Pilot training - 16 year old needs help
 

Hey,
I have flown 3 times before in a Samba XXL in a small private airfield and this thursday I am going out to my local regional airport flying a Piper Warrior PA28..

Is there tips on landing or anything else i could learn , etc

Thanks,
deanow2009

When landing don't look at the spot on the runway directly in front of the nose...you will over-correct in the flare with possibly exciting consequences. Pick a spot a ways down the runway to look at, and use your peripheral vision to judge the height in the flare.

Thanks rickair7777 ,
I will keep that in mind ( hopefully )

Anything else like radio / turns / etc ?

Follow your instructor's directions of course.

I always teach new students to "pitch for airspeed, power for glidepath"- if the airplane gets slow on final, then pitch the nose down or visa-versa; if you are too low to the proper glidepath then you can remedy it by adding power a little bit which will raise the nose a little as well. If you are too fast for the airplane to settle and land at first, don't try and force it down, just glide along with the power out until it slows down, then it will settle. Try and maintain directional control on the runway using your rudders and brakes of course, but do not forget that almost as much directional control after a roundout comes from proper aileron position. Just remember, "aileron into the wind". Have fun.

try reading a little before you go out there. The FAA website has publications you should def start reading if you want to start flight training. One is called the airplane flying handbook:
http://www.faa.gov/library/manuals/a...83-3a-1of7.pdf

Also do this:

I call it looking where you're going! kinda like walking... don't look at your feet! look down the sidewalk!!! Same thing in the airplane!! LOOK DOWN THE RUNWAY!!! and as far as turning and stuff once you get in the air it's very much like Flight sim!! ;)

Thanks for the help?

Much appreciated

--
Deanow2009

Had the flight today..
Went real good and landing was excellent...

:D

Hey! Me too - but the landing was not excellent.
Overshot the first time and then high and fast the second time :(
Luckily I was in back :D

Congrats on the flight.
I hope it lite the flying fires and they keep burning.
Enjoy yourself.

USMCFLYR

Thanks..

I flew a Tecnam P2002-JF instead , because it was cheaper..
I flew at my local regional airport EIWF
:D

very much like flight sim.. that's cute.

(1) Don't do nothin' dumb.
(2) Don't hit anything. :)

For the landings (in any airplane as far as I know) look at the opposite end of the runway that you are landing on, once you have begun the flare. From your perspective in the pilot's seat, try to slowly and smoothly work the nose cowling up to the horizon so that they are "touching." Try to memorize this picture. Learn to fly by looking outside and doing as many things visually as possible. To practice this away from the runway go practice power off stalls with your CFI and don't forget to memorize that picture and back-pressure feeling.

P.S. Some of those PA28's seem like pretty nose-heavy aircraft and make a good solid thud sometimes regardless of how soft you set them down. Good plane though I've got roughly 90 hrs in them.

Read Stick and Rudder.

Go sit in the airplane and look at where the horizon cuts the windshield. get used to that picture.

In turns, look for a screw or something on the nose that sits on the horizon and use it for an OUTSIDE reference.

Get a grease pencil and draw a thin line on the windshield where the horizon is for level flight.

have the instructor take the airplane down the runway just above touchdown and in the landing attitude. Do it at least twice and try to find as many visual references as possible. Don't touch anything but just look outside.

it will come.

Quit texting on your Cell phone and turn off the I-Pod and you'll do fine. This applies to regional F.O.'s also.
Sorry I couldn't help myself.

Assuming you won't be on "short" runway, just try not to land the airplane. Do everything you'd do to not land (except power) and you'll touch down very nice and smooth. This may not work for everyone, but it helped me.

Laptops too, giggity! :eek: :cool:

One technique I've adopted is to picture the pitch attitude at rotation and use it as a reference for touchdown. This'll work with most light aircraft. There's a certain amount of 'feel' that's required to land an airplane that you can only get with practice—there's no way to really describe it, it must be experienced.