendency to fight myself at the controls by over controlling the aircraft. When I take Bryan’s advice and use the controls, I sometimes tend to over-control the airplane. That puts it askew, and then I find myself wrestling with the controls to correct the massive inputs I have been putting into them. The cure for this is to simply let go of the controls, let the airplane correct itself, and then focus on using gentler inputs. On my last three or four approaches, I used smaller control inputs and took some deep breaths to help myself focus. That seemed to dispel whatever it was that was keeping me from focusing well, and it really neatened up my turns and climbs.

In summary: today I learned a lot about control shyness and overcontrol. I learned about my own shortcomings. I learned how to remedy those shortcomings, and I learned to neaten up my traffic pattern and make tighter, more precise turns. Bryan actually suggested that I practice more in a flight simulator, which is something I’m more than happy to do. I learned that I need to ground myself and focus more. I learned that, when I really pay attention, I can fly a perfect traffic pattern, and I learned that I need to cultivate that focus and really polish my skills.

Landings

Landing an airplane is essential. Any airplane that takes off will land one way or another, and it is imperative that the pilot be able to make as well-controlled and safe a landing as possible. My landings to this point have been, on the whole, a little rough. I make two mistakes over and over: I balloon the airplane, and I land with all three wheels at once.

A perfect landing goes like this: the airplane has a stable approach to the field. On final, the runway centerline is aligned with the center of the aircraft, and the plane is descending along a glide-path that will place it smack on the end of the runway. As the plane crosses the threshold, the pilot pulls the nose up ever so gently, and the plane mushes gently into the ground rear wheels first, followed by a gentle letdown of the nose wheel.

My landings go like this: the approach is relatively stable. On final, the center of the aircraft is more or less aligned with the runway, though often it is too far to the left. The aircraft yaws its way to centerline, and then just as it crosses the numbers at the end of the runway, the pilot yanks the nose up and the plane floats into the sky. The pilot then lets out too much back pressure off of the yoke, and the plane noses down, then pulls back up, than thumps into the pavement and skids along the runway like a drunk trying to weave cones.

As you can see, my landings are far from perfect. My instructor did his best to coach me today, and by the end of the day, I felt some improvement. As I mentioned in my last post, we spent a lot of time focusing on the traffic pattern and setting up a stable approach. Every good landing has a well-planned approach behind it, and all that practice in the traffic pattern helped my landings.

Noticing my suboptimal landings, Bryan gave me two tips to help me improve. First: on final approach, imagine that there is a yardstick that goes from the dashboard to the end of the runway. Instead of looking at where the airplane IS, look further down the yardstick at where the airplane WILL BE. That helps you to fly ahead of the plane, and helps you to make better control inputs and plan your landing better. Just like driving, if you focus on a point further away you can maneuver better than if you’re driving ten feet in front of you.

The second tip from Bryan: don’t land the airplane. Instead of focusing on putting the plane on the ground, try to get as close to it as you can without touching it. “Imagine that it’s going to shock you,” he said, “and try not to touch it.” When I did that, the plane magically had a better landing than before. The rear wheels hit first, the front wheel came down gently, and things were suddenly a lot less bumpy and turbulent. Amazing!

After a number of landings, it was time for us to stop. I progressed from really bad to not as bad, and I feel like I learned something. Key points for me to remember: visualize your glide path. Visualizing your glide path helps you control the plane, and helps you plan ahead of the plane, both of which are important tasks. Also, don’t land the plane, just get really close to the ground and let it happen. Practice makes perfect; I really hope I can practice again soon.

Eight Patterns, Eight Landings

A photo I took today at the airport. I call it "Freedom Through the Fence" because I am a dork.

2/20/2010 C-150 N5307Q GIF-GIF

Traffic Patterns and normal landing practice

8 landings 1.5 hours

Grand Total: 21 hours

Today was an awesome day to fly. For starters, the weather was perfect: clear skies, no wind, no clouds, nice mellow temperature. It was without a doubt the most perfect flying day I could have asked for.

Despite this perfect weather, the traffic pattern at the airport was less busy than I had expected. With perfect weather on a Saturday afternoon in Florida, I'd expect tons of traffic aloft, but for the first 45 minutes or so in the air it seemed like it was just me and my instructor. A few planes joined us in the traffic pattern later on in the afternoon, but by and large our company in the air was courteous and not hurried--which is good as our little Cessna 150 has about one horsepower and putts through the traffic pattern at a fairly laid-back pace.

There was some drama on the radio, however. A flight student on a solo had gotten lost and was asking for directions. My instructor suggested he try to use a VOR* signal to triangulate his position, and the student's instructor came on the radio and suggested he try some orienteering, but the student saw some random field and opted to just land the flight and figure out where he was from the ground. Also of note, another aircraft announced that they had experienced engine failure and would be landing on the inactive runway, but fortunately it was just an engine-out drill. No actual emergency--phew!

We spent the day focusing on traffic patterns and on landings. The concept of the day was to grasp was the "Stabilized Approach," which is to say that while approaching for landing the view from the cockpit should be of the runway growing larger but not moving. A lot of pitch or yaw or roll to correct should not be necessary if one's approach is solid. On my first few patterns of the day, my approach was a touch sloppy and the landings were definitely rough. Bryan coached me through the landing: the objective is to float the airplane and not quite let it land until it's niiiiice and easy. There needs to be back pressure on the yoke to prevent the airplane from touching with the nosewheel first. Keeping the pressure on the yoke also prevents the nosewheel from mushing around and making it hard to steer.

Three problems popped up today. First, my instructor noticed that I wasn't paying enough attention to airspeed. This is a huge problem since losing your airspeed while maneuvering near the ground can cause an un-recoverable stall, which can then cause death. I wish to avoid death, and so after my instructor reminded me of the importance of airspeed I worked hard to maintain it. I think I was too throttle-shy at first, but as the day went on I grew more aggressive and learned what sort of maneuvers require additional power. My recent reading on the power curve makes a lot more sense after all that mucking around with the throttle today. I also focused on pitching for airspeed.

Problem two: I had a hard time steering after landing. Ten years of car driving kick in and I try to steer with the ailerons (the yoke) when it is instead necessary to steer with your feet, on the rudder pedals. I tried to focus on fixing that but my brain was full and so I will try to do better next time.

The final problem: when I am making my power and configuration changes at the end of the downwind leg, I have a tendency to steer the airplane to the right. It's not a huge deal, but Bryan mentioned it to me and I feel like I should work on neatening that up. After all, unintentional changes in attitude while changing configuration can become problematic.

After plenty of practice, with eight traffic patterns and seven touch-and-go's, my patterns were tighter, my landings were better, and I felt like I had made some progress and learned a lot. Bryan told me that my landings had gone from not good at all to a C+ grade, and I feel good about that. The objective is an eventual A+, so more practice is in order!

All in all, a productive day. An hour and a half more in the logbook, eight good traffic patterns, and three unassisted landings that went fairly well. In aviation, any landing you can walk away from is a good landing, but any landing that you can walk away from and still use the plane is a great landing. In that light, I think that today was a great day indeed.