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Thread: Perfect landing

  1. #1

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    Perfect landing

    I think many people like to grade their landings in their mind and I do also, on a scale of 10. Most of mine are 8 or 9. There's really no safety difference between a 7 and a 10, both are safe in most planes. Now if you are flying a Pitts or ME-109 every one may need to be a 9 or 10.

    Anyway, these days I mostly fly a Bonanza and they are famous for being easy and forgiving to land. Mine is a B36 with the larger fuselage and the longer wings, so it does loose some aileron effectiveness as you get slower, but you just have to make bigger control movements. And it stalls a little faster than the earlier lighter v tail ones. Still it is pretty forgiving, so it is too easy to get a little complacent and accept an 8 rather than a 9 or 10. The difference is that for the really best landing I need to keep making corrections all the way to the ground, and mostly it is a matter of making a full flare, not dropping in or rolling on the nosewheel.

    I came back to Aspen 2 days ago, the weather had been poor, windy and overcast but now was great, calm and CAVU.
    I just kept making corrections all the way down and my landing was a 10 !. In thinking about it afterwards I can't see any way to improve on that one. It was on center, nose straight, right speed, a full flare and a touchdown so smooth that one second I am flying and the next I am rolling.

    I don't make many that good and while it is more a matter of style than safety, that one made me smile all afternoon. I'm thnking, "Man that was easy, and I'm really good, and why aren't all the rest that perfect."
    Now, can I do it on the next one?
    Last edited by Bill Greenwood; 05-02-2014 at 08:58 AM.

  2. #2
    I woke up the N3N Wednesday and flew it for the first time since late October. First landing was a perfect three point and the tires didn't even chirp. The next two were pretty good but not near as nice as the first one. Bill I have around 500 landings in a Pitts and it was really easy to do a perfect one. Don

  3. #3

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    One of my most harrowing landings was also my best, probably never to be repeated.

    Small winds, beautiful day, and I had been up for about an hour or so touring the Coosa river when the morning's coffee began to make its case for a landing. Standard downwind, base, and maybe a touch low on final - but that's easy to fix with a little throttle.

    A little more speed than I like for my typical three pointer, so I'll put it down on the mains and let the tail drop. So eyes on the end of the runway and let's just gently float down the runway with a little throttle until they touch. And float. And float. Throttle all the way back and I'm getting a little concerned....this could turn Champ-on-pavement nasty in a hurry.

    And then the tail drops. I never felt the mains touch.

    The ONLY time the local pilots were watching when I made a decent landing and they asked what I was doing the fast taxi past the first turn off for.

    The opinions and statements of this poster are largely based on facts and portray a possible version of the actual events.

  4. #4

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    When I get a perfect landing I'll let you guys know. Most of the time I just close my eyes and wait for the impact.

  5. #5

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    Well my next landing was maybe a 7, at least I didn't damage anything. To be fair, it was tough conditions. I was coming back into Aspen and the wind was gusting to 25 with about a 30 degree crosswind. Earlier there was a pirep of moderate turbulence on landing/
    I was so busy making corrections that I never even had time to take my hand off the controls and lower the last notch of flaps so I landed with half flaps and floated half of an 8000 foot runway. Touchdown was ok, but I had to use full aileron into the wind on rollout to stay straight.

    My next landing in good conditions were good, probably a 9. Sure is easier when you are making small corrections to basically as stable airplane rather than trying to ride a bucking horse.

  6. #6

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    It is not about smooth landings. It is about short accuracy landings. My last one used 5 feet to stop but there was lots of room so a short field landing was not the issue, accuracy was the goal. Made that one. I have done better but that's the way to things go when it has been too long between flights. Now if I can just learn how to ballance on that wire without falling off.

    Wanabe birdman
    Last edited by jedi; 05-13-2014 at 12:02 PM.

  7. #7

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    No one's ever around to see when you make the perfect landing.
    There's always a crowd, though, when you sprang it in, though.
    And seldom is there any video...
    So, like the age old question of, if a tree falls in the woods, and no one's around.........

  8. #8
    rwanttaja's Avatar
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    Well... the old timers say, "A good landing is one you can walk away from, but a PERFECT landing is one where you can re-use the airplane."

    On that basis, I've got a lot of perfect landings.

    A while back, I got too slow on a landing in my Fly Baby, and came down hard. REALLY hard. Here's my G-meter afterwards:
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    Pegged at +4 Gs....

    So you guys can have your greasers... my way is a lot easier! :-)

    Ron Wanttaja

  9. #9

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    Any damage to the Fly-Baby?

  10. #10
    rwanttaja's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by I_FLY_LOW View Post
    Any damage to the Fly-Baby?
    Nope. My back hurt for several days, though.

    The only shock absorption on a Fly Baby is the tires themselves, so more of the landing loads get transmitted directly to the fuselage. Most planes would have had spring steel, oleos, or bungee cords to absorb some of the impact, and their G-meters probably wouldn't register as high.

    Needless to say, the Fly Baby has incredible strength around the landing-gear mounts.

    Ron Wanttaja

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