Recurrent Mistakes ? Never give up
Each time I fly with an instructor for the first time, I can tell in advance what he will say: “too slow in final turn, and landing left on center line”. These are two recurrent problems I have to fight against each time I fly. I don’t know exactly where it comes from, but I have some ideas…
The speed is probably because I learned to fly on a short runway, so too much speed on final was not good. My problem with centerline could have its roots in some fear to make corrections too close to ground.
I’m not trying to justify it, any deviation beyond the width of one wheel is too much. Even after 759 landings, I have to keep concentrated till the end each time if I don’t want it to end like on the pictures above.
Doing the same mistakes repeatedly result from flaws in my flying technique. I know the theory, I know how to correct and compensate, I simply need to apply all of it. These deviation are not major problem, but I continue to fight them. Why ? It would be so easy to simply think “not perfect but in the limits” and forget it.
Leaving such flaws develop and increase over time can lead to serious risks. Moreover approaching left of centerline when the wind comes from the right-hand side can end up in a runway excursion. Not exaclty fun. How to avoid it, improve, and finally solve these problems ? Two words: fly circuits !
I know flying circuits sounds boring – because it is boring. Do you think you will solve recurrent landing problems by flying cross-country ? No way. If flying circuits only is not motivating enough, consider a cross-country leg, and fly a couple of circuits at destination. Your passengers will be so excited about flying that they won’t mind the extra flight time.
If you don’t know why maintaining precise flying skills is important… well… why flying ?
4 Comments, Comment or Ping
pat
I fully agree with you and also make recurrent mistakes.
The most obvious one is that I don’t put enough stick into the wind then landing with a cross-wind.
The result is that I land left or right of the center ligne, depending on the wind direction.
Sometimes it’s perfect, I put the right amount of stick. But sometimes I tend to hesitate, and even put the stick back at center position and…drift while flaring…
Just like you I fly patterns regularly, and usually fly one or two patterns at the departure or destination airfield, to maitaing my landing skill (and self confidence in my landing skills).
Mar 14th, 2008
PlasticPilot
Pat, I don’t want to comment anymore on cross-wind landings for the time, given how hot is still the Lufthansa A320 in Hamburg story
I also know that as private pilots we sometimes do these manoeuvers with less amplitude than pros or instructors would. This particularly applies to side-slips. The ones I do (when not flying a C172-TDI…) are kind of “mild” compared to what my instructor demonstrated.
Mar 15th, 2008
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