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dmcquade

Filing Flight Plan
Joined
Mar 6, 2015
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6
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New Hampshire
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FlyingInNH
Hey all!

I'm about 15 hours into my training and yesterday I took the plane (C172) out on my own for my first start-to-finish solo pattern work.

It was a strange day up here in NH. Surface winds light / variable … but 1,000 feet up it was a different story … and there was a bit of cross-wind gusting. I think I had more go-arounds than actual landings, and calling them landings is being a little bit generous with myself. Some days I feel like the king of the bounce. Ironically, when I first started flying it was easier for me … I seemed to do them pretty well … but as I’ve learned more I have more voice in my head … “slow down” … “flare higher” … “relax” … “focus downfield.”

I’m driving home, pretty frustrated, a little happy to be alive, wondering if I have the chops for this. I’ve wanted to fly since I was 12 and my neighbor took me out in his Mooney, so it’s been a life-long “someday” dream. But on a day like yesterday … well … I was feeling a bit pessimistic.

So I came to this forum and say another pilot asking a similar question after 50 hours … and countless pilots chiming in with similar stories and even the occasional veteran admitting to a botchy landing from time to time. Well, reading that helped a lot, and I appreciate that unlike the forums I need to reference for work, people here are actually helpful!

Anyhow, thanks and I look forward to being part of this community!
 
Ups and downs happen in flight training.

Had a bounce Thursday, first time in a few years. Going up today to fix it.

Currency is real. The first thing to go is the sight picture. Speed was on, but flare was late. And it was a wide runway (probably overcompensating the optical illusion).
 
Thanks for joining us. Keep us posted on how your training is progressing!
 
dmcquade said:
“flare higher”
Click to expand...

This is my guess as to why you keep bouncing landings. When CFIs tell a student to "flare," that often conjures up the idea that in the student's brain that they need to immediately get the nose up to stop the plane from hitting the runway. But you don't do that. If you do, that causes the plane to immediately climb again, resulting in the dreaded "balloon." Don't think of it as a "flare." Think of it as simply leveling off right above the run way. And it doesn't need to be a sudden movement, like you are trying to time when to hit a baseball.

Focus on your approach speed, and really maintaining that exactly. Then, when you are close to the run way, calmly, and not suddenly, raise the nose up to level so that you are flying level down the run way. As your airspeed decays, then keep pulling back gradually more and more to keep the plane from sinking as long as you can. Your nose will gradually be getting higher and higher as the speed decays as you will need more angle of attack to maintain the same lift at the lower airspeed. Eventually, the wings will stop flying and you will sink, and just touch down gently enough, nose high., on your mains. (Or just one of your mains if you are correcting for a crosswind.)

Remember to keep flying the aircraft all the way to the turn off, meaning that if you do have ailerons in to correct for crosswind, don't take them out. In fact, go all the way to the stop and hold it their as you slow down enough to turn off. (And, you should be using the controls to counteract the wind all the way until you park. But as you turn, those inputs will change.)
 
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'Sup?

All I can say is stick with it. You will find appreciation in a CFI that holds you to a high standard one day.
 
Welcome. To the forum,it gets better.
 
Welcome to the forum!!
 
Welcome to the forum. I've been flying for over 45 yars and still, every now and then, I'll make a landing where someone will come up afterwards and ask Wow, are you okay?" :D

Seriously, don't expect to be Bob Hoover after a few weeks. If it were that easy it wouldn't be any fun.
 
Welcome to the forum. Good landings take continued practice :).
 
After thousands of hours and decades of flying I have learned that the best you can hope for (and work towards improving) is a good batting average.
 
Actually, NH flyer, there are only three simple rules to making perfect landings.

Unfortunately, nobody knows what they are.
 
forget about your landings, didn't anyone tell you the new guy buys a round of beers for everyone on PoA?
 
dmcquade said:
Hey all!

I'm about 15 hours into my training and yesterday I took the plane (C172) out on my own for my first start-to-finish solo pattern work.
I think I had more go-arounds than actual landings, and calling them landings is being a little bit generous with myself.
Click to expand...
Go-arounds are good. Forcing a landing when you're too high and fast is bad. Some pilots never learn that.

dmcquade said:
Ironically, when I first started flying it was easier for me … I seemed to do them pretty well … but as I’ve learned more I have more voice in my head … “slow down” … “flare higher” … “relax” … “focus downfield.”
Click to expand...
That's your CFI's recorded voice playing back through your headset. Keep listening! :)

Welcome!

dtuuri
 
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