Learning to land is often a problem with time. This became clear to me many years ago when introducing students to landing in relatively strong and steady winds (no gusts) blowing directly down the runway. The reduced groundspeed made it easier for students to better evaluate their height above the ground for the roundout and landing flare. It’s easy to see why it’s easier for students to learn how to flare if they approach at 20 knots instead of 50 knots, and descend at 200 fpm instead of 600 fpm. That’s why you might want to use the airplane’s built-in time machine when introducing your students to the landing flare. Time machine? Yes, it’s called the throttle.
The idea is for you (the instructor) to add a little power on a short final, sufficient to reduce the airplane’s descent rate to a few hundred feet per minute when crossing the threshold at no more than 1.3 VS1. The reduced runway closure rate provides more time for the student to evaluate his or her height above the landing surface. Upon touchdown, you should immediately reduce power to idle. Of course, you’ll want to have a long enough runway to do this safely.
I typically use this technique during the student’s first two or three landing sorties, then revert to power-off landings. I’ve found that it often takes only a few landings in time machine mode to provide students the mental map they need of how to flare for landing.
The only known drawback to this time-distorting technique is that it has no effect on the Hobbs meter. I am, however, working on that problem.
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Learning to land is often a problem with time. This became clear to me many years ago when introducing students to landing in relatively strong and steady winds (no gusts) blowing directly down the runway. The reduced groundspeed made it easier for students to better evaluate their height above the ground for the roundout and landing flare. It’s easy to see why it’s easier for students to learn how to flare if they approach at 20 knots instead of 50 knots, and descend at 200 fpm instead of 600 fpm. That’s why you might want to use the airplane’s built-in time machine when introducing your students to the landing flare. Time machine? Yes, it’s called the throttle.
The idea is for you (the instructor) to add a little power on a short final, sufficient to reduce the airplane’s descent rate to a few hundred feet per minute when crossing the threshold at no more than 1.3 VS1. The reduced runway closure rate provides more time for the student to evaluate his or her height above the landing surface. Upon touchdown, you should immediately reduce power to idle. Of course, you’ll want to have a long enough runway to do this safely.
I typically use this technique during the student’s first two or three landing sorties, then revert to power-off landings. I’ve found that it often takes only a few landings in time machine mode to provide students the mental map they need of how to flare for landing.
The only known drawback to this time-distorting technique is that it has no effect on the Hobbs meter. I am, however, working on that problem.
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