Lesson 16 - Who Let The Nose Down...
September 27, 2022
“ Landing a plane efficiently over and over is the hardest skill I have ever had to learn in my entire life. ”
- Jutin Yates, Private Pilot (Also a veteran Director at a Software Consulting Firm)
Today's lesson was about beating up the traffic pattern and get more comfortable with the final approach and landing. The weather wasn't really ideal as there were some variable wind pushing the plane around, but we had to make use of a small window between the thunderstorms, and we did grab that opportunity. It was not perfect lesson by any means, rather it was more like developing a skill by a lot of trial and error. The difference was that today’s working tasks were mostly near the ground, but at the same time in as much safe manner as possible.
Sometimes when I compose a piece of music, I get stuck, especially while composing coda - the final piece. The intro, verses, bridges, sound great, but there is no satisfactory ending to the story I want to tell through that piece of music. Usually when that happens, I have a few people who I turn to, to get more clarity of thoughts.
Today’s lesson reminded me strongly of such moments, and I am glad I have Drew and Justin to talk to, ask stupid questions in order to unravel the intricacies of finer skills that are required to land the plane on the ground. These are the skills that can be taught only to a certain limit, after that it’s all about how YOU feel those controls, how YOU interpret that picture, how YOU feel the wind, and how YOU land the plane safely on the ground.
Boy! It’s nice to be on the ground.
I have gone over a typical traffic pattern many times before, hence I will not bore you with all the routine stuff. I will focus on that last 100 feet today, and try to uncover what could have been better.
I did total of 8 landings today and in each landing, there were some key adjustment that I needed to do. There were two landings in particular that etched in my memory. They were Landing 5 and Landing 8. The last 100 ft and those last few seconds are the most critical ones and that is something that cannot be taught 100%. There is no perfect landing, as every single landing can be improved by at least one adjustment.
Let me explain why these two landings stuck with me so vividly.
Landing #5
I turned from Base to Final and I had pretty good, stabilized approach. That is until the last 100 feet. On my approach I had speed of 70 knots, which is the best glide speed, my descent rate was at 500 feet/minute, which was what I wanted. As I neared the ground I needed to maintain my stable approach, but right when I am about to touchdown, at about 15 feet above the runway, a wind shear just tipped me on the Right. My natural response was to turn the yoke on the left to counter that, which is not at all a good idea, especially that low to the ground. This is what it looked like.
As you can see I am banked on the left, and my airspeed was 46 knots. That's very low and very close to stall speed. At that speed the plane SHOULD NOT be banked along the longitudinal axis. It should be straight and leveled. It may result in wing tipping over, even in little to none crosswind.
During the ground session Drew told me:
“ You are trying to steer the ailerons that have very very very very limited airflow going over top of them and the stall horn is going off. You are trying to steer with the aileron, and they are not doing anything. At that point (they) have no more usefulness. Alright you were at 10 feet, you flared a little too much, it wasn't too much to a point where it was affecting safety of what we were doing. Had you not done that, it would have been a damn perfect landing, because you were on center line, on glide, everything looked great. But the thought process of you using anything here (pointing at yoke) to control the airplane whatsoever is retarted. There is no airflow over the wings, so they are not doing anything. The only thing you are gonna do (by turning the yoke) is possibly aggravate one of the wings to stall it first - which is gonna drop one forward. At that point, better be on the center line, on glide, unless you are going around. The only thing you are doing (by turning the yoke) is drifting it (the plane) off course. You wanna keep your wings level at that point because you only have so much air going over them. That’s why it is important to get established to maintain that positive direction with the rudder. (Yoke) becomes pretty stupid. As you get close to the ground you have limited options of fixing your situation. That's why make or break time starts way back. ”
“ Your Controls… ”
That was the longest ever speech Drew has given so far.
Hopefully it remains so…
Landing #8
Everything was great until I was 20 feet above the ground. Again, good glide speed, good rate of descent, captains bars in the middle of the windshield. I got to be about 100 feet from the runway, and before I knew what happened, the backward pressure on the yoke loosened up a bit and I heard two voices simultaneously -
“ DON’T DIVE.... ”
I flared immediately but that dive picked up some speed and that messed up my landing. After flare I floated for few seconds in ground effect, and as the air under the wings ran out, I bounced off of the ground for about 10-15 feet high. I glanced at speed and it was still over 50 knots, and I was drifting towards the right. Drew took control anticipating the secondary stall (which occurred just a few moments later) and landed the plane safely. During the ground session afterwards, I asked Drew:
Me: Did I flare too early ?
Drew: It's a lot of things. You picked up some speed (with that dive), and yeah, you did flare too early, then you started diving, then you stopped the dive, and then bounced. Hold your descent rate, trust that keeping those captains bars centered will result in a touchdown near the bars. Round out instead of hard flare.
Afterwards during my discussion with Justin, I learnt the difference about proactive go-around and reactive go-arounds. I have understood the proactive go-around. I know when my approach isn’t good, I know when I am not aligned with the center of the runway, I know if I am coming in too hot, or I am too high, I exercise go-arounds on such occasions on my own.
What happened on that #8 landing was that after I flared, the plane was going to be in a secondary stall. Secondary Stall occurs after the recovery from a preceding stall, and it is caused by abrupt control input or attempting to return to the desired flight path too quickly. By taking controls, Drew ensured that the critical angle of attack is not exceeded and the plane lands safely. They are really fine rudder and elevator control inputs in such situations.
Anticipating this phenomenon, if anytime the bounce on the landing occurs, you should go-around, especially when you are in the training. This is an example of reactive go-around. This has to become second nature. Drew did not see any signals from me to go around, and that’s why he took controls on that landing.
So takeaways from today's lessons:
Continue working on (not) descent on Base. That's making my life harder on the Final Approach.
Use the pedals (Rudders) and keep pressure on them to maintain the center-line with the middle of the aircraft. Make constant, small corrections to the pedal pressure to adjust.
Hold the descent rate. Round out instead of hard flare.
For the first time Drew let me do mistakes so close to the ground. Although I knew that he wouldn’t let me fall, it was nerve-wracking, and stressful. I do not know how Drew handled that from the right seat, but kudos to him for confidently allowing me to feel the landing, especially the last 100 feet.
I will remember this lesson for a long time to come.