dmccormack
Touchdown! Greaser!
- Joined
- May 11, 2007
- Messages
- 10,945
- Location
- Lancaster County, Pennsylvania
- Display Name
Display name:
Dan Mc
After the tailwheel checkout John and I had lunch at the airport restaurant. We sat next to the large window where we could watch traffic.
It was pretty slow for a while, until a C172 showed up. He was probably 300' AGL at the threshold. Full flaps were visible, and we wtached as he dove for the runway.
"Do you think he'll consider slipping?"
"Of course not. He's in a Cessna and he'll die if he slips with flaps -- says so right on the placard..."
"Oh yeah..."
Of course he reached the runway -- but now he had about 35 knots to bleed off. So down the runway the airplane proceeds -- float, float, float.
"Oh no..."
The nose drops, the nosewheel is about to hit, the nose pitches up, the engine remains quiet.
"Power, power..."
The engine roars, the airplane flies about 5' AGL another 100 feet.
By now 3000' feet of pavement are behind the Cessna. He touches down, bounces, touches down again, sideways (winds were 30 degrees from the left at 5 or so).
"Whew... I hope he doesn't do a --"
The engine roars, the nose comes up (gee, I wonder where the trim is set?) and the airplane drags itself down the runway, breaking contact with earth about 500 feet from the far end of the runway (there's a nasty drop-off another 100' or so after the edge of the pavement).
We watched in awe as this scenario was repeated several more times -- each time the barely-salvaged landing ending with a roar and a hurried takeoff with 500-1000 feet of runway remaining.
If it was a training flight, how about taking 30-45 seconds or so to stop, clear the active, or even back-taxi on this slow day, and discuss what just happened? Why rush to repeat near-disaster?
If it wasn't a training flight, then this pilot is either practicing a very bad drunken-pilot routine or has this touch and go mindset so engraved on his frontal lobe that he doesn't realize there's another way.
Either way, the 172 provide how sturdy and forgiving and airplane it is.
It was pretty slow for a while, until a C172 showed up. He was probably 300' AGL at the threshold. Full flaps were visible, and we wtached as he dove for the runway.
"Do you think he'll consider slipping?"
"Of course not. He's in a Cessna and he'll die if he slips with flaps -- says so right on the placard..."
"Oh yeah..."
Of course he reached the runway -- but now he had about 35 knots to bleed off. So down the runway the airplane proceeds -- float, float, float.
"Oh no..."
The nose drops, the nosewheel is about to hit, the nose pitches up, the engine remains quiet.
"Power, power..."
The engine roars, the airplane flies about 5' AGL another 100 feet.
By now 3000' feet of pavement are behind the Cessna. He touches down, bounces, touches down again, sideways (winds were 30 degrees from the left at 5 or so).
"Whew... I hope he doesn't do a --"
The engine roars, the nose comes up (gee, I wonder where the trim is set?) and the airplane drags itself down the runway, breaking contact with earth about 500 feet from the far end of the runway (there's a nasty drop-off another 100' or so after the edge of the pavement).
We watched in awe as this scenario was repeated several more times -- each time the barely-salvaged landing ending with a roar and a hurried takeoff with 500-1000 feet of runway remaining.
If it was a training flight, how about taking 30-45 seconds or so to stop, clear the active, or even back-taxi on this slow day, and discuss what just happened? Why rush to repeat near-disaster?
If it wasn't a training flight, then this pilot is either practicing a very bad drunken-pilot routine or has this touch and go mindset so engraved on his frontal lobe that he doesn't realize there's another way.
Either way, the 172 provide how sturdy and forgiving and airplane it is.
