Forward Slip landings
I have my PPL checkride tomorrow (pending weather). I feel I am about as prepared as I ever will be. My CFI says I am probably one of the most prepared PPL students he has had. Extremely nervous...
I think I will do pretty good on the oral, but I am worried about the practical. I am most worried about steep turns and the forward slip to landing.
My steep turns are not bad, but sometimes on my left steep turn I bump the altitude a bit on roll out. I can't always get the trim out quick enough to not climb as I roll out (I try to put forward pressure while I take the trim out but will struggle to keep it from climbing). I have been doing 1 swipe of trim and then just back pressure for the steep turns. Before I was doing 2 swipes of trim, which was more difficult to not bump altitude on rollout.
The forward slip landings are my biggest concern. My approach and the slip itself is good, but I get so much float down the runway. I end up probably 200'-300' past the 1000' markers. When I start the actual forward slip on final I pitch for 70 kts. There is a park with lots of trees before the runway we typically land on (17). The air is turbulent over the trees, so I really do not want to go less than 70, because there is a tendency for airspeed to bounce around when flying over the trees. I do not want it to drop too much.
The chief flight instructor said if you have excessive floating you either have too much airspeed or not looking down runway enough. By the time I round out I am doing about 65-68 kts. I verbally tell myself to pick up my eyes to look down runway when I roundout.
Any suggestions so I do not float as far?