Making better landings

Most of my students long ago earned their certificate and have merely decided to add flying upside down to their repertoire. And the FAA doesn’t allow me to instruct during a practical exam. In these cases, I sit back and watch while reminding myself that there are many fine ways to fly an airplane. If what he does is reasonable and a positive outcome is never in doubt, then all is well. When a positive outcome seems iffy, though, I can only bite my lip so hard.

Recently I flew with a private pilot candidate in his Beechcraft Bonanza and on the downwind leg of the pattern, he fumbled with his landing checklist and changing power and airspeed as we oscillated from 200 feet below to 100 feet above pattern altitude. Abeam the numbers, he simultaneously throttled back, extended flaps, and lowered the nose until we got so low that I found myself eyeing available fields in case the engine let us down. We certainly wouldn’t have made it to the runway. On the base leg, he added power and raised the nose again and climbed to a more reasonable altitude. The throttle and yoke jockeying continued in a similar fashion until he finally closed the throttle before the 1,000-foot markers and touched down in a flat attitude. With so much extra energy, he used up most of the runway slowing to a speed at which we could turn onto a taxiway.

During the debrief with his instructor, I warned him that, while his efforts got the job done, his piloting would not instill confidence in passengers. His technique was just way too complicated. The good news was that my suggestions should mean making fewer changes and lead to a more relaxed approach for himself and his passengers.

I suggested he focus on making one change at a time. First, find a reasonable power setting that gives an appropriate airspeed on the downwind leg and stick with it. Any small deviations in altitude can be corrected with minimal pressure on the yoke.

Abeam the numbers, throttle back and apply gentle back-pressure on the yoke until the airspeed falls into the white arc. Extend flaps only when the airspeed reaches 80 knots and let the nose fall just enough to maintain that speed. Use power to maintain the proper descent profile. Ideally, he continually reduces power until, when a glide to the runway can be made without it, he closes the throttle and pulls back on the yoke slightly to cross the runway threshold at 70 knots. Once the runway is made, there is no reason to introduce power again. Over the runway, he can gradually increase back-pressure on the yoke so the airplane touches down with a nose-high attitude and uses up minimal runway.

Most of the mistakes I see pilots make landing their airplanes can be solved by letting them focus on making just one change at a time and allowing the aircraft to stabilize. My primary instructor stressed this during my own training and it’s helped me decrease my workload and make consistent landings that keep passengers happy. FT