ebykowsky
Cleared for Takeoff
- Joined
- Dec 12, 2012
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goalstop
So this may be common, but I've never really experienced it before:
I was landing at night on rwy 35 with winds 120@9 (yes, I know 17 would have been an optimal choice, but it was fairly direct xwind and 17 is NOTAM'd for night landings and more or less out of the question. Anyway, at 1000AGL I was crabbing to adjust for about a 30kt wind and got to experience some decent turbulence on final (ASI was jumping between 60 and 75 as I tried to hold 70). Anyway, over the runway about 4ft high and halfway into the flare still holding 60-65, I suddenly drop pretty quickly and save the landing last second with a hard pull on the yoke. It turned out to be a pretty smooth landing with plenty of runway to spare (total length 4500) but it was probably the most tense landing yet. Is there anything I should be doing to prepare for or anticipate that kind of drop? I think if I hadn't done anything in time there, I would have at the very least put a nice bald spot on the tire, perhaps had a nose wheel landing the way it dropped. So, how should I have handled it differently?
OTOH, I gave my friend his first GA flight ever and he loved it! Did steep turns, showed him why stalls aren't scary, demonstrated a couple of 0g pushovers, and taught him all the science of flight since he's a mech-e major. Even let him fly for a minute or two!
I was landing at night on rwy 35 with winds 120@9 (yes, I know 17 would have been an optimal choice, but it was fairly direct xwind and 17 is NOTAM'd for night landings and more or less out of the question. Anyway, at 1000AGL I was crabbing to adjust for about a 30kt wind and got to experience some decent turbulence on final (ASI was jumping between 60 and 75 as I tried to hold 70). Anyway, over the runway about 4ft high and halfway into the flare still holding 60-65, I suddenly drop pretty quickly and save the landing last second with a hard pull on the yoke. It turned out to be a pretty smooth landing with plenty of runway to spare (total length 4500) but it was probably the most tense landing yet. Is there anything I should be doing to prepare for or anticipate that kind of drop? I think if I hadn't done anything in time there, I would have at the very least put a nice bald spot on the tire, perhaps had a nose wheel landing the way it dropped. So, how should I have handled it differently?
OTOH, I gave my friend his first GA flight ever and he loved it! Did steep turns, showed him why stalls aren't scary, demonstrated a couple of 0g pushovers, and taught him all the science of flight since he's a mech-e major. Even let him fly for a minute or two!