Why do I want a nice landing

Jaybird180

Jaybird180

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Why do pilots constantly talk about good landings? Why is it considered the measure of flying prowess? Even the US Navy does it!

Look: you brought the plane back to Earth and you can use it again and nobody got hurt and no property was damaged!

Why the obsession? It's psychotic!
 
Pilots are People that are driven to succeed.

A BIG part of succeeding is found in the ability to measure your success.

Greasing a landing is a big measure of a successful pilot, to many pilots.
 
Florida Cracker said:
Pilots are People that are driven to succeed.

A BIG part of succeeding is found in the ability to measure your success.

Greasing a landing is a big measure of a successful pilot, to many pilots.
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Then measure something that is quantitative like, tolerances to ETA, heading or altitude.

Landing is subjective and certainly subject to POV. What you percieve in the cockpit is not what people see on the ground.
 
it lessens the chance of blowing one of those bald tires that you should have replaced at the last annual inspection, but slipped your mechanic a $20 bill to overlook instead…





I keed…I keed…
 
Night Landing. POA. Fast forward to 11:30

(Stall Horn Sounds)

Kimberly: (laughs / screams) "Not so good but . . . . "

Tango Whiskey: "We survived. It is good."

Kimberly: "You forgive me. It is alright."

Tango Whiskey : "I thought you did fine. I didn't grab anything, right?"

Kimberly: "And you didn't say a bad word."

Tango Whiskey: "No I didn't do that either!"
 
Because that's how your non-pilot passengers are going to judge your flying skills. They don't have much else to go on.
 
MassPilot said:
Because that's how your non-pilot passengers are going to judge your flying skills. They don't have much else to go on.
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I've gotten compliments from non-pilot passengers on landings that I thought sucked. I like to think that my standards are that high, but I think it has more to do with a comparison to airline landings.
 
dell30rb said:
I've gotten compliments from non-pilot passengers on landings that I thought sucked. I like to think that my standards are that high, but I think it has more to do with a comparison to airline landings.
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Me too in fact they often like my landings (the ones that sucked). I guess I am my own worst critic.
 
Florida Cracker said:
Pilots are People that are driven to succeed.

A BIG part of succeeding is found in the ability to measure your success.

Greasing a landing is a big measure of a successful pilot, to many pilots.
Click to expand...

This.


Not much beats the feeling of greasing it in dead center on the bars with heavy xwind.
 
kimberlyanne546 said:
Me too in fact they often like my landings (the ones that sucked). I guess I am my own worst critic.
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lol, there was nothing wrong with that landing, you should see some of the landings I witness while instructing.
 
jesse said:
lol, there was nothing wrong with that landing, you should see some of the landings I witness while instructing.
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Back in the day, when I was taking instruction, I had one of those awful, terrible, very bad landings.

The instructor looked at me and said, "Well... It could have been worse. We could have been shot down by the military."

I took that as a form of criticism...
 
Florida Cracker said:
Greasing a landing is a big measure of a successful pilot, to many pilots.
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Correct, but more so to non-pilot passengers. That is the only part of the flight they will remember with regard to pilot proficiency. Grease the landing and you are the ace of the base. :goofy:

-Skip
 
Agree with all the above, the best thing one can ask is to be a artist in their trade, a good landing is part of that.

What I've been taught and what I teach for judging a good landing.

3 factors

1) on target (on both axis)
2) no power adjustments ( 0% trq )
3) smooth on the mains with a smooth transition to nose or Tailwheel down
 
When I carry passengers, I usually tell off color jokes on final in an event to deflect any harshness in the landing.
 
Sac Arrow said:
When I carry passengers, I usually tell off color jokes on final in an event to deflect any harshness in the landing.
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I always carry passengers. Once clear of the runway I usually say something like "well, we didn't die."
 
Florida Cracker said:
Pilots are People that are driven to succeed.

A BIG part of succeeding is found in the ability to measure your success.

Greasing a landing is a big measure of a successful pilot, to many pilots.
Click to expand...
Among pilots who compete in racing or acro, landings quickly mean little when speeds and scores are available.
 
Jaybird180 said:
Then measure something that is quantitative like, tolerances to ETA, heading or altitude.

Landing is subjective and certainly subject to POV. What you percieve in the cockpit is not what people see on the ground.
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Carrier landings are definitely quantifiable. Every pass is graded. Navy guys even have their boat GPA on their FITREPs. What you perceive in the cockpit doesn't matter. Paddles is always right. Even when he isn't, "Thanks paddles".
 
kimberlyanne546 said:
I always carry passengers. Once clear of the runway I usually say something like "well, we didn't die."
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Reminds me of a Southwest flight. The flight attendant asked us to stay seated while "we taxi to the gate with the parts that still remain on the aircraft".
 
Old Geek said:
Reminds me of a Southwest flight. The flight attendant asked us to stay seated while "we taxi to the gate with the parts that still remain on the aircraft".
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Hilarious. I can't wait to MEET (yes meet) my pilots next week when I fly on a major carrier to Texas en route to Gastons. It is a tradition for me now to say hello and goodbye to the pilots. Not one has turned me down and the very first one was a WOMAN on United in a 747 going to Michigan! She even gave me the old / bold speech and told me not to fly in a single without a raft over Lake Michigan! What a treat. I of course invited her to the grass strip fly in but she couldn't make it.
 
dell30rb said:
I've gotten compliments from non-pilot passengers on landings that I thought sucked. I like to think that my standards are that high, but I think it has more to do with a comparison to airline landings.
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And then there was my son's first flight with me as PIC.

I made a "firm" landing at KSNS, although not sideloaded in a crosswind. Which he promptly reported to everyone as a "hard" landing.
 
Old Geek said:
Reminds me of a Southwest flight. The flight attendant asked us to stay seated while "we taxi to the gate with the parts that still remain on the aircraft".
Click to expand...

Shortly after I took my checkride, I flew a Southwest 737 out to KBUR on business. The pilot PLANTED that thing, real flat. I'm sure he was avoiding an overrun -- that runway isn't all that long. But you can bet that's what all the passengers were talking about.
 
e.pie said:
This.


Not much beats the feeling of greasing it in dead center on the bars with heavy xwind.
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Yup yup. I'm certainly not just learning to land, but I'm not exactly super experienced (99.7 hours at last count). I still have kabangarooers from time to time. And I really hate it. I just had one last time out, as a matter of fact. I "landed" but kinda went "boing" and considered logging two. Not pretty. Granted it was the first time I had flown the 172 in about three weeks (I had been flying the 162, but someone struck the prop), but that really shouldn't be any excuse. I don't care what my passenger thought--I want to make it better for myself!
 
Kim, glad to see you posting. Been awhile.
As far as the stall horn. If you had not had it go off I would have been on your back about landing fast.
Night time of course, makes us all tend to flare a bit high.
I noted the plane down there low and tight to the Golden Gate.

Was that SQL you flew out of?
 
The best landings I ever made were the first landings I made -- before anyone taught me how hard landing an airplane was.

-Rich
 
Jaybird180 said:
Why do pilots constantly talk about good landings? Why is it considered the measure of flying prowess? Even the US Navy does it!

Look: you brought the plane back to Earth and you can use it again and nobody got hurt and no property was damaged!

Why the obsession? It's psychotic!
Click to expand...

So you are in the group of "just plop it on the ground'? I work with some pilots that think whatever position the airplane is in at 50 feet just hold it until impact. I can attest to the strength of the oleo struts on an Airbus and the abuse some put it through.

I try to make every landing as smooth as possible. The airplane appreciates it, the mechanics appreciate it and the passengers feel more confident with a smooth landing.


Do you take the same attitude towards the rest of your flying? Altitude off by 150 feet? "Ah, so what!" Off course by 5 miles? "Big deal!" :rolleyes2:
 
Jaybird180 said:
Why do pilots constantly talk about good landings? Why is it considered the measure of flying prowess? Even the US Navy does it!

Look: you brought the plane back to Earth and you can use it again and nobody got hurt and no property was damaged!

Why the obsession? It's psychotic!
Click to expand...

IMHO, it's a worthy pursuit, like anything else that enhances mastery of the aircraft.
 
This thread starts from a somewhat silly premise -- that landings aren't the primary measure of flight success.

OF COURSE landing properly is the ultimate "success" of any flight. Throwing oneself bodily through the air in an aeroplane is an entirely unnatural act, and every non-pilot passenger is acutely aware of this fact. Some, more than others.

These poor victims, er, passengers are even more aware of the fact that, were you to suddenly slump over the yoke, they would truly be SOL. So all of that pent up excitement, stress, and tension all plays into that last 50' of flight, where you safely transition back to a land-based vehicle.

Landing is the part they will remember, because, quite frankly, almost any idiot can fly an airplane. It's that danged LANDING that often confounds us, so. :lol:
 
You'll get some that the PAX will, for the briefest of seconds pause, and ask sincerely, "Are we down?" Those are smoothe landings.
 
Back when Air Jamaica used to fly MD-83 almost every other flight I was on had an rough landing compared to today's landings. Wasn't uncommon to hear a few gasps and "oh Lord"s on touchdown, then again on the bounce. It was even to the point that on the few flights with great landings the cabin burst into applause.

And that's why we want a nice landing.
1) to get a round of applause from the pax
2) so that future pilots won't believe that a bounce or 2 is part of a landing.
 
RJM62 said:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7QuOojwr5o

-Rich
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One of the most enjoyable afternoons I have ever spent was on Midway, watching the Gooneys return to begin nesting. Typically they will spend two years at sea before reaching maturity and returning to nest for the first time. After two years of landing stiff legged on water the predictable results on sand are VERY entertaining. That's what it looks like these birds are doing.
 
Some of the best landings are the lucky ones, then the challenge is to hide your surprise and act like you planned it that way. I was plonking down on the back of a 378ft cutter one day in a really crappy mixed sea. The rolling performance of this class is truly remarkable, but there is always a momentary hesitation at midpoint before the deck slants the opposite way, and catching the conjunction of maximum bow pitch down, (which relates to flight deck up), and that brief pause in the roll is the holy grail in landing on the 35X58 ft spot.
The boat was tossing in a little corkscrewing to boot and as we stabilized off the stern waiting for the LSO to bring us aboard the AC, whom I had only flown with a few times, said "Well this will be a *****". On my first stab I got centered and pushed on to the hover point, (your rotors are about 20 ft from the superstructure at this point) and the ship gave a funny little hop and I felt the briefest contact. I dumped the collective as fast as I could without overspeeding and we nestled in like a feather. It was hard to hide a smile, but I just shrugged when the AC said, "Wow, do you land like that all the time?" :D
 
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I strive for perfection on every landing because I'm constantly trying to prove that Dr. Zaius was wrong:D.

"Man has no understanding. He can be taught a few simple tricks. Nothing more"
:rofl:.


Landing ain't a simple trick:no:
 
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