Flying My RV9A: Landing WVI, close encounter and bird near miss

I describe how I do a typical landing in my RV-9A. However, this time it was a very busy day and I had a close encounter with a Tomahawk, some birds, and I had some traffic pop up on final.
This airplane has a fixed pitch Catto prop and a 160 HP Lycoming O-320.

[@asho1735]

very nice walk through power settings. I noticed you added some power on base. would you recommend power off 180 from abeam the numbers?

[@ArVeeNiner]

@@asho1735 What Mike Seagar teaches during transition training is to go to idle abeam the numbers and slow down to 70. Put down 4 seconds of flaps as you get into the white arc (he doesn’t use an indicator nor do I), lower the nose and bring up the power to 1200 rpm. Turn base and put in the rest of the flaps but keep it at 1200 rpm. On final pull the power to idle when you have the runway made. That’s what I do but sometimes you have to do, as my friend Brian puts it, “that pilot thing”. Basically adjust the plan as you need to based on your situation.

[@asho1735]

@@ArVeeNiner Interesting. I think i'd be more comfortable with 80 on downwind (half flaps) and base (full flap), slow to 70 on final, with whatever power is needed for ~500 fpm stable descent.

[@ArVeeNiner]

@@asho1735 That will work too. Whatever works for you. I know that a friend of mine with a 9 with a constant speed prop does things completely different than I do since he has a nice brake up there. I approach a little differently when doing a straight in. I initially slow it down to 80 so I don’t get run over but picking the right point to go to 70 is a bit of a challenge. Too early and you’re that slow guy…too late and if you have a FP prop like I do, you might end up too high and/or too fast. I do a lot of “that pilot thing” on a straight in!

[@yued9898]

Where is that G-indicator?

[@discipleofjesus6990]

I assume you turned off carb heat before landing? Nice job overall (good situational awareness)

[@daleberger6984]

he's too smart for a checklist

[@ArVeeNiner]

@@daleberger6984 Dale, that is not true. During all my fight training the only thing that was emphasize was GUMPS which I still do (although U doesn’t really apply). Now before takeoff, I have an extensive checklist that I developed for my specific airplane. I started with one from a 172 and Piper Cherokee and modified them from there. So cute comment but since you don’t know me or the details it was incorrect. I absolutely don’t think I’m too smart for a checklist.

[@ArVeeNiner]

@@discipleofjesus6990 No, not before landing but during the rollout and also if I have to go around. Carb ice is unlikely for this type of engine (O-320 B2B) since the carb is attached directly to the oil sump. This engine started out in a 1963 Cherokee and if you look at that checklist you’ll see that they don’t even have you put on the carb heat as you throttle back. I do it just as a matter of safety.