sf340b

Pick a crosswind runway it requires more finesse and greater attention to detail.

Landing into the calm breeze with 13,000 feet just isn’t challenging enough for you to eek out those finer details you are searching for.

rickair7777

I usually teach no-X-wind landings first, but you can certainly try the cross wind to change up the physics. If you can figure those out, then normal landings will be a breeze.

HIFLYR

Go find a good tailwheel aircraft instructor and get your endorsement!

Douglas89

My flight school is located at a class D airport. It is fairly busy... not too bad for practicing touch and go's but it can get a little difficult for me to work the radios in the pattern if tower gives me more complicated request (complicated for a noobie).

Last Saturday we flew to a nearby airport that had some decent crosswinds. My approaches are not great but are getting better. This was my first time flying to this airport. I came in high everytime though my landings were actually pretty decent. Protected the nose gear, did not hit the mains hard, and straightened the nose pretty well before touchdown.

Well... yesterday we did touch and go's at my airport (which we have done before several times). I am getting better at flying pattern.

Winds were calm but we may of actually had a 3 knot tailwind based on the windsock (That is what my CFI said). Tower had that runway operating though...

1st landing - approach was not good. Was a little low, added some power in then came in too high. Also was a little fast. My round out is decent but the last bit of flare is bad. We were a little high when the plane lost the remaining airspeed to fly and dropped. I don't know how high... maybe 1'-2'? We hit pretty hard on the mains actually. Hardest I have hit on landing to date.

2nd landing - approach still was not great. Similar to first approach. A little high and slightly fast. I do not remember much about the landing, other than it sucked. I think we had a little bit of a side load on touch down. I am trying my best to work the rudder to keep nose straight.

3rd landing - Approach was better but not quite on point where it should be. Came in a little high again, speed was slightly fast (approx. 70 kias) Round out was good. I do not remember much about this landing, but when I debriefed with my CFI he said this one was not too bad.

4th landing - Approach was pretty good. Downwind I maintained pattern altitude (1,000') 90 KIAS, abeam touchdown power 1700, 10 flaps, pitch for 80. Then 70 KIAS at 20 flaps, and then 65 KIAS at 30 flaps. Maintained a good glide slope. Roundout was good. I was bleeding off airspeed, I'm look down the end of the runway trying to use peripheral vision then all the sudden boom! We landed flat, maybe a touch forward on front gear and it bounced us up. The senior CFI who I did a prog. check with said if you bounce to not nose down but just to hold steady back pressure.

Well, I kind of just held the yoke in place. Did not dive forward, but did not pull back enough to break the porpoise. We bounced 3 times.... My CFI pulled back on the yoke to help protect the nose gear. This wasn't a high porpoise (Maybe a couple feet.... not like 5'+). I thought this was going to be the good one... my approach was MUCH better than all the others.

Ironically, all of my previous landings have been with some wind (at least 7 +) and have pretty much ALL been better than these 4.

I have watched tons of videos on youtube, have read different tips, etc. I know one tip I saw was to look out the side of the window to try and see a "pizza" (between the dash and side of the window so you have a better view of the horizon).

What do you guys suggest? I transition my aiming point from when I roundout to the end of the runway. I can watch 100's of videos on landings, but ultimately I guess it just comes down to doing LOTS of them to get better. I just don't want to damage the plane in the process!

DontLookDown

You’re def right. It just takes practice. It sounds like you’ve gotten some good tips. It just takes time to get it down.

Douglas89

I am flying about 3-4 times per week. I am sitting around 16 hours. Started my first lesson on 5/15/19. I am going to try and maintain 3-4 lessons per week for the duration of all my training.

This past Wednesday we were practicing touch and go's. They were definitely better than the last time, but still not great.

One video I recently watched may of helped (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rv5HEJCyTuk) I spoke with my CFI about looking all the way down to the end of the runway during flare. I feel like it is too far and he agreed. I was trying to look out but not quite as far...about 500'-600'. The landings were better.... was it because of that? Or maybe a combination of several other factors? Not sure...

To make things more interesting there was a police chase that ended right near the airport. There were 2 news choppers hovering about 400' west of the final approach. Tower was managing all the traffic, but it was pretty close. We were probably around 400' west of him and maybe 100' above. We probably did at least 3-4 touch and go's with them there.

I am able to handle all the radio calls while flying pattern now. Now that I can fly pattern a little bit easier, it has released some brain power to talk with tower more easily when they make us extend a downwind, 360, etc.

propilot

Look down to the end. It will eliminate the ground rush effect which is probably causing you to overcompensate during the round out. You’ll be pleasantly surprised how quickly your landings will fix themselves.

JamesNoBrakes

Roundouts too low, see it often. Sometimes people will start the roundout at the right time, but just be too slow in getting the aircraft level and bleeding off speed, then you end up 5 feet or lower above the runway in a level attitude and slight backpressure porpoises the nose, so people land flat. At the correct approach speed, how many "wingspans" should you be level above the runway (varies for different aircraft)? Then, how do you correct if you are a little fast or slow? Get quantitative and figure out some rules of thumb for your aircraft. There's a "magical" speed range that you have to get the aircraft into during landing that results in arresting the descent rate while raising the nose. It's not all that magical when you realize it's a matter of getting the aircraft to that speed range given the conditions such as airspeed, crosswind (drag), altitude, etc., but when you nail it, it hopefully makes more sense.

Douglas89

I had a flight lesson this morning. We flew pattern and did a couple fly bys working on my side slip just above the runway. It definitely helped a lot. We had a left crosswind. I was surprised at how much right rudder was required to keep the nose aligned.

We did two of those down the runway and then did some touch and gos. All of them were much better than all my previous landings, but the last landing was actually pretty good. My instructor said it was very good.

I will probably want to do some fly bys again to continue assisting with my side slips.

I have been thinking about getting a go-pro to try and record some of my flying to go back and review. Anyone have experience filming their flights for training? Would you recommend it?

Douglas89

I have a question for y’all.

My landings have been getting better. I do all my training in a 1978 Cessna172N.

Yesterday, my normal 172N (the flight school only has 1) was in maintenance so I flew a 172R. I have flown this plane 1 or 2 other times. It is fairly different from the N. It’s fuel injected, differences on checklist. It feels very different to me. I’m so slow with the pre-flight etc. point being, I’m not nearly as comfortable with the aircraft as my normal one.

My landings yesterday in the 172R were butter smooth. Every single one of them, despite my approaches all being a bit high. I would think my landings would be worse in a plane I’m not nearly as familiar with.

The only thing I can think of as to why my landings are so much better in the 172R, is that it is not as sensitive to control inputs as the 172N.

Today I flew in my normal 172N and my landings were not great....


Side note: for reference on my skills and the point I am in my flying skill/ training, I just had my pre-solo progress check the other day and the chief flight instructor said overall I did very well and cleared me for solo.

Does anyone have any input as to why the dramatic differences in landings between these two aircrafts? I’m trying to use smaller inputs but landings in the 172N, but still am not as smooth.