Six Steps to a Perfect Landing

[@garyprince7309]

Thank you Scott. Good stuff.

[@socalpipedude]

im a new pilot. Just 13 hours into my private pilot training. This video was extremely helpful. Well done! Thank you very much.

[@alekseysanin]

Honestly with so many accidents during landing phase I think the most important thing to remember: if it doesn’t look right, then go around. Many lives and many bend metal would have been saved.

[@jimmydulin928]

Yes, but actually more fatalities from stall/spin on too high pitch attitude and too slow takeoff. Yes, but like the limitation of bank training that results in no muscle memory about dynamic neutral stability and thus pull to reduce radius of turn, go around can become a dangerous muscle memory and technique limiter. Go around works best when we analyse the problem of the first try and go for iterations rather than repetitions. Get out of jail somewhat free, go around can also be dangerous, is fine but we also have to learn the principles behind our techniques, techniques, and get better with each try. Scott is teaching how to make it look right the first time, a very valuable thing.

[@phaethon3124]

on a paraglider i'll test how fast it penetrates into wind up at altitude so it isnt a surprise on finals.i set up to land near the threshold.ground effect might mean i travel further than up high..paragliders have the benefit of being able to bleed off altitude with brakes or small turns

[@Coops777]

I love a good how to land video. Great work Scott. When landing my cub in a full stall three pointer, arresting the sink just before touchdown, comes at a price. Since there is no engine power added (Power + Attitude = Performance), the attitude (AOA) has to be increased to help maintain lift (reduce sink). A flare results. It is imperative this maneuver is performed with the mains barely off (almost skimming) the runway for a smooth landing. (I agree with your comment - 'Eyes to the far end of the runway' - Trust your peripheral vision for your height.) If you've stablised your sink with gradually increasing back-pressure, at a level too high, a hard landing will obviously result.

[@briansilcox5720]

This took me a couple of weeks to perfect this in a 757. Training center taught 50’ RA transition to flare, because we also flew 767s. One of my F/Os recommended waiting til 10’RA call to better see the “sight picture” for a predictable entry to ground effect, and subsequently good flare transition. Worked well for me.

[@FlyWirescottperdue]

I loved the 75, not so much the 76.

[@wayneroyal3137]

Great video, I try to and pride myself on a good VASI as I go wings level on final, no matter what aircraft I am flying. Thank you for this type of information

[@gonetoearth2588]

Great video...thanks!

[@jackoneil3933]

PERFECT! Thanks Scott!

[@steveperreira5850]

Scott is very inspiring! A good teacher.

[@nightcrawleroriginal]

The amazing thing about flying which I (personally) enjoyed was the unpredictability of each landing, not one was ever quite the same as the other (like a snow-flake), made me very "In-Tune" with the machines a I flew, Both Fixed Wing (land/floats) and Helicopters, especially mountain flying and landings. Great run down FW, thank you . :)

[@FlyWirescottperdue]

Totally agree

[@michaelwilliamsd.o.5006]

Wonderful…thx!

[@tomdchi12]

Perfect timing! I’ll be coming back to this between flights to develop the baseline understanding from which to grade my approaches and landings!

[@Parr4theCourse]

Great tips/reminders for everyone of all experience levels!

[@sibtainbukhari5447]

Thanks for a great video

[@pdquestions7673]

Nobody ever taught me "aim point" and "roundout"... but, over time, I figured out the importance of an aim point (without realizing it) and, from there, I felt the roudout came naturally. The shuttle approaches are an exaggeration of this, but I think the transition from the aim point to the roundout allows the aircraft to reach a nice pre-flare angle of attack, so that the flare comes naturally. If the angle of attack is too shallow immediately prior to flare, to me that's where you get the awkward float that just never feels right.

[@cameronmolt5649]

Our Aeronca Sedan is so forgiving of small mistakes that i almost feel bad for logging tailwheel time.

[@RealWoutLies]

Love these advise segments. I just need more seat time. Life, weather, and an old worn out 172 get in the way.

[@okflyer777]

YES! Drive it in to the round-out point. 100% agree this is the most common error among private pilots. Landings - done right - are precision maneuvers. Precise airspeed control and precise flight path control to touchdown. For new pilots, I'd strongly suggest not making a smooth touchdown any sort of priority. Instead, focus on the 3 essential traits of a good landing: On speed / On centerline / In the touchdown zone. Fine tuning for smoothness will come later. Don't attempt to "hold it off". This leads to extreme inconsistency and is frequently the source of horrible outcomes. Touchdown should occur no more than 2 seconds after beginning the roundout. Well done Scott.

[@FlyWirescottperdue]

Thanks, I think the ‘concept’ of what I describe as adding back pressure to make up for the loss of lift is mistakenly construed as holding it off.

[@Top10VideosOnTheWeb]

Thanks!

[@tennesseered586]

All very good points. New CFIs, pay precise attention to this and learn how to convey it to your students.

[@stevehaire6181]

They don’t call me Thumper for nothing 🤣😂🤣

[@flyonbyya]

Can you imagine Carrier Landings?

[@trickedouttech321]

most of all that means nothing, Feel, you either have the ability to feel the plane every part of the plane or you don't. Same with sports cars and motorcycles. if you have a natural ability that can be trained, again a natural ability that can be trained with practice to feel the craft. Once you can feel that the plane is doing and have the coordination to go with that, you can lay it down nice most of the time and when you don't odds are you were not feeling the plane you were sidetracked. With a good feel comes all that energy management you can feel it, with the instrument together you know every little movement that plane is making and why it is doing so. you don't think about it, you feel it, and you fly the plane. not everyone can do this, I have seen many people who just can not feel the mechanics of the plane or car or sportbike. What I have leaned is people who work with their hands fix stuff build stuff have the ability to feel better than most. why I don't know.

[@Gerii]

the most important factor is time, in the plane flying. you cannot gain experience by sitting at home watching videos of how to land. you have to do it. i see this in a different area, people using motorboats. buying an expensive boat but have no time to drive it. and when they drive it they make mistakes which could have avoided by having more experience not knowing the fundamentals about their vehicle.

[@LTVoyager]

Who was making all of those left of centerline landings?

[@FlyWirescottperdue]

I land downwind, old habit pattern. That's what lead does when flying fighters.

[@dermick]

@@FlyWirescottperdue As long as it was on purpose, it's all good! 😀 Really enjoy these videos, Scott. I can usually land ok, but I'll be darned if I can actually explain what I'm doing in words. Being a CFI is not in my future!

[@courtman007]

four steps Fly it down Round it out Let it settle Hold it off

[@FlyWirescottperdue]

You gotta start from the same place. I'll stick with Six Steps thank you.

[@Andre.D550]

😎

[@pittss2c601]

It also depends on the airplane. Most airplanes have poor control authority. A Pitts Special responds right now. When you get used to it, precise landings are the norm. It’s not affected much by winds. It does a lot of the work for you. If you must go around, you have a ton of power to play with. Not the norm with GA airplanes.

[@WarblesOnALot]

G'day Scott, Yay Team ! All very good, all very true...; and I bet you can predict my next point...(?). Practicing Landings is always good, aiming for precise Control and smoothly conscious Energy Management is very good, and practicing to fly precisely without constantly referring to the Compass & ASI & VSI are better than Very Good as habits are concerned... But the Gold-Standard, in my opinion, is to acquire FAI Gliding Certificates A, B, & C..., as a bare minimum ; ideally BEFORE ever taking a lesson in ANY Powered Aeroplane. All Engines MAY Fail at ANY time, during EVERY Flight...; but most of the time they're remarkably reliable, to the point whereinat it has become the Orthodox DOCTRINE among ALL Instructors using Powered Aeroplanes to teach people to constantly evaluate every Approach with a view to deciding to abandon it if it's not quite exactly quite right - by reaching for a convenient fistful of Thrust bolted to the Firewall...; and then to go around and have another attempt, No Fault..., No Foul... But, that way, one day, when the Fireplace/s inside the loud smelly (and often vibrating) source of that all convenient Thrust go cold...; and the Power-trained Pilot discovers the actual sound of going Gliding - they encounter for their very first time the Concept of Get it RIGHT, FIRST Time, EVERY Time...; Or - Crash-Land..., And, Pay for the Repairs If You happen to be still Breathing in and out, Afterwards...(!). I find it a rather irrefutable arguement in favour of mandating the attainment of FAI Gliding Certificates A & B & C before being lawfully permitted to commence a CONVERSION Course, from being a Pilot...., To being a Powerplant-Endorsed Pilot.... So that FIRST the Neophyte is taught how to Fly the WING... And then, once they have grown to understand that Planning to alight Precisely where one intends to arrive, at precisely the selected Airspeed, and in exactly the Attitude, and pointing along the particular Azimuth which one had pre-selected while flying Downwind and adjusting quite where to roll onto the Base Leg - as one passes to the Leeward side of the Aiming-Point..., all without any Engine even being onboard the Flying Machine, to invoke at the last moment .....; after they have learned how to FLY - then and only then should any Flying School be permitted to commence confusing them with the manifold minutiae involved in Engine and Fuel Management... But, nobody involved in making up the Rules (as they are lobbied along, so to do), is ever likely to listen to the likes of me ; Though perhaps, if you phrased it carefully they actually just(ifiably ?) Might listen thus, to you...? (!). Do feel free to give it a try..., and you may always cite Erich Hartman and Gunter Rall, versus Johnnie Johnson & Richard I Bong ; to make the Point... (352 & 305..., versus 40 & 40...; Glider-trained Fighter-Pilots, historically, shot the living Tripes right out through the other side of the Cockpits of the Pilots who spent their Ab-Initio learning Engine-Management, while aloft...(!). Just(ifiably ?) sayin', Such is life, Have a good one... Stay safe. ;-p Ciao !

[@FlyWirescottperdue]

Maybe Warbles. One thing to note is Hartmann and Rall fought the entire war. They survived or didn't Americans did not. I think that was likely a bigger player than having a glider background.

[@WarblesOnALot]

@@FlyWirescottperdue Yeah, I know what you mean, regarding 4 or 5 years of "opportunities" to be in Combat, and thus in a position to use the experience which the survivors had amassed - versus the Commonwealth system of Operational Tours interspersed with Leave & postings to Training Establishments (where the Student Pilots were considered to be "the Huns" by the Instructors - particularly by the Navigational Instructors flying with Student Crews (!), before going back out for a second or third Tour. Some Brits fought in France, Britain and then the Middle East and then Burma...; but after the Allies maybe a year of being outnumbered in the Sky by first Germany & then Japan, the Allies reached first a a parity of numbers, and then they filled the Skies with Targets for their Enemies' Aces to burn their Gunbarrels out killing, and when their Trigger-fingers sized up with Arthritis there were STILL sufficient freshly-exported clean-cut Ice-Cream licking Coca-Cola drinkers in clean pressed uniforms, well-fed, flying in shiny factory-fresh Fighters full of Fuel and short of nothing..., as to have convinced even the mighty Hartmann to get out and walk home under his 'brolly - rather than continue to evade a Skyful of Mustangs after he'd popped-off all his Ammunition... But, he walked away from 14 Forced and Crash Landings after having had his Crate shot to the shittery around him, before he ever trusted the recycled Sleeping-bags built for Silkworms...(!). I spent a fortnight in 1981 in a position to talk to a bloke who'd known him, a Gliding Instructor for the whole War who then went to Lufthansa, he lived at Cooma - having come to Oz to retire and fly Sailplanes... he used to practice in the oldest, tattiest, worst-performing Kite on the Airfield, then go out to compete in a State-of-the Art Glassfibre Sailplane ("Janus" comes to mind, a 50 or 60 ft wingspan built of pure Slipperiness, with about a ton of Water at Takeoff, for Go-Fast Ballast, and a 54:1 Glide-Ratio, kinda thing) ; and he used to rip the competition to shreds (!). He learned to Glide with the Hitlerjugend, riding 60 Km each way to camp with the Giders on weekends, and ground-handling and watching for months before their first Bungee Launch in a Dagling or Zogling... It was he who talked me into being quite the believer in learning to Glide before adding an Engine...; though I confess to having already flown a Pup, Hornet-Moth & the Scout, before going off to Glide for a Fortnight when I was 21... So, like a converted Catholic or a reformed Smoker - one is a bit of a Zealot... I'm pretty certain that many if not the majority of the more successful Fighter Aces, on both sides, were the ones who'd had significant prior Flying Experience, before going to War. And I suspect that 3 or 4 years of Government-subsudised Aeromodelling, with all the most proficient being selected for (cheap, or was it free ?) Gliding Camps, manhandling Gliders and Sailplanes and sitting Lectures and learning to fly from age 12 to 17... Strikes me as being more like to produce a series of Crops of intuitive Stick & Rudder/Seat-of-the-Pants pilots who can maintain Airspeed & Altitude while in a Vertical Bank and looking outside the Cockpit to track the Bogies, lay the Guns and fire them, aimed according to the Laws of Deflection & Bullet-Drop...; than inviting Volunteers to enlist for 6 weeks Square-Bashing in Basic Training followed by aptitude Testing and bring streamed into whatever Mustering the Grand Plan needed the most of, on the day they showed up..., most of whom had grown up studying Biggles, as much as they ever did Ball, Bishop, Mannock, McCudden, Armstrong, Fonke, Guynemer, Immelman, Bolke, Richthofen, Udet, Milch, Cobby, Cobham, Pentland & Lewis..., let alone had anything to do with any actual Flying Machines during their formative years as Teenagers. Look in a mirror mate... How many hours had you picked up with your father, before the Military tried to teach you how to levitate the Technological way, according to The Book...? Did you not feel somewhat advantaged by that prior experience, compared to the people who failed to grow up with an Aeroplane being part of the family ? I really do think, though, that all other considerations aside, a Tandem Sailplane is the ideal Learning Environment in which to teach people to Fly the Wing. And, cough-cough, all the People who are ploughing up the Landscape using Airframes in the US lately, appear to be so doing after they lose power and then Behave as if that is some kind of Unusual Emergency of which to be totally Terrorficated, so they sit and freeze and think about what to do for a while, and a thousand dollars to a Peanut says that then they waste time looking at the Pane,l and reaching for Switches to flick and Taps to turn - before belatedly recollecting the Need For Airspeed, so that about the time one of their Wingtips stalls - that's when they're about halfway through pushing the Stick forward. Because they have Bin-miseducated to first Prioritise their Engine Management - and when it quits they fail to transition back to NORMAL Gliding Flight. And the silly Buggars have often first flown way out over the Ocean, or Mountainous Forests of "Tiger Country" where all Engines run in "Automatic Rough" due to the complete absence of any safe place to land, within achievable gliding-distance..., before their Fan stops ; as if they'e tried to double their own difficulties - maybe hoping for extra Hero-Points if they pull it off ? I wonder if a part of the problem with Civil Aviation these days may be that Flying Schools maybe have so few prospective Pupils able to afford Instruction that they can't afford to wash-out the Students who were born to walk and not fly...? The Military never had much of a problem explaining to people that their lack of aptitude precluded them from continuing any further along the Course..., because attracting and retaining Students who could afford the training was not a factor... And because "Insurance" is compulsory for Flight-Schools & Commercial Operations, and the cost of the Premius is built into the School's hourly-rate of charges..., their Trainers are all fully-insured so if a marginal Washout does manage to wreck one then that replacement cost is already covered - but washing out a rich but ham-,fisted or otherwise incapable Cashed-Up Wannabe might depress the Cashflow enough to shut down the whole operation. So, if the Customer Chooses to spend their money attempting to master a skill which is beyond them, and which may well kill them when they fail so to do and try to fly anyway - then that has to be THEIR Choice. And, if they can be coached and propped up just(ifiably ?) enough as to attain a peak of performance required to just barely pass the Written Examination, and squeak through their Pre-Solo Checks, and then waddle into the Sunset, there to fly much less often and with nobody beside them to prompt their compliance with minimum acceptable standard of Airmanship ; then, when they eventually stall and spin And auger in... Everybody says, or words to the effect, "At least they died doing what they most loved best...!" To which the correct response might well be, or words to the effect, "Yeah, True..., and so did every other dead Danger-Junkie ; regardless of their individual Drug of Choice, be it Racing Cars, Speedboats, Motorbikes Sailboats, Downhill Skateboards, Wingsuits, SCUBA-Diving, Cave-Diving , Speeding while Drink-Driving, Smoking or snorting Cocaine-Hydrochloride ("Crack"), using Crystal Methylamphetamine ("Ice"), and/or swooning and nodding off while full of Opiates (Papaver somniferum, and all it's extracts, concentrates, essences and Synthetic Analogues)....!" But, of course, nobody wants to say as much to the grieving relatives, who are in the moment very busy Rationalising - just(ifiably ?) as hard as they know how.. If An-Initio was mandated to have to occurr in unpowered Aircraft, then in a few years as the new flock of Fledglings moves through the system things should be reasonably expected to steadily improve ; and if THAT didn't work, then perhaps nothing ever will...(?). The Desktop PC with Flight Simulator may well have killed off the bulk of the Demand for actual Flight-Training " for the fun of it" - what they once called the "Flying Club Industry". But, before WW-2 in Britain they were ALL Government-subsidised ; and for a while here in Oz post WW-2 all big towns had an Aerodrome, and a little bit of a Flying Club which began with Tiger Moths and Chipmunks and Austers, before converting to Cessna's & Piper's and Beechcraft in the 1960s. But this past 20 years, nobody learns to fly unless they're trying to make a glittering Career out of it. So, the whole Vibe of the scene has been Leaching away, for decades. And thus, nowadayze when their Fan quits they freeze in disbelief and then stall and spin in, and crash and burn and die...; and every time it happens the price of Hull Insurance goes up. And so ever more people go away and buy a Simulator, with which to exercise all their Birdman fantasies. Welcome to the sled-ride, kinda thing. Anyway, we all do our best... Keep on keepin' on. Stay safe. ;-p Ciao!

[@jimmydulin928]

If we could weld that energy management truth into pilots brains, increase turn rate and decrease radius by increasing bank and not by pulling gs, we would have fewer fatalities on base to final. The 20 or even 30 degree bank limitation is safe until it is incredibly dangerous. It is lousy energy management. It is lousy law of the roller coaster. The power to control glide angle and pitch to control speed argument we old guys hold becomes necessary to good energy management when we get slow enough to actually land on the beginning of the runway. Long runways or arresting gear have made the other way work, but still poor energy management. Drive it into the flair point is a good descriptor. Wolfgang and I use the apparent rate of closure with the spot for deceleration to achieve the same thing. Either way we are going to arrive at ground level in a three point attitude all slowed up and ready to squat. Good side slip explanation. I like the "shift your eyes" concept to capture both the drive it into the spot and the feel it down with horizon and perificial vision.

[@jimmydulin928]

Hit the comment button too quick and missed six. Dynamic proactive rudder really works well to keep the centerline bracketed between our legs and also keeps the wing level or stabilized in side slip bank angle. Yes aileron for that bank angle has to increase as we slow down.

[@FlyWirescottperdue]

Thanks Jimmy.

[@Brackley84]

Scott, Jimmy. Jimmy, Scott. 🤝 You two should get together. I’ve been watching and reading both of you; you say a lot of the same things. Cheers!

[@FlyWirescottperdue]

@@Brackley84 Thanks we've known each other for quite awhile, from Backcountry Pilot.

[@Iflyagrasshopper]

Hmmm focus on the far end of the runway? Can’t really see much out of my biplane.. I think all the other advice was good.

[@FlyWirescottperdue]

Didn't say focus.... Look long, Look Far means to shift your gaze to allow your peripheral vision to detect drift and descent rate. The fovea is not your friend in the flare/touchdown phase.

[@6StringPassion.]

Step 0: Keep the blue side up.

[@user-kb8gh5jv9t]

There is no such thing as a perfect landing! Landings that passengers think are rough or harder than usual can actually be a very good landing depending on the conditions encountered. Sometimes it’s ok to flare a tad longer to get a super smooth touchdown if you have a long runway while other times that is not appropriate on shorter ones or gusty crosswinds etc. Every landing will be different and should be depending on conditions encountered.

[@FlyWirescottperdue]

Absolutely! Especially true on a short field!