Aviator90 Episode 12

[music]

Man: [0:31] …Welcome back to another episode of Aviator 90, from Angle
of Attack. Finally, it’s the landing episode.
[0:38] There’s a joke floating out there among aviation geeks that
a good landing is one that you can walk away from. So, I guess
that’s partially true, but there’s a lot more to landing than just
setting down the wheels.

[0:51] Yes, landing is technically a word describing meeting earth
after being up in the air. However, there’s quite a bit more that
goes into getting a set up for a successful rubber and earth
marriage.

[1:04] So, during this episode, we’ll talk a lot more about the
approach, speeds, aircraft configuration and yes, even a bit on the
actual landing.

[1:15] Now I must note that we are doing an entire episode on flare
in our next episode. Flare is when we’re bleeding off speed, engine
idle above the runway, seeking a smooth and comfortable touch down.
Anyway, more on that in the next episode.

[1:32] The first scenario we are going to run through is very
simple. We are lined up for a straight in approach, Meaning, we
won’t be flying a pattern.

[1:40] And what we’re simply going to do is talk about aircraft
configuration, speed, descent rate and our point target. And you’ll
learn about that here in a few minutes.

[1:49] So each aircraft has a specific approach speed that is
manufacturer recommended, based on their extensive testing done,
before they were allowed to deliver the aircraft. So it’s important
you adhere to this speed.

[2:03] In our case today, it is 55 knots in the Cessna 152.

[2:09] Next, descent rates will generally stay around 400 to 500
feet per minute, maybe a little less at times, as seen here on the
vertical speed indicator. So you’re looking to keep a nice and
stable glide slope. The glide slope is the angle at which we are
approaching the runway.

[2:28] So I like to teach my landings in what is called point
target. Point target is a bit complex to explain and so I’ll do my
best.

[2:37] Now point target is when you pick a point on the runway,
where you’d like to touch the wheels down, even at a great
distance. And then you keep that runway perfectly still in the
window.

[2:49] I’ve noticed that the easiest way to stay on track for a
landing is to make sure that the runway looks the exact same in the
window all the way down, only it gets bigger and bigger.

[3:01] There are a few points to this, however, that will help you
out. So if you’re flying straight on, then the runway looks even on
both sides. Meaning the angles look the same and the center line
stripes are perfectly vertical. Now if that changes, you have an
indication of whether you need to turn or not and get back on
track, being straight onto the runway.

[3:23] So during the up and coming straight in approach, I’ll
explain this point target method. Because this is really the best
way to stay on target throughout the entire approach.

[3:33] Before we jump in and do this approach, let me note that no
two landings are the same. A cross wind landing, a no wind landing,
it doesn’t matter. Each has its challenges and as an aviator, you
need to be up to the task and never count on it being easy.

[3:50] Be prepared, relaxed and confident you can make it happen.
So be ready to make commanding control inputs.

[3:59] So here we are on the straight in to North Bend, Oregon and
Pacific Northwest scenery. Now you can see that I am partially
lined up with the runway, but we’re going to do a bit better here.

[4:09] The first thing we really need to do is pull out our power
and start to slow down. Now you’ll have to do this at a certain
distance. And that’s really just kind of up to you to determine,
what that ends up being. It will really just depend on your air
speed.

[4:26] So now we’re bleeding off our air speed. And I just put in a
notch of flaps, as we re in the safe area on the airspeed
indicator. Now if you look at the runway, you can see that I am
slightly off to the right. That’s because our point target picture
is a bit off kilter.

[4:46] That means that I need to come to the left a little more in
order to get back on track. Now I’m aiming at the first third of
the runway for now. I can’t exactly see the point I want to touch
down on, which is the landing markers, just beyond those.

[5:02] So for now I’m just trying to get both sides of the runway
to be even. And we keep a nice stable descent rate like we talked
about.

[5:15] And we want to be smooth with our power too. We want to keep
things to where, once we make an adjustment, we look at our point
target again and say, you know, is this working, is this what we
need?

[5:33] So now you can see the landing markers. And I’m just
adjusting here to make sure that we are on track.

[5:43] I’m still off to the right a little bit, so I’m going to
come back to the left a little bit and get lined up straight.

[5:49] Now, I just put in another notch of flaps and the airplane
is going to want to bubble up, so I had to put some forward
pressure and then re trim.

[5:59] Now on the left, you can see the P-A-P-I, the Precision
Approach Path Indicator. And we have white and red which means that
we’re on path. If it was both white we’re light, if it’s both red
we’re too low and we are dead.

[6:16] And coming in to the final approach here, I can make a radio
call.

[6:20] North Bend traffic, Cessna 6828 Kilo is final, runway four.

[6:28] All right so I just put in my last notch of flaps. And that
gives us a lot of lift. And now we can bring back our power, if we
need to, and trim again for that final approach. And this is where
you need quick and commanding inputs to get on track.

[6:46] So you can see that the landing markers aren’t moving.
They’re right in the same spot on the window, which is right where
they need to be.

[6:58] And now we’re just keeping the power. I’m not going to pull
up until we go into the flare.

[7:06] And here we go, pulling out engine power to hit those
markers. And we’re flaring, looking out our side vision and there
we go. Touch down. A little bit off center line but that’s all
right.

[7:20] All right, that does it for the straight in approach.

[7:23] All right. So now that we have a successful straight in
landing under our belt, let’s do one from the pattern.

[7:28] So this is going to be very familiar to you, as we have
already done this in the pattern section, the traffic pattern
section which is Episode 11.

[7:37] So now that we’re coming up on Medfield here, we can start
to make sure that we’re all set up for landing, that our mixture is
set from when we descended from cruise. We can make sure that our
landing lights are on, our seat belts on and everything is good to
go.

[7:56] So now that we’re been the numbers, we’re going to pull out
the power to get in that safe white arc area on the air speed
indicator, as we spoke about before. And we are going to get in our
first notch of flaps.

[8:09] Now, during this process, we can also descend. The amount we
can descend depends on the amount of power you pull out. Don’t
descend too much because we’ve got to get that airspeed as well.

[8:22] So now that we’re in the safe area, I’m going to put in the
first notch of flaps. And now I’m looking for 45 degrees and as you
just saw there, we had it. So now I can turn base.

[8:35] North Bend traffic, Cessna 6828 Kilo is left base, runway
four.

[8:44] So now we’re just getting stabilized here in our descent.

[8:53] Can bring in another notch of flaps, now that we are out of
the turn and then you just have to judge when you need to make your
turn. So I’m going to start here.

[9:03] North Bend traffic, November 6828 Kilo turning final, runway
four.

[9:09] It’s kind of hard in a high wing airplane like this because
you can’t see. So here we are coming around, look around the
corner.

[9:17] All right, we’re still a little high based on the approach
path indicator and I have over flown the final approach course,
which means I just need to come back and correct it very quickly.
Otherwise we’d have to do a go around and try again.

[9:32] So getting back on track here and now that I’m level, I can
put in my last notch of flaps. And because I’m a little high, I can
pull out a little more engine power in order to get down. But I
would have to add that again.

[9:47] My point target, as you can see, I’m still off to the right
a little bit. So I’m going to slowly come back to the left, here in
the final approach. And we are going to get back on track.

[9:58] So you can see that my landing markers are looking good now.
The runway is nice and centered, air speed is looking good. And we
are in the final approach. So I’m not going to pull up until I’m
right getting down here. A little extra power to get to my landing
target, pull out power. And flare. There we go.

[10:24] All right, somewhat better. I did overfly the runway.

[10:26] Now, you’ve got to keep in mind that not everything is
perfect all the time. And you’re going to have to make corrections
sometimes. So the next time that I do that approach, I know that
the previous time, I overflew. And I’ve got to be careful of that.

[10:41] It could be wind pushing me. It could just be the mere fact
that I didn’t turn early enough. But I’ve got to get on track
earlier.

[10:48] So it’s easier to use those last few seconds to be
completely stabilized and straight, rather than being high and
having overflown, like I did.

[10:57] Now I could have easily re-shot that and shown that to you
guys as perfect. But I want you to know that even I, as a real
pilot with several hundred hours. I’m not perfect and sometimes I
have to get back on track, as well.

[11:12] So we’ve always got to keep that point target in our view
and get it back, when it is not correct.

[11:20] Awesome. That was a lot of fun, although it wasn’t exactly
perfect.

[11:25] Now that we’ve figured out what this landing thing is like,
we’ll talk more during the next episode about the flare and some
techniques that you can use to get a relatively smooth landing
every time.

[11:37] Until then, throttle on.

Transcription by CastingWords