Timing Your Flare

you sometimes have a problem deciding when to begin your round out and flare when landing it's one of the toughest things for student pilots to get the hang of but it's also tough for more experienced pilots in a new airplane type because after all we're all student pilots aren't we but rod machado has a technique that can help you nail it every time hello folks I'm mod machado for AOP life what if I could show you how to identify when to begin the round out and flare for landing in a way that doesn't rely on depth perception have I got your attention good let's discuss the technique that will call the runway expansion effect as we learned in an earlier video when you approach the runway in a stabilized descent it's trapezoidal shape appears to grow in the windscreen the rate of growth however isn't linear it turns out that the width of the runway near your selected landing spot appears to expand geometrically in the windscreen with the largest amount of growth occurring when you're eight to ten seconds from touchdown in fact during the period from 12 seconds to 8 seconds prior to touch down the runway with at your selected landing spot appears to expand ten times in size looking at the runway lateral expansion versus time to touchdown graph you can see how the rate of runway expansion is the largest when you are eight to ten set to ten seconds away from touching down and this expansion also occurs at a point where the airplane is typically around 10 feet above the landing surface set another way the runway dramatically widens in your windscreen right at the point where you should typically begin the round out followed by the landing Flair now that is very convenient so here's how to use the sudden lateral expansion of the runway in your windscreen if we assume that you're making a stabilized approach at no more than 30% above your airplane present stall speed and that's very important then the moment you notice the runways width expanding you should pull your power to flight idle raise the nose level with the runway then as you start to settle you'll further raise the nose and put the top of the cowling on the distant horizon and continue pulling aft on the elevator to keep it there let's see how this looks from the air here's a stabilized approach at 30% above the airplanes present stalling speed we're aiming to touchdown in the center of the first third of the runway watch for the point where the runway with suddenly expands there it is now reduce any power to idle raise the nose level with the runway and when you begin to settle put the top of the cowling on the horizon and hold it there touchdown and right on the runway centreline - even without having to call the tower and having him activate the runway centreline widening device there's no such thing unfortunately now watch this expansion sequence one more time wait for it wait for it there it is so when might you use this technique well I find it very valuable when landing at night after all you have fewer sensory Clues at night and this often requires that you place more emphasis on the runways edge lighting which makes it very easy to identify the sudden lateral expansion of the runway you might also find the technique useful when landing an unfamiliar airplane such as during a checkout this is an airplane where you really haven't developed a feel for this particular machine finally if your student pilot having trouble identifying where to begin the round out and what student pilot doesn't this strategy could help but here's the caveat this technique requires that you have the skill to fly a stabilized approach at no faster than 30% above the airplanes present stall speed at this speed you're very close to the bottom of the airplanes total drag curve and that means as you flare the induced drag will increase and slow the airplane down for landing at speeds higher than this you're likely to float during the round out and that's never a good thing so keep in mind that this is a very general technique and somewhat mechanical but it works in most instances in smaller airplanes try it out for yourself folks I sure enjoy taking you flying I'm rod Machado for AOPA live thanks rod and remember rod has a lot more learning tools on his website rod machado comm and that does it for this week thanks for joining us and a reminder you can also watch you okay live this week on your iPad or iPhone anytime you like just download the show from iTunes and we're also available on your big-screen TV on our roku channel you see you back here next Thursday till then I'm Tom Haines you

Channel: FAACompliance

Views: 434,119

Rating: 4.9488492 out of 5

Keywords: Flare (Invention)

Id: Rv5HEJCyTuk

Length: 5min 45sec (345 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 20 2013