There is no such thing as a "landing". A pilot does not "land" the aircraft; the aircraft does not "land" on the runway or grass strip. Student pilots the world over are constantly stressing out and worrying about this ugly, scary big event called "landing," but what they don't realize is that this event isn't real. At least not in the way they think of it.
In reality, the successful termination of a flight occurs when an airplane is flying through the air and the earth happens to get in the way of the landing gear. That is it. The end. Now that we've cleared that up, I'd like to say a few things about smart ways a pilot can help induce this collision between rubber and pavement. Slow Flight If this event we call "landing" did exist after all, it would actually be found within the realm of slow flight, which is the condition of flight where induced drag becomes greater than parasitic drag. This is where a student learns how to land the airplane. This is where the understanding that pitch controls airspeed and power controls rate of descent will be solidified because there is no big scary "landing" to be done and there is no ground nearby to bounce off of. Slow flight at altitude conveniently provides the best classroom possible for a student to experience "landing". Depending on the student, I introduce slow flight within the first one or two real lessons. To help make it more exciting to them, I let them know before the flight that I am going to teach them how to land the airplane today because slow flight IS how the airplane lands. The “how” of slow flight can be boiled down to just 2 actions: use pitch to control airspeed and power to control rate of descent. Notice that I said power controls rate of descent, NOT the usual “power controls altitude.” This is a very important distinction because in this case, while landing, we are (or should be!) in a constant and gradual descent. If the airplane begins to descend too rapidly and our gradual descent turns into a falling brick, we use power to slow the descent. If we notice that we are above the PAPI or VASI glide path, we can reduce power to increase the rate of descent to get back on track, and then increase as necessary to maintain the angle, rather than take the more instinctual and incorrect action of pointing the nose down. I spend a LOT of time with students on slow flight, particularly in landing configuration. I want them to be able to hold 65 or 70 knots with pitch and be able to adjust their rate of descent in 100 foot increments. Though they miss a lot of the important visual cues at altitude, becoming familiar with the subtlety of adjusting pitch and power to maintain and adjust constant airspeed descents helps develop the feel required to pull this off near the ground. Once the student can do this, I will find a long and wide runway, ideally 7000+ feet in length, and have the student set up for a long straight-in final (or an extended downwind and base). We execute the exact same slow flight exercise that we did at altitude, only this time we have added visual cues outside the aircraft, such as a runway to point down, and ground and obstacles in our peripheral vision to help aid us in becoming familiar with what a gradual descent looks like. Now we will have visual cues as well as the seat of our pants (developed at altitude) to help us. I have my student fly in a very gradual slow flight descent down the glide path, and once we are above the threshold, I have them begin to arrest their descent with power. I tell my student beforehand that the point is not to put the airplane on the ground. Instead, we are just going to do slow flight in a very, very gradual descent down the long runway. The runway MIGHT get in our way, and if that happens, then great. Congratulations, you just “landed” the airplane. Ta-da. Though there is a little bit more involved in landing (the roll out, crosswind, etc), what has just been done is the meat and potatoes of the whole thing. If the aircraft never makes contact with the ground, I just practice a go-around as we near the final couple thousand feet of the runway. Disclaimer: The instructor should be watching closely and should be comfortable with the student’s general tendencies before attempting this because a big bounce or porpoise could be a great time for an instructor to jump in and take over. It is also important that the student doesn’t become scared from a scary experience. It can be wise for the instructor to fly the aircraft the first time around and show them what the exercise should feel and look like. The idea behind this approach to teaching landings is that it conveys that the landing of an aircraft is entirely accomplished by a controlled descent, using pitch to maintain airspeed and power to control rate of descent, and that a “pretty” landing is just an extremely gradual, shallow slow flight up until the moment the wheels descend into the runway. Landing is not a big event; it is not a single skill or technique in itself - it is just mastery of slow flight.
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4 Comments
6/8/2022 09:14:35 am
This episode of Dr. Gottman's breakthrough relationship therapy puts the focus back on what matters: your relationship with yourself and your partner.
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7/14/2022 01:16:32 am
The best way to get lost in the world is to have the ability to see all around you. This allows you to find your way, even when you can't see.
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12/17/2022 11:19:17 pm
It helped when you mentioned that an aviation student should not be scared of a scary experience. My friend wants to become a pilot. I should advise him to take aviation training to gain the necessary skills.
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5/24/2023 10:09:08 pm
Thank you for pointing out that student pilots all around the world are continually anxious and stressed out about this enormous, nasty, terrible event called "landing," but they are unaware that this event isn't actually going to happen. My son wants to be a pilot but is anxious about landing. To ensure that he can do the landing properly, I will advise him to enroll in a private pilot training course.
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