I was interested in the question in Rod Machado’s column “Since You Asked” (October 2012 Flight Training), from an instructor who was having difficulty with a student who never completed a nice landing. Please allow me to offer another remedy.
Thirty some years ago I had a student with the same problem. We both worked for the FAA in air traffic control. I was determined to repay all the free instruction I had received from my fellow instructor-rated controllers by paying it forward. My student seemed to grasp all the other mechanics of handling the airplane but the touchdowns were another story. I went to another controller who had given a lot of dual instruction and asked for advice. He said: Take him down to XXX airport with a 5,000-foot runway and tell him to make a normal approach to six inches above the pavement and then fly at that altitude most of the way down the runway and then go around. I did this, but the student was unable to stay six inches high and eventually touched down.
The instructor should retard the throttle to idle, or pull the student’s hand back to retard, and then, if enough runway is remaining, declare a touch and go. After about three of these, leave the throttle at idle and instruct the student to exit the runway. Stop and talk, and advise the student: Those were three pretty nice landings, try to do the same on your normal landings.
The student gets a good lesson regarding power-on landings and stability but this is not lost on his normal techniques. After a few lessons doing power-on, instruct the student that the throttle is not to be used anymore during landings, except for emergencies. The touchdown smoothness will migrate to the power-off landing. Over the years I was able to use this technique on several other students and it never failed me.
Marty Coddington
Prior Lake, Minnesota
Technique
In “Technique: Emergency Landing and Approach” (October 2012 Flight Training), your list in Step 3 should have included: “Electric fuel pump—on (if aircraft is so equipped)” as the first step, and then: “Fuel—fullest tank (or both).” This is the way I teach my students.
Bob Leuten
San Mateo, California
Right seat
Ian Twombly says, “The traditional flight training business is broken” in his column “Right Seat: Looking East for Inspiration” (October 2012 Flight Training). And it still is! While kiosk simulators are a good tool, everyone misses the whole point of ground school being more than just the touch and feel of controls. You want to change? Then start with the learner’s permit. Teach students to think like a pilot, then touch like a pilot, and then feel like a pilot. It may be tradition, but why is the bookwork done after the seat time? I’ll hold out for a company that can solve teaching the boring stuff first and then offer the simulator as the reward.
Robert A. Piacente
Douglaston, New York
Final Exam
In the October issue, “Final Exam” question 6, “Which is true about homing when using ADF during crosswind conditions?” you gave the correct answer as being that homing will result in a curved track to the ADF. If properly done, by interjecting the correct drift correction, you will track directly to the beacon. In my day, we made sure to teach students how to do this, as if it was not done, it would be nearly impossible to accurately shoot an ADF approach.
Dan McCaffery
Chesapeake City, Maryland
Get around
I noticed that on page 13 of the latest issue of the magazine ("Get Around,” October 2012 Flight Training), you recommended trying to land at every airport in your home state. I have already done that here in New Jersey. As of about a year or so ago, I have landed at every paved, public airport in the state, including Newark. I am 67 years old and belong to the 150th Aero Flying Club based out of Morristown.
Larry Cutler
Morristown, New Jersey
Correction
In “How it Works: Voltage Regulator,” (October 2012 Flight Training), some of the story was inadvertently cut off. It should have read, “From here, the regulator goes to work essentially turning on and off a switch rapidly that tells the alternator to produce power.” Flight Training regrets the error.
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