 | |  | |  |
will actually conflict with other techniques. The debate, as you can well imagine, can be
very heated. The reality is, there is no single correct technique that works for everyone.
Who cares what your technique is as long as you can land the plane gently and safely
every time. If you have a technique that works for you then stick with it. If your
technique does not yield consistently smooth landings then continue reading. Below is
simply my technique for landing a Cessna 172. If you are struggling with your landings
and you are training in a small aircraft, such as a Cessna 172, try thinking of the landing
in 3 phases and at no time should you force a bad approach, round-out or flare to the
conclusion of a landing. Try thinking of all approaches to a landing as really a go-around
interrupted by a landing. This mentality will have you focused on going around if the
landing does not feel or look right. Do not get so focused on landing a plane at the
expense of bending metal.
PHASE ONE:
The approach is the first phase of a landing. Every good landing starts with a good
approach. Try to stabilize the aircraft's approach so you do not have to make a lot of
corrections close to the runway. This means make sure your airspeed is 1.3 times the
stall speed (in a C-172 the speed is approximately 61 knots. I increase this speed slightly
to 65 Knots in Hawaii because the winds are very gusty and variable.) Your horizontal
ground track, which is controlled by your ailerons, should take you over the runway
centerline. The nose of your plane should be aimed straight down the runway and any
yaw left or right should be promptly but smoothly controlled with rudder. Make sure all
these are set ASAP after rolling out on final and adjust them promptly yet smoothly
when anything changes. Also, determine the proper amount of power necessary for glide
slope control as soon as you turn onto final. In a normal landing, your power should be
set to approximately 1,500 RPM in a Cessna 172 with full flaps, but... if you are low you
will need to add power and if you are high you will need to reduce power...
remember...you are now operating near the region of reverse command where you
should power for altitude and pitch for airspeed. If the airplane is not stabilized on
approximately a 3 degree glide slope by 200 feet above the runway then a go around
should be performed. To recap phase one, you want the plane in a stabilized 3 degree
glide slope descent so it will fly itself all the way down to the aiming points (the big fat
rectangles) which is where phase two begins.
PHASE TWO:
The round-out is the second phase of a landing. Every aircraft has it's own round-out
altitude. For a Cessna 172 you should transition from a stabilized nose low descent,
which was established in phase one, to the round-out at approximately 25-40 feet above
the runway. The round-out is basically like the bottom of a playground slide. It's the
curve at the bottom of a slide. If you look at the profile of a slide you will notice that the
bottom curve does not go up at the end, nor does it go down... it goes horizontal. So
when you are performing your round-out, transition from a nose low attitude to a nose
level attitude (horizontal). In a Cessna 172 I begin the round-out at about 25-40 feet
above the runway. Once the nose of my plane is level, I allow the plane's altitude to
continue to decrease to approximately 1-5 feet... and no lower. Remember... even though
the plane's flight attitude is level at 20-30 feet above the runway, this absolutely does not
mean the flight path is level... the plane is still descending... just not as fast as it was in
phase one. If you try to hold 25-40 feet of altitude you will end up shedding all your
airspeed and eventually you could stall the plane at that height which is definitely NOT
WHAT YOU WANT TO DO. Phase one's descent rate should be close to 500 feet per
minute and phase two's descent rate is more like 150 feet per minute. During this 2nd
phase is also when the power should begin to be slowly and smoothly reduced . About
one second after the round-out begins, start to slowly reduce some of the power. So...
To recap phase two... At approximately 25-40 feet above the runway, slowly and
smoothly begin to level the nose of the plane but continue to let the plane smoothly
descend from 25-40 feet down to 1-5 feet of altitude while slowly and smoothly reducing
power.
PHASE THREE:
The flare is the final phase of a landing and is undoubtedly the most difficult to master. If
the round-out began at 25-40 feet and ended with the plane at 1-5 feet above the runway
with the power just above idle, the flare is what settles the plane down on the runway
with a nose high attitude. The flare is basically the pilot trying to hold that 1-5 feet of
altitude as long as possible with practically no power and an airspeed that is constantly
decreasing. As the airspeed decreases, you will need to apply more back pressure on the
yoke to maintain 1-5 feet of altitude. The trick is to not loose any altitude and just as
importantly, not gain any altitude. If you gain altitude the plane will "balloon" and this
will usually require promptly adding power and often will require you to abort the
landing and go around. If you loose altitude too quickly you will have a less than smooth
landing. So...as you are maintaining 1-5 feet of altitude with the airspeed decreasing you
will have to carefully apply more back pressure on the yoke. This combination causes the
plane's nose to eventually rise. As the airspeed finally decreases to the point where the
wings can no longer generate any lift, the power should now be reduced to idle as the
plane slowly descends from 1-3 feet above the runway down to the runway surface
where the main wheels should gently touch down with the nose wheel still in a nose high
attitude. Continue to carefully pull back on the yoke just enough to keep that nose
wheel off the ground, but not so much as to pop the plane back into the air. Keep pulling
back on the yoke until the yoke can no longer be pulled back any further. Once the yoke
is fully aft, then the nose wheel will eventually make contact with the runway surface.