Hey everyone. Jason Schappert here of MzeroA.com. In today's video, I'm going to share with you three easy ways to improve your landings. And the first is this, a perfect landing starts with a perfect traffic pattern. How can we expect to have a perfect landing when one time we're tight on the downwind and the next time we're wide which screws up our base which screws up out final. A perfect landing starts with a perfect traffic pattern. But to understand that, you need to see a downwind that's a little bit too close and a downwind that's a little bit too far. So a perfect landing starts with a perfect pattern. Look what a wide pattern looks like. You see the runway kind of way out there. If you're looking from your seat, can you see how it kind of moves up the window. We're flying what I call like a bomber pattern. I want to always put myself, how do I know if I'm too wide in a pattern? I want to always put myself in a position, if I lost my engine, could I still make that runway out there. And the answer right now in today's conditions is no. I'd be maybe on airport property, but that might even be a stretch because I'm so far out here. I'm too wide in this case. I want to fly a more normal pattern. Somewhere in the middle there. So this time, I'm too tight on the downwind. Can you see the runway here. Can you see how short my base is going to be when I try to make this turn. A perfect landing starts with a perfect traffic pattern. How can I expect it to be good when I'm all over the place like this. I'm not even going to have a base in this case. when you're looking down here. You might as well bring the power back and make it a short approach for as close as I am to this. In a high wing airplane, where do you want that runway on the downwind, on the strut? On a low wing airplane, where do you want to see the runway on the leading or trailing edge of that wing. That's what you have to work on and burn that site picture of a perfect pattern and the distance on downwind into your mind. So now that we're flying the perfect pattern, it's important to know and understand that airspeed is king. Like I said, we have to fly that pattern. How can we expect a perfect landing when the pattern's all over the place. How can we expect a perfect landing when the airspeed's all over the place. Knowing our numbers. What happens if you come in a little bit too fast? What happens if you come in a little bit too slow? Let's head up to the cockpit and find out. So this time, I'm going to do something that's a little bit too hard for me here which is coming in too slow. About 70 to 75 out here on base. I'm a little bit high though which again is the instinct in you. Like I want to have a little bit of safety net here. I've got the power on back and Williston traffic, 23 Mike Zulu is turning final for five at Williston. Airspeed is king. I don't want to be getting slow this far out. Purposely keeping the nose coming down obviously, but I should be nailing my air speeds. I should, let's say for my airplane, I could be 90 on downwind, 80 on base, 70 on final, slowing to 60 on short, short final. And make those approaches. Again, are you in miles per hour? Are you in knots? Those numbers may or may not work for your aircraft. You have to realize that. That's just what I'm sharing here with you. Alright so coming on in here. Again, trying to come in too slow Coming in holding 70 in this case here. Getting a little bit slower here. Coming on in, everything's looking good, looking good. And I'm holding it off here, trying to get a little bit slower here. Power's back. Slow slow, slow. Coming on down. And see how sloppy the controls are really getting when we're coming in this slow in this case. Slowing to 60. Slowing here. And eventually I have to do that dirty word we're going to talk about here in a bit which is flare, which is back on that yoke as we come in so slow. And we're holding it off there. We have to be careful when we come in slow. We can end up slamming it on in and stalling on short final in that case. Just something else to be mindful of. You're going to hear me say this again and again throughout this video, airspeed is king. I'm a little bit high. I've only got, I'm just going to give it ten degrees of flaps here. I'm on base for five. About to turn final. And Williston traffic, 23 Mike Zulu is turning final, runway five, full stop, Williston. I'm a little bit high. I'm a little bit fast. I'm about 90 right now and I'm still a little bit high. I need to get down. I'm not going to add any more flaps. I just want to show you how important something like airspeed, and I'll bring it in close. I'll make this realistic. I'm not going to come across at 110 across the numbers here. I'm going to bring the power back I'm just thinking, what would I do to slow down? We're thinking all these things. So they're bringing power back and they're doing all these things. But then they look and they go they're too high so where do you put the nose. You try to put the nose down, but what am I going to do. I going to pick up a ton of airspeed if I do that. Instead I can bring the power back and bring it down, but either way again I'm going to purposefully come in too fast. I'm just going to come in a 90. I want to hold 90 and show you really, between 85 and 90, to really show you what that does to our landing in this case. I'm 85 right now. I've got ten degrees of flaps. I'm basically on glide path here. Coming in again 85. Looking good here. To show you what that float looks like in this case. I've actually slowed to about 80 in this case. It's hard for me to fly fast in this case, but even so using that as an example here. Coming in fast here, let's come in 80 across the numbers here. There we are. I'm at 80, I'm across the numbers here. And let's watch what it does. I'm always trying to touch down on that five. There goes five, first center line stripe, second center line stripe, third center line stripe, fourth. I'm at 70 right now. 1,000 foot marks. I'm at 65, I'm at 60 and I touch down right here at 60 about 1,300, 1,400, almost 1,500 feet. down that runway. Airspeed is king. You come in too fast, you're going to float. The airplane was still flying plenty even at 65 when I was at ground effect like that. Keep that in mind. And lastly, I want you to lose the word flare from your vocabulary. The space shuttle, when it came in to land, it would flare. A 777 coming in to land, flares. A Cessna 172, a Cirrus SR20, a Cherokee 140, doesn't flare. It transitions. That's what really happens. Allow me to show you a flare followed by a proper transition landing. You've heard I don't like to use the word flare by the way. Instead I like to use the word transition. A 747 coming in to land flares. The space shuttle back when it would fly it would come in for landing, it would flare. A 172 doesn't necessarily flare. Allow me to show you why. It's because we lose such a sight picture in this case. Let me show you why here. We're coming on in. Looks like a normal landing. We're coming in. I've got 70, slowing to about 65. Everything's looking great. here. We're coming in. I'm bringing the power back right here. Down we come, down we come. And all of a sudden I just keep pulling back, and back, and back. Stall warning horns on, I can't even see where it is. Could you even see the runway in that case. Could you hear the stall warning horn? Could you see how abruptly we came down? And when that airplane stopped flying, she stopped flying even though we were at about ten or 15 feet. That was basically a controlled stall just about on the way on down. 172s, general aviation aircrafts said we transition in that case and that's what I'm going to show you next. If a perfect landing starts with a perfect pattern, what does that perfect pattern look like? It's that perfect rectangle. It's a downwind at the right distance. Not too far away, not too close. Where if I lost my engine, I could always make it back to that runway. It's maintaining my appropriate altitude on my downwind. These are the things I'm focused on and it's in managing my airspeed as well. About 90 on my downwind. Right where I want to be here. Maintain everything. A beam my touchdown point, my carburetor heat comes on. I bring my power back. I'm within 110 so I give it my first notch of flaps. Flaps have a tendency to make the nose come up so use a poor man's autopilot. Give it a little bit of trim here to go ahead and get that airplane on down. Bring a little bit more power back to make sure I actually started the descent down here in this case. And flying this out again to my 45 degree point in this case. I can still descend and maintain 90 in this case. It's all about pitch and power management in this case. I'm just about ready to turn my base. I'm going to go ahead and do that. Williston traffic, 23 Mike Zulu is turning left base, runway five, full stop, Williston. Making sure I'm keeping the nose coming down through the turn. Just because I brought power back doesn't mean I can't touch it ever again. I'm still bringing a little bit of power back. here as I'm coming on in. Looking good as I'm turning my base here. And coming out wings level in this case. And slowing the airplane on down. Just adjust a little pitch. I'll give it another notch of flaps here in just a bit. It is kind of a gusty day today, so I will probably land between 20 or 30 degrees of flaps in this case. But I'm about 85 right now on a wide base. That's okay or on an early base that's okay as I get a little bit closer here. Getting ready to turn final. I'm going to give it my next notch of flaps right before I make that turn. I'm not a big fan of flaps in a turn. Verify that final is clear I've slowed the airplane now down to 80 here. And I'm going to go ahead and turn final. Williston traffic, 23 Mike Zulu is turning final, runway five, full stop Williston. Everything is looking good here. Holding 80 through this turn. Yet keeping the nose coming down. Keeping that airplane flying here. I'm looking at a point in the runway. I want to touch down like the beginning of the first center line stripe. So to do that, I'm looking at like the number five. The beginning of the number five. I might be a little bit high so I'm not adjusting my pitch because I'll pick up airspeed. Instead I'm taking out a little bit of power. I'm giving it my next and final notch of flaps here as I'm coming in. Slowing to 75 and just getting progressively a little bit slower. Making these little adjustments. My eyes are looking at five. My eyes are looking at my airspeed indicator. 75 is that airspeed there. Getting blown around a little bit, but nothing we can't handle here. 75 is still my airspeed, but slowing towards 70 now as we now cross these trees and come onto airport property. Slowing down. Everything still looking great. My eyes are looking at that number five here. I'm at 70 now as I'm coming on in here. Things are looking good. I'm putting that center line in this seat on my chest. If you're in the left seat, you're going to put it on your right shoulder in this case. I'm down to about 65 here. Coming across almost runway thresh hold. Power is smoothly back to idle because that runway is made here in this case. 60 coming across that thresh hold here. Holding it back, transitioning, taking my eyes down that runway. Holding it off, holding it off, there's that stall warning horn right before we touchdown. A nice, smooth, full stall landing. And a litte but of aerodynamic braking. Three easy ways to improve your landings. You have those in your flight bag of tricks now Enjoy the rest of your day and most importantly remember that a good pilot is always learning. Have a great day guys. We'll see ya. As my Christmas present to you I'm giving away all of my books for free. If you becme a member or are currently a member from December 18th, 2017, to January 31st, 2018, I'm going to give you all my books for free in e-book format. Pass Your Private Pilot Checkride, Pass Your Instrument Pilot Checkride, including a sneak preview of Pass Your Commercial Pilot Checkride. Still in it's uncut, kind of rough draft so you all can see it before it gets type set. You get a pre-released version of that. The Secrets To Perfect Landings, the FAR/AIM In Plain English. So many of our great books you've grown to love, they're going to be yours free. It's about a $200 almost $300 value if you're a member of any level from those dates. December 18th, 2017, to January 31st, 2018, you will have access to all that. We'll get you those books Become a member, partake in some of the great webinars we're doing. Visit GroundSchoolAcademy.com to hop in there and become a member today.
