really? do you want to teach rocket science or teach somebody how to land?

student pilots aren't that smart. they don't always understand what holding altitude or maintain 5' off the runway means.

what i do to teach landings is that every maneuver has practical purpose (before solo, steep turns, slow flight, stalls, forward slips, etc.). controling airspeed, maintaining alt. etc.

where do you keep your eyes in the flare? anybody? i gaurantee you that your eyes are looking on the horizon. essentially the bottom of the tree line or whatever. if you keep that horizon roughly 2'' above your glareshield, i guarantee your student will grease the landing everytime.

if you think about the dynamics when you bleed off airspeed you lose lift. when you lose lift you will sink and smack the ground resulting in a hard landing.

it's kind of like aiming with a gun. keep using your glareshield and the horizon and you can't miss.... in any airplane!!!

i can't understand why instructors can't teach this!

I'd suspect that the majority are at least HS graduates with average IQs, they can be taught. Approaching them as inferior people because they don't know aviation isn't productive. They deserve to be approached as capable individuals who you can teach to fly an airplane.


This is what you're being paid for. Sometimes you have to work to find the way they will understand it.


Do you see a trend in the phrases I chose to quote from your text?

Have you ever three-pointed a Cub or Pitts? Some airplanes have a different feel to the landing flare and require a different finesse than just using the glareshield (if you can even see out the front). I remember flying three different 182s in one day - all of them had different landing flares - they all had different wing devices and different sink rates with cooresponding angles of attack.

The important part isn't looking at a specific point - that may work for that airplane - but rather it's determining the relationship between your sink rate, where your nose is, and what the control inputs are doing.

Yeah my post came off as a little rough on students and I was kind of upset about other things yesterday, sorry.

Of course I very well understand that most students have an avg. level of intelligence(sp?), and it is my job to teach to the best of my abilities "in all subject areas" or however the PTS say what the CFI responibilities are.

Mainly i've found that you have to keep the information simple. Also, with the landings, I haven't flown a tailwheel. But when i'm doing landings for example, the most important thing for me is seating position.

And my last statement I made about "I can't understand why instructors cant teach this", it was more or less an inside joke. My boss constantly says phrases with "I can't understand why....!!", which I happen to think is pretty funny. Anyways, sorry for sounding like a jerk

All is well. Also,

I agree and think that this is a very good point that was left out. I had instructors tell me, when I was a student, to just look down the runway. I was getting in the habit of staring at the lines I was going to land on. The vague statement "look down the runway" didn't help me. It wasn't until reading the book Stick and Rudder that I realized look down the runway really meant look at the horizon.

Visual pilots should learn to use that big attitude indicator in front of them. Even when it is obscured, you can gauge it well with peripheral vision and seat pressure (1G = level flight). The combination of looking at the horizon and manipulating the yoke/throttle to keep 1G on the seat is how I teach flare flight. For what that is worth. :)

Many moons ago, I was taking my CFI ride. I told the examiner to pull the nose up. He prompty pulled the nose right up into a stall. He then turned, looked at me and told me "You told me to pull the nose up".

You need to "draw" the sight picture for her. Tell her where you look and when you do it.

Second issue: confidance Is she safe to be checked out? Her landings don't have to be perfect, but they have to be safe. When you're comfortable signing her off, suggest that she go practice landing herself. It sounds like she is aware that her proformance isn't the best. The folks that scared me the most were the guys that didn't have a clue that they were subpar. She may be deferring PIC duties to you because you're an instructor. Tell her that you want to see three full stop, taxi back landings in a row. The next part is tricky. Don't say a word, a peep, nothing. Don't do anything, unless the plane is going to crash. Let her "figure it out". You're doing this not to be an ass, but allowing her to asert herself.

Round out and flare vary each landing and type of aircraft. Typically though you have to know in your screen where your aim point should be on a normal day. From there monitor the trends; getting fast, slow, high, low, etc.

This can be debated for another 100 years of aviation but pitch for A/S, power for glidepath or pitch for glidepath, power for A/S technique can be the root of some problems in the flare.

I teach folks who have problems with energy management on final to adjust the pitch to continue to the aim point. If you are getting fast you're high, start a fwd slip. If you are holding the nose on the aim point and getting slow start adding power.

There are many other variables to this technique but this is it in its simple format.

With this technique though you will tend to find that your aim point will start to move under the nose of most light GA aircraft at about the same altitude above the ground everytime, i.e. when you are approximately 10' AGL and need to start rounding out.

At this point hold straight and level until you begin to sink. If you are still sinking after the rounding out begin the flare. I've found over the years that students are nervous about "squeezing back" too much to flare and then flat on touchdown.

I have students who have problems with control pressure in the flare go and fly numerous power off stalls. While inducing the buffet I have them simply set the nose on the horizon and keep it there constantly adjusting pitch control pressure to do this as the airspeed bleeds off.

This helps them quite a bit on realizing how to contiously adjust their pitch in the flare to not balloon and to hold the airplane off the runway for smooth touchdowns but also how long they can hold the flare attitude until the buffet arrives.

I've taken this technique and went from some of the unsafest roundout and flares to next pattern ride greasing them on all day long.

Hope it helps.