Landing an Airplane

the turn from baseleg to final shouldn't exceed a medium bank and should end with the airplane heading aligned with the runway and on the extended centreline of the runway you want to maintain a constant airspeed in order to do this and maintain the glide path a power change will require a pitch change and a pitch change will require a power change finding the correct glide path will take practice here's the Skyhawk on a normal final approach notice the shape and apparent slope of the runway when the airplane is too high on final the shape and apparent slope of the runway change compare a normal approach with the high approach on the right this is how the runway appears when the approach is flown too low compare the correct approach with the shape and apparent slope of the low approach on the right another cue is to select an aiming point down the runway this can be a point between runway lights or a particular mark on the runway the aiming point is not the intended touchdown point just a reference point during the approach align the aiming point with a place on the windshield if the aiming point stays on the same place on the windshield then you're on the right glide path if the aiming point moved down on the windshield then you're above the right glide path and overshooting compare a normal approach to the overshooting approach on the right if the aiming point moves up on the windshield you're below the glide path and will undershoot the intended touchdown point compare the normal approach to the under shooting approach on the right in addition to controlling the glide path keep the airplane aligned with the runway as you get closer to the runway don't fix your focus on one spot your vision should be focused from just over the nose of the airplane to the touchdown point and back again speed causes nearby objects to blur so you should focus far enough ahead of the airplane to see objects clearly here's a proper landing from outside the airplane as the airplane gets 10 to 20 feet above the runway the nose is raised to begin the landing flare the rate of descent is noticeably reduced and the pilot lets the airplane slowly get closer to the runway the nose keeps coming up as the airplane flies about a foot or so above the runway finally the airplane touches down on the main gear with the nose wheel well above the runway now here's the same thing from a pilot's perspective the flare or round out should be started about 10 to 20 feet above the runway as you approach the runway and begin to slow by increasing the pitch of the nose start to reduce engine power as the airplane slows shorten your focus to the point where objects are clear in the beginning of the flare you are trading airspeed for altitude in the form of a lower rate of descent it's not an even swap because drag always takes a commission on these transactions by increasing the pitch attitude the descent is slowed so that you can let the airplane slowly settle to about a foot above the runway the pitch attitude which stops the descent will not keep the airplane there so back pressure must be continually increased until there is no more airspeed to trade at this point the airplane wings stall and the airplane settles to the ground ideally this occurs at the same time that full back elevator control is reached the nosewheel should gradually settle to the runway

Channel: LearnToFlyHere

Views: 334,700

Rating: 4.9039192 out of 5

Keywords: Aviation, airplane, cessna, runway, flight, training, flying, pilot, aircraft, landing

Id: hHZhtb2LOV8

Length: 4min 26sec (266 seconds)

Published: Sat Dec 19 2009