Flight Technique: Landings Made Easy
Lessons in proactive versus reactive flying
Lessons in proactive versus reactive flying
Many pilots think that stick time and getting better at making corrections are the main requirements for better landings and, therefore, give little thought to how they land or whether they’re flying correctly. As a consequence of flying without a plan and reacting to the airplane, most pilots end up making four to five times more control inputs than what is required when the airplane is flown properly. This type of flying demands more effort and is why pilots get behind their airplanes during the landing flare.
Reactive flying is also why certain pilots struggle to land on windy days or when flying a new model. On the other hand, a characteristic of good pilots is that they always seem to make landing look easy. That’s because, while most fliers are continually making corrections, better fliers set up their landings so that fewer adjustments are needed altogether, thus allowing them plenty of time to get ready for an easy, smooth touchdown. In short, most landing difficulties are not due to a lack of stick time or inadequate reflexes but are primarily the result of reacting to the airplane rather than proactively controlling the airplane when setting up the landing.
ANTICIPATE THE FINAL TURN
As a rule, the ease of your landings reflects the quality of the final base-leg turn that sets them up. That is to say, that while fliers might have the ability to salvage a landing after a poor turn, the experience will be more stressful. On the other hand, the comfort that coincides with a nice final turn tends to stay with pilots all the way to the ground.
To come out of the final turn over the runway’s extended centerline (without needing to make a lot of adjustments), pilots must account for the effect of the wind on the turn. That is, they will need to anticipate whether the wind will cause the turn to become wider or tighter and, with this in mind, target from where to start the turn. In short, to come out of the final turn lined up with the runway, good pilots look to adjust the point where they start the turn rather than adjusting the turn itself.
MAINTAIN A LEVEL FINAL TURN
Try to keep the final baseleg turn reasonably level. Maintaining an even speed turn, not climbing or diving, minimizes anxiety during the turn and prevents excess speed from building up. A reasonably level turn also eliminates the low-altitude oscillations, such as sharp altitude changes, that can so easily take your attention away from maintaining a good lineup. If keeping your final turn reasonably level results in high landing approaches, simply start pulling the throttle back a little earlier and/or enter the final turn lower to start.
CONSISTENT LINEUPS
In most flying environments, the runway is directly in front of where the pilots stand. Therefore, the most effective method to consistently overfly the runway centerline is to use yourself as the primary reference throughout the approach and try to guide the airplane to a point slightly in front of you. Flying the airplane to a point slightly in front of you will result in you achieving the
runway every time, regardless of the model’s size or orientation (crosswind crabs). This also helps limit the number of bad landings that result from relying on hit-or-miss depth perception.
OBJECTS AS A WHOLE
Another common landing mistake is pointing the fuselage toward the runway during the approach in a crosswind. Note that while an airplane will crab into a crosswind, it will continue to fly in a straight line as long as the wings are level. Therefore, rather than pointing the fuselage where you want the plane to go, you must track where the airplane as a whole is traveling, irrespective of the fuselage, when in a crosswind. People debate every year about how to use the controls to correct for crosswind drift during landing. Yet if they knew to guide the airplane as a whole (versus pointing it), they wouldn’t have to correct for wind drift in the first place (and would have more time to improve in other areas). So rather than trying to guesstimate the plane’s track over the ground, project where the airplane as a whole is traveling (relative to yourself)
and you’ll be able to recognize deviations during the approach before they become otherwise obvious. The tiny corrections needed to perfect the centerline when it comes into view will then be negligible.
IT ISN’T ALL ABOUT THROTTLE
Pilots eager to land tend to focus so much on the throttle during the landing setup that they only make half efforts to get the airplane lined up with the runway. Referred to as “POWT” (preoccupation with throttle), this is the reason why so many pilots miss the runway centerline by as much as 50+ feet and/or 30 degrees (even though these errors are obvious to everyone watching). On the other hand, by focusing entirely on a timely exit of the turn and establishing a good lineup with the runway before tinkering with the throttle, you’ll actually have more time to consider your throttle adjustments in the absence of needing to make a lot of course corrections during the approach.
FINAL THOUGHTS
As a general rule, difficulty in a certain area, such as landing, seldom has to do with the need to practice more but, rather, the need to do a better job where you’re encountering difficulty. Most landing difficulties are the result of not starting the final base-leg turn in the right spot. In turn, this increases your workload and/or the need for you to pay more attention to keeping the final turn reasonably level and thus preventing a buildup of speed and anxiety. Knowing this, you are well on your way to mastering your landings, regardless of the wind or what model you’re flying. Happy landings!