Bushpilot048
Newbie
- Oct 22, 2009
- 3
- 0
Pilot Perception and Landing an airplane.
Over the years, I’ve read dozens of articles describing ‘how to land an airplane’. All have similar issues in common and are right on spec with description of what’s happening aerodynamically and mechanically when going through the process of landing. Stabilizing the airplane in glide, airspeed control, altitude/glide rate adjustments with power, pitch control , directional control with rudders, aileron-rudder coordination to limit drift, etc. The list and approaches (no pun intended) go on and on. However, one element of landing description seems to be missing from the articles that I’ve read, and that’s ‘pilot perception’ when going through the landing process. I have yet to find an article dealing with related physical/mechanical feelings, visual contact and mental perceptions a pilot experiences when landing an airplane. The question is, what does the student ‘see’ and ‘feel’ during landing.
Before I launch into my thesis on this, I do want to point out that I am not trying to refute or challenge any of the articles that I’ve read. All are spec-perfect in what they are trying to say and I encourage all readers to learn from what’s being said. I want to emphasize that I am trying to add to the knowledge base an element of consideration that I believe has not been treated before in articles dealing with landings. With this, my ultimate focus is simply to add to the knowledge field of teaching and to share what I am doing to teach safe, consistent landings to my students. You can agree or disagree, but at least think about the issue.
One issue that comes into dominant play during landing is airplane stability. This is commonly taught to all students by all instructors and really is not the major point that I wish to make in this note. Setting up the airplane into a stabilized glide is primary for getting to the threshold. The airplane on final should feel stable under and around the pilot. Once set, the plane requires only light control pressures in order to maintain the stable glide. Airspeed, glide rate, vertical speed, yaw control are much more easily controlled if the airplane is stable. OK, nothing new; so, what’s my point. My point is teaching ‘instability’ … That is, after passing over the threshold, reducing power and rotating into the flair, student perceptions and feel for the landing are quite different than when in the power controlled descent.
I have found that during the descent to landing, part of the descent is in a stable airplane while in another part (the landing flair) the airplane is unstable. Students typically learn to apply a stabilized, ‘power-controlled’ glide down to the runway threshold in a relatively short period of instructional time, but the problem comes when the student transitions into the flair. Now the airplane is unstable and the descent becomes a ‘pilot-controlled’ descent. What does the student perceive at this point of the descent? Visualize, the power is reduced, back-pressure is applied to the yoke and the airplane pitch is raised to level flight over the runway. The student is typically instructed at this point to control several aerodynamic factors simultaneously while maintaining directional control and rate of descent to touchdown. This is where student / pilot visual perception is critical and – in my opinion – often misdirected.
The first issue that the student (and instructor) need to realize is, once the airplane has entered the landing flair it is no longer stable. At this point, two issues need to be taken into account simultaneously as far as descents go, and these are (1) rate of ground closure perceived and(2) visual reference of the cowling/nose of the airplane to the horizon of the runway. As the pilot approaches the ground during a glide, there is a sensation of ‘Ground-Rush’ indicated by surroundings getting larger very quickly. As the student reaches the runway threshold, the airplane is brought into level flight to ‘slow’ the ground-rush effect and power reduced. At this point, eye contact typically transitions down the runway. I emphasize raising the cowling to the ‘Horizon-of-the-Runway’. While in the flair, I have found that by telling the student to be sensitive to two things, their learning curve on landings increases very rapidly. I tell the student to watch and be sensitive to both ground closure rate (or, ground rush effect) and position of cowling relative to horizon of the runway. Apply backpressure to the yoke in tempo with ground closure, but not so fast as to let the cowling pass through the horizon of the runway. This technique requires the student to be aware of and visually control – by application of back-pressure on yoke - two visual issues outside the airplane simultaneously; ‘ground-rush’ and ‘cowling position’ during descent to touchdown. If the cowling goes through the horizon, release just enough backpressure to bring the nose back to the runway horizon. If the cowling is pulled through the horizon of the runway, the airplane will stall high every time and result in a hard landing. Also, once in the landing flair and flying level with cowling position set, the pilot/student must maintain sufficient backpressure to control the loss of longitudinal stability. To clairify, let’s do a mental experiment (and I do emphasize ‘mental’): Think what would happen if - during the landing flair - your student suddenly and completely releases the back-pressure on the yoke control? If the airplane isn't on the ground already, the plane would instantly dive into the ground most likely resulting in extensive damage to the airplane and possibly pilots. Of course, this is prevented by pilot control of the descent during the landing flair by applying just enough back-pressure to the yoke in tempo with the ground closure rate until the airplane makes contact at touchdown. Of course, one is not finished flying at this point. The pilot should maintain the amount of applied back-pressure used when touching down so as not to allow the nose to drop rapidly causing a potential ‘porpoise’ or ‘bounce’ effect during the roll-out .
I did not emphasize many other aspects of the landing such as drift control and slips and I certainly do not want to minimize the importance of this aspect of any landing. But this, in context, is a method of teaching landings that I’ve used for many years and found to be neglected in articles and discussions on landings. I believe it is most important to developing student perspective and perception during this phase of flight training. By dividing the landing process into these two separate issues, the student seems to quickly and efficiently develop self confidence and consistency in safely landing an airplane.
Over the years, I’ve read dozens of articles describing ‘how to land an airplane’. All have similar issues in common and are right on spec with description of what’s happening aerodynamically and mechanically when going through the process of landing. Stabilizing the airplane in glide, airspeed control, altitude/glide rate adjustments with power, pitch control , directional control with rudders, aileron-rudder coordination to limit drift, etc. The list and approaches (no pun intended) go on and on. However, one element of landing description seems to be missing from the articles that I’ve read, and that’s ‘pilot perception’ when going through the landing process. I have yet to find an article dealing with related physical/mechanical feelings, visual contact and mental perceptions a pilot experiences when landing an airplane. The question is, what does the student ‘see’ and ‘feel’ during landing.
Before I launch into my thesis on this, I do want to point out that I am not trying to refute or challenge any of the articles that I’ve read. All are spec-perfect in what they are trying to say and I encourage all readers to learn from what’s being said. I want to emphasize that I am trying to add to the knowledge base an element of consideration that I believe has not been treated before in articles dealing with landings. With this, my ultimate focus is simply to add to the knowledge field of teaching and to share what I am doing to teach safe, consistent landings to my students. You can agree or disagree, but at least think about the issue.
One issue that comes into dominant play during landing is airplane stability. This is commonly taught to all students by all instructors and really is not the major point that I wish to make in this note. Setting up the airplane into a stabilized glide is primary for getting to the threshold. The airplane on final should feel stable under and around the pilot. Once set, the plane requires only light control pressures in order to maintain the stable glide. Airspeed, glide rate, vertical speed, yaw control are much more easily controlled if the airplane is stable. OK, nothing new; so, what’s my point. My point is teaching ‘instability’ … That is, after passing over the threshold, reducing power and rotating into the flair, student perceptions and feel for the landing are quite different than when in the power controlled descent.
I have found that during the descent to landing, part of the descent is in a stable airplane while in another part (the landing flair) the airplane is unstable. Students typically learn to apply a stabilized, ‘power-controlled’ glide down to the runway threshold in a relatively short period of instructional time, but the problem comes when the student transitions into the flair. Now the airplane is unstable and the descent becomes a ‘pilot-controlled’ descent. What does the student perceive at this point of the descent? Visualize, the power is reduced, back-pressure is applied to the yoke and the airplane pitch is raised to level flight over the runway. The student is typically instructed at this point to control several aerodynamic factors simultaneously while maintaining directional control and rate of descent to touchdown. This is where student / pilot visual perception is critical and – in my opinion – often misdirected.
The first issue that the student (and instructor) need to realize is, once the airplane has entered the landing flair it is no longer stable. At this point, two issues need to be taken into account simultaneously as far as descents go, and these are (1) rate of ground closure perceived and(2) visual reference of the cowling/nose of the airplane to the horizon of the runway. As the pilot approaches the ground during a glide, there is a sensation of ‘Ground-Rush’ indicated by surroundings getting larger very quickly. As the student reaches the runway threshold, the airplane is brought into level flight to ‘slow’ the ground-rush effect and power reduced. At this point, eye contact typically transitions down the runway. I emphasize raising the cowling to the ‘Horizon-of-the-Runway’. While in the flair, I have found that by telling the student to be sensitive to two things, their learning curve on landings increases very rapidly. I tell the student to watch and be sensitive to both ground closure rate (or, ground rush effect) and position of cowling relative to horizon of the runway. Apply backpressure to the yoke in tempo with ground closure, but not so fast as to let the cowling pass through the horizon of the runway. This technique requires the student to be aware of and visually control – by application of back-pressure on yoke - two visual issues outside the airplane simultaneously; ‘ground-rush’ and ‘cowling position’ during descent to touchdown. If the cowling goes through the horizon, release just enough backpressure to bring the nose back to the runway horizon. If the cowling is pulled through the horizon of the runway, the airplane will stall high every time and result in a hard landing. Also, once in the landing flair and flying level with cowling position set, the pilot/student must maintain sufficient backpressure to control the loss of longitudinal stability. To clairify, let’s do a mental experiment (and I do emphasize ‘mental’): Think what would happen if - during the landing flair - your student suddenly and completely releases the back-pressure on the yoke control? If the airplane isn't on the ground already, the plane would instantly dive into the ground most likely resulting in extensive damage to the airplane and possibly pilots. Of course, this is prevented by pilot control of the descent during the landing flair by applying just enough back-pressure to the yoke in tempo with the ground closure rate until the airplane makes contact at touchdown. Of course, one is not finished flying at this point. The pilot should maintain the amount of applied back-pressure used when touching down so as not to allow the nose to drop rapidly causing a potential ‘porpoise’ or ‘bounce’ effect during the roll-out .
I did not emphasize many other aspects of the landing such as drift control and slips and I certainly do not want to minimize the importance of this aspect of any landing. But this, in context, is a method of teaching landings that I’ve used for many years and found to be neglected in articles and discussions on landings. I believe it is most important to developing student perspective and perception during this phase of flight training. By dividing the landing process into these two separate issues, the student seems to quickly and efficiently develop self confidence and consistency in safely landing an airplane.
