Short Field Landing

[Colonel]

It's all about the airspeed control. If a pilot can't hold an airspeed - any airspeed - then
that's the place to start.

Want to know how to make a perfect short field approach? Easy. Line up on final and
set the required flap for your descent profile. Once that is done, decrease your airspeed
5 mph at a time, until the aircraft sits down and requires an increase of power to maintain
airspeed.

Congratulations, you are just a hair on the back side of the power curve. Hold that airspeed
and be prepared to use full throttle and nose down to overshoot. You have minimized kinetic
energy, which is all you need to do for a short field landing.

I honestly don't know what the big fucking deal is. I spent far too much time instructing in
light singles - say the 172. Approach at 70 mph. Once you can do that, drop the speed to
65 mph. Then drop the speed to 60 mph. Flare before the numbers so you can touch down
on them. Simple.

Since I had a grass parallel runway, I would have the student sidestep and land out of a 60 mph
approach on the grass. 500 foot rollout. Easy.

Once you learn to do a short field approach and landing without an obstacle, learn to do one
with an obstacle. You approach steeper, using more flap for drag. Any maybe a sideslip as well,
whatever it takes to avoid having the airspeed increase on the steeper approach.

What's the big fucking deal?

[Colonel]

A short field landing is about three things

1) controlling (and minimizing) your kinetic energy which must be
dissipated during landing, and

2) touching down at the correct place, and

3) technique post-flare

Nobody gives a flying fuck at a donut about #1 and that's kind of silly
because it's the most important factor. Kinetic energy is calculated

Ek = 1/2 m V^^2

Let's look at some ratios of kinetic energy. Mass/2 is constant and can
thus be cancelled out.

A 70 mph no-wind approach yields 70x70 = 4900

A 60 mph no-wind approach yields 60x60 = 3600

A 60 mph approach w/10 mph headwind yields 50x50 = 2500

This is why, until you know what you are doing, you will always take off
and land into wind. A 60 mph short-field approach with a 10 mph headwind
has HALF the energy of a normal 70 mph no-wind approach.

That's HUGE!

Kinetic energy is based upon your ground speed, which is greatly affected by
wind, and by density altitude. In the extreme case, with a 60 mph wind and
no turbulence (hahahahahaha) you could take off and land vertically, with
zero kinetic energy, with a 60 mph approach speed.


Now onto #2, touching down at the right place. This just takes a bit of practice.
Under no circumstances should you try to touch down at the start of the runway
pavement. You aren't that good. You're gonna bounce it in the gravel and take
out the lights.

Aim at the runway threshold, and flare and touch down on the numbers.


Now onto #3, post-landing technique. This is what everyone stresses, which is
totally fucking stupid. Instructors and examiners will tell you to look inside the
cockpit and start reaching and grabbing at levers, to try to raise the flaps.

DO NOT DO THAT. Under no circumstances are you to listen to the instructor or
examiner. I have cans of butyrate paint on the shelf that I got, before they started
flying. They change color over the decades, but that's not important right now.

Keep your eyes outside the aircraft when it is moving, and DO NOT RAISE THE
GEAR during the landing rollout, which is often what happens when people try
to raise the flaps. Fast hands in the cockpit can be fatal, and the lower you are,
the more threatening they become.

Also, don't lock up the fucking brakes. You need to learn that brakes on a little
aircraft are not like brakes on a car. They're more suited to a little red wagon
that you used to pull about as a small child. When you are going fast and think
you need brakes, the wings will develop lift, resulting in NO WEIGHT on the tires,
and you will flat-spot them.



If you get hard on the brakes, often with low tire pressure, the tube will "creep"
on the rim and shear the valve and blow the tire, which is probably not what you
want, either.

Brakes on a little airplane are for turning out of wind when you are taxiing, or
for holding during runup. Don't use them over 10 mph - reduce the power to idle
(I hope it's reasonably set) and think ahead.

Please don't approach too fast, touch down a long way down the runway, then
lock up the brakes, ok? That's not a short field approach.

[Liquid_Charlie]

I love dead sticking, there is just something that I find very satisfying about closing the throttle(s) and having a nice flare and touching down on the target. I use to try and take out the threshold lights by just nicking them and laying them down (DC3 days), touching down too short was a no no but to just brush the light in the flare was a giggle and it drove the airport managers crazy because there would be no tell tail tracks.The minds and antics of "young" pilots -- I have certainly out grown that but hitting the target on landing will always stay with me. Too many short fields in my history to forget that.

Down wind landings out of necessity was another skill required mastering in the north. I guess my greatest tail ever was in Frob - 40 kts, the wx was such that the ILS was required, wx was not forecast and it was my alternate after missing in Hall Beach. It was actually pretty uneventful and with 9500 ft of runway 40 kt tailwind in the hawker was not even a challenge, the approach was a little different and it took more than 1500 ft a minute decent to maintain GP - just another day in the arctic, my f/o was a little wide eyed but he settled in over time and made a fine captain

Speaking of breaks, how do you tell a new convair captin,---------------- closed runway with 4 main tyers flat

[Colonel]

Tailwind takeoffs and landings are perfectly normal after you get
some experience ... however I hesitate to recommend them, because
so many people crash with a headwind during takeoff or landing!

Taildraggers are like that. Most people can barely handle a wind from
the front 180 degrees, and often don't. The idea of them taking on a
strong, gusty quartering tailwind for landing is generally not a good one -
the aircraft is capable of it. They aren't. Their personal envelope is
much smaller than the aircraft's. That is an arrangement I am NOT
personally happy with. If I can't make an airplane do anything that
doesn't break it, well, time for more practice.

I've mentioned before that when Freddy and I were doing two Pitts S-2C
airshows in Central America, I would get stuck with the 20 knot tailwind
for the blind head-on takeoff and landing. You would have loved it, LC.



After takeoff, just move to the right side of the runway like a road, he
flashes by on the left, smoke on, and at the end of the runway you both
pull vertical into a 1/2 cuban-8 for another head-on pass. The tricky thing
is to time it so that you cross at airshow center, which is not necessarily
the center of the runway. Rarely is, in fact.

I can't believe I got paid to do that.



What a bunch of deplorables! Apparently we don't fly very well, but
we had an awful lot of fun. I remember one day, the airshow organizers
promised us a practice slot at the joint-use military and civilian airport
at San Pedro Sula. Dear Old Dad and I were having a great time doing
formation aerobatics at the surface, but not all of the Boeing drivers
thought it was a good idea as they drove through our routine.

The ex-mil pilots in the crowd killers thought it was fun, but you could
spot the civilians because their voice would go up two octaves. That's
never good.

So Dear Old Dad thumbs the mike button and says, "Let's go downtown".

Now there are three things a good wing pilot says:

Two's up
Lead's on fire
I'll take the fat one

Nowhere in the above list is, Gosh Lead, is that a good idea?

So, over to the city of San Pedro Sula we fly. About the same size as
Ottawa. And Dear Old Dad commences to perform our formation aerobatic
routine over the main drag of San Pedro Sula at our usual altitude. As
in, not very fucking much. You don't see much on wing. You see stuff past
the lead, and I dimly recall seeing guys on scooters, wires, sides of buildings.
The guys on the ground saw this:



If you did that in North America, you would go to jail. But Mexico was a
long way north from there. Base commander loved us.

Everyone loved it. All the aerobatic performers after that went over to the
city and beat the shit out of it. Great promotion for the airshow on Saturday
and Sunday.

I can't believe I got paid to do that.



Anyways. I understand I don't fly as well as a TC Inspector. And maybe, they
will give back my laptop and phone back that they stole.

Hahahahahahahahahahhahahhahaahahahahahahahahahahhaaaha