A first for me...

orange

orange

Line Up and Wait
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Orange
I haven't flown in about a month, so yesterday I took the Cherokee up for some T&G to not get too rusty.

I'm so used to getting extended downwind on every landing, but yesterday morning it was very quiet at FRG, so it was my discretion when to turn base and my approaches were a little high (but all were decent landings just had to work to get down) but one was so high that I had to go around (killed power to get down in the base but it just floated on that thick humid air).

Anyway, on my last landing, there was a jet coming in so they extended me. I turned base and had a 4 mile final. The speed and altitude were perfect. I rounded out and then it happened, I started bouncing down the runway. 3 bounces. I have bounced it before, but one small bounce, not bouncing multiple times like this. Right at that moment, I remembered a video I saw of a Cherokee bouncing down the runway and into the grass.

Why does that happen? I wasn't fast, could it be related to heat/humidity?

Besides going around, what is the best way to deal with it? (Mine just stopped on it's own)
 
Too much vertical speed on touchdown? then PIO?
 
orange said:
I haven't flown in about a month, so yesterday I took the Cherokee up for some T&G to not get too rusty.

I'm so used to getting extended downwind on every landing, but yesterday morning it was very quiet at FRG, so it was my discretion when to turn base and my approaches were a little high (but all were decent landings just had to work to get down) but one was so high that I had to go around (killed power to get down in the base but it just floated on that thick humid air).

Anyway, on my last landing, there was a jet coming in so they extended me. I turned base and had a 4 mile final. The speed and altitude were perfect. I rounded out and then it happened, I started bouncing down the runway. 3 bounces. I have bounced it before, but one small bounce, not bouncing multiple times like this. Right at that moment, I remembered a video I saw of a Cherokee bouncing down the runway and into the grass.

Why does that happen? I wasn't fast, could it be related to heat/humidity?

Besides going around, what is the best way to deal with it? (Mine just stopped on it's own)
Click to expand...

1) Land with the stall light/horn on. You will not bounce.

2) Don't land on nose wheel. See 1.

If you do bounce hold slight nose up attitude and "catch" it with a little power.
 
Don't know. How far behind that jet were you? How big was it? What were the winds? Humid air is not thick by the way, it is thinner. Water vapor is thinner than plain old air. More humidity means more water vapor and a higher density altitude.
 
You DID touch down fast. Your approach may have been fine, but you were floating, and a big bounce is not possible without extra speed.

There is one way it might have been related to heat and humidity -- heat exhaustion. It will screw with your motor coordination surprisingly fast. A similar incident (also in a Cherokee) when I was a 100 hour pilot is why I never fly without water anymore.
 
luvflyin said:
Don't know. How far behind that jet were you? How big was it? What were the winds? Humid air is not thick by the way, it is thinner. Water vapor is thinner than plain old air. More humidity means more water vapor and a higher density altitude.
Click to expand...
It was a Gulfstream in the opposite downwind. I didn't start turning base until he was well on his way on final, and by the time I turned final he was on short and I was 3.5 miles back. I never got near his wake. Winds were 8 knots 10* to the right of runway, not a factor.
 
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