How do you land a plane?

[Liquid Charlie]

As for me 40,000 hrs and 50 years flying commercially(still doing it) I still am learning how to land and take off - each is always different so it's good for that old fucker in my seat (f/o perspective) keeps the little grey cells connected  ;D  -- LMFAOOoooooo  >:D

[Colonel]

When someone is being taught to land, hopefully their instructor
gives them the simplest possible recipe to follow.

The hard part is implementing it.

Probably the single biggest error I saw was over-controlling.

An expert will see a problem coming a mile away, and will
make a tiny, early correction.

The newbie is behind the airplane.  By the time he sees a
problem, it will have been given time to develop into a big
problem, requiring a large correction.

Generally the newbie panics and makes too large a correction,
too late, requiring an even larger counter-correction which he
will likely over-do.  This leads to the inevitable divergent oscillation.

Can you say PIO?  I knew you could. A 1200 hour pilot just killed
himself trying to land his Mooney with a PIO.

1200TT.  Think about that.

[Chuck Ellsworth]

[quote]As for me 40,000 hrs and 50 years flying commercially(still doing it) [/quote]


Has most of your flying been for airlines Charlie?


We both have flown commercially for fifty years but you are ten thousand hours ahead of me.


Part of the reason is I spent so many years in segments of aviation that were not big hours builders about thirty six years of my flying were aerial application, fire bombing and airshow / speciality flight training so that might be the reason for the time difference.

[Liquid Charlie]

Well Chuck - spent 28 years at first air and Austins before that and before several companies, most of which don't exist anymore (OCA, Hooker, Aero Trades and Great Lakes to name a few). I must admit to busting yearly times on more than one occasion back in the day. My first experience on a DC3 with Bushy was 300 hours in less than 5 weeks. I can remember getting a brand new 300 series and it one year there was over 1600 hrs in the log book and I think the aircraft had only been flown by 1 or 2 other captains when I was away for a few days. My normal month was 150 hours working 51/2 days a week -- I thought that was pretty good at the time, didn't seem to interfere with the social life -- haha -- the crazy monthly times did follow me to first air but only for the first 4 or 5 years and then transport steps in during an audit and while it was bad for the company the pilots dodged the bullet because it was obvious that it was company culture. I now know as we get older we seem to develop more brain power and I'm down to working 7 days a month (in a row) and that's just about enough. I'm no longer a "millage pig" and being paid or billing by the day has it's advantages --  >:D


I can preach from experience that FDT is an issue and it needs to be addressed. The fastest track to stupid is being tired -- been there done that and muscle memory usually pulls you out but not always

[Chuck Ellsworth]

I flew for Austin Airways starting in 1967 I think t was.


Jim Bell was the chief pilot then, was he still there when you started?


I think I am about fifteen years older than you so he may not have been there then.

[ScudRunner-d95]

[quote]How do you land a plane?[/quote]


[img width=500 height=404]https://ktmccleery.files.wordpress.com/ ... .jpg?w=652[/img]

[Colonel]

Once people learn about PIO's (and how to deal with them) ....

Another couple of really common problems with landing:

1) as you slow down, flight controls become less effective,
and they require larger inputs to get effect.  Full control
inputs may be required.

2) don't leave the flight control inputs in too long.  A good
example is an aircraft which heads towards the right side
of the runway.  Pilots will apply left rudder, and hold it on
too long, after the aircraft is re-aligned with the runway,
and now we're heading towards the left side of the runway
at probably a worse angle.  Full right rudder will be required
to keep it on the runway, and I guarantee it will be held on
too long, too.

More undamped and divergent oscillations.  Pilots love them.

This is not just a pre-solo student pilot problem.  Licensed
pilots often have no fucking clue how to fly an airplane.

A great example is when I was doing IFR training, and we
would fly to Trenton for a GCA or PAR or whatever it's called.

Pilots would be humbled as the guy on the ground called out
gentle, tiny changes and the ILS needles would be far better
centered than the pilot could.

Pilots liked to careen all over the goddamned place, flying
ILS's.  Don't get me started on the GS.  Even trying to track
the LOC, I would tell students to keep the wings level and
step on the rudder to slightly change the heading, instead
of swooping back and forth with ridiculous amounts of bank
on the LOC.

Ah well.  It doesn't matter now.  I don't instruct any more
and I was a shitty pilot and shitty instructor anyways, just
like these guys:

[img width=500 height=392][/img]

All shit pilots, compared to TC Golden Arm Inspectors, that can't land a
fucking tailwheel trainer.

[Liquid Charlie]

You are right Chuck - I came after Stan took over and expanded into NWO - They hired me direct entry captain to the 748 and I flew the 2 otter and the dak for them as well I joined them in 77 and left in 86 for first air. Jack McCann was DFO and Bob Nyman chief pilot. 

[Colonel]

The brain trust on the other website is, as usual, full of shit.

[quote]Nor do I recall landing instructions published in any of the aircraft flight manuals I've used.
nowhere will it tell you ... what your touch-down attitude should be, how much back-pressure to use or anything[/quote]

One of the most abbreviated AFM's I have ever seen, for the
Pitts S-2B says for normal landing:

1) airspeed: 95 mph
2) trim: adjust
3) touchdown: tailwheel first
4) elevator control: full back (up elevator)
5) braking: minimum required

So much for the flight training "experts" in Canada, who claim
to have [i]almost 5 years[/i] experience.

Hahahahahahahhahahahahaaahahahaha

[Colonel]

One of my pet peeves is that the morons push this "stablized approach"
crap.

They say that if you fly to a large, busy airport in your 172, you should
fly the entire fucking long final at 70 mph. 

That's going to make you really popular.

If you need to fly an entire fucking 5 mile final at 70 mph, you are not
competent to fly a 172.  Take up golf, ok?

Morons aside, learn to fly a [b]decreasing airspeed final[/b].  Sure, you need
to have the speed under control over the numbers, but on long final,
learn to fly at least twice that speed, and step the speed down as you
get close to touchdown.

If you can't control your aircraft, give up flying or seek professional help.