Continuing Ed

Hitting The Mark And Having Fun

What part of flying takes the most skill, demands the highest concentration, can turn a sweet flight sour, and is as unpredictable as a Tom Clancy plot? The landing, of course. We land at least once every flight, and often we go flying just to practice them. Even so, consistently making smooth landings remains an elusive goal for the mortals among us.

Spending an hour performing bounce-and-go landings is a time-honored tradition in aviation, but there are other ways to hone landing skills and have fun at the same time. Bob Strathy, a Piper Comanche owner based here at Page Field in Fort Myers, Florida, suggested one. "We used to have spot-landing contests at the small airport I was based at up north," he said. "They were fun. Why not have one here?"

It sounded like a great idea. Get local pilots and aircraft owners to come out and meet each other, try their hand at accuracy landings, and eat some greasy burgers and dogs. Flying, landing, eating, kibitzing - a perfect day at the airport.

But, wait a minute. A spot-landing contest at a small, nontowered, neighborhood-type general aviation strip is one thing, but ours is an urban, tower-controlled field that lies beneath Class C airspace. Wouldn't a spot landing contest at our airport be akin to staging a car rally on a major metropolitan boulevard - in other words, a nice thought, but totally impractical?

Not at all. Cities around the world stage major motor racing events on their downtown streets, and our local spot landing contest was nowhere near as ambitious. For one, there was never a thought of reserving a runway strictly for aircraft participating in the event. Spot-landers should be able to blend in with normal traffic with no disruption to anyone.

The plan was to mark three 75-foot-long boxes, beginning at the parallel solid-white touchdown bars on the approach end of the active runway. The first box was the target zone - land in it and score 50 points. However, we also marked off a 15-foot-long bulls-eye in the center of the first box. A bulls-eye touchdown would be worth 100 points.

Overshooting the first box but landing in the second would score 25 points, and touching down in the third box would earn 15 points. Land short of the first box or past the third box and you earn a bagel - zero points. We defined a touchdown as the point at which the bouncing is over and the main gear finally sticks to the runway. Each participant gets two landings, and best combined score from the two attempts wins. In other words, 200 would be the best possible score. A couple of spotters alongside the target zone would record the results.

We would have to get the consent and cooperation of the tower and the governmental port authority that owns and manages the airport. So we asked Bob Shultz, the tower manager, who said, "Why not?" Coleen Baker, the airport manager, said "Why not?"

One of the first decisions made was to combine the spot-landing contest with another event that had already been scheduled. The Cub Club, one of two long-time flying clubs at the field, was planning a Poker Run in which participants fly to five airports to pick up playing cards. Upon their return to Page, the players show what they drew. Best five-card stud hand wins.

A poker run is a plastic-wrap-thin excuse for friends to spend a weekend morning doing nothing more exciting than flying around the countryside in a small airplane, landing at various small airports to collect cards, and, just maybe, end up with three-of-a-kind and the lion's share of the pot. It made sense to combine the spot-landing contest with the Poker Run. We billed the conglomeration of activities as Airport Bum Day in honor of those pure souls who enjoy spending long days immersed in the unique sights, sounds, smells, and other sensory stimulants found only where general aviation pilots and airplanes congregate.

The schedule called for Poker Run participants to check in between 7:30 and 8 a.m. at the EAA Chapter 66 clubhouse on the airport. On the appointed day I woke up at dawn to a dull gray sky and sheets of rain - the first we'd had in three months. At least there was absolutely no doubt in anyone's mind that the event was washed out.

The rain date was on the following holiday weekend, and this time the weather cooperated. Fewer people and airplanes showed up than were expected a week earlier, but all facets of the airport community were represented - the two flying clubs, EAA chapter members; based aircraft owners; and even pilots from other airports.

The easterly breeze favored Runway 5, but the tower agreed to let us use Runway 13 for the contest. That meant an added degree of difficulty because pilots would have to factor the crosswind into their spot-landing technique.

Several of us who did not fly in the Poker Run spent the morning marking the runway with wide green masking tape. We also positioned orange traffic cones alongside the runway to mark the corners of each box. The tower added a message to the ATIS broadcast noting the spot-landing contest and instructing pilots to advise the tower of their intention to participate. Meanwhile, two of us took up our scoring stations in the grass well off the runway. We used a handheld transceiver to monitor the tower frequencies and a cell phone to talk to the tower.

The poker players began returning to Page at about 11 a.m., and with that the spot-landings-in-a-crosswind began. It wasn't always pretty, but that wasn't the objective. No points were awarded for smoothness, style, or squeaker touchdowns, only substance - hitting the mark.

An accuracy landing calls for good short-field technique - a slow, power-on, full-flaps final approach and precisely timed flare followed by rapid closing of the throttle. If speed control is good throughout, the airplane should plunk down very soon after the throttle is closed. The trick is to time it all just right so the main wheels touch down and stick in the bulls-eye.

The advantage should be with a light, single-engine, high-wing airplane because it's more controllable in the flare, look-down visibility is much better, and compared with a low-wing design there is less tendency to float due to ground effect.

It was no real surprise that at the end of the day two pilots, each flying a Cessna 172, tied for top score. Each had hit the bulls-eye once, and outside the bulls-eye but within the first box once, for 150 points. Winners received prizes donated by airport businesses and the airport management.

We also had a prize for the worst performance - a tire worn to the cords and decorated with a small plaque that read "Naval Aviator Award for best carrier landing." Based on his combined score of zero, my airplane partner was the proud recipient. He barely edged out the next-to-last-place finisher who landed short on his first try, then dropped it hard into the third box on his second try for a face-saving 15 points. Next time, I'll practice first.

Mark Twombly is a writer and editor who has been flying for 35 years. He is co-owner of a Piper Twin Comanche and recently obtained his commercial multiengine rating.