RevGQ

I am by no means an expert, but I will share my experience and I hope it may be helpful. Nothing helped my landings like the modern simulators. They can give you a great measure of confidence without exacting the price of your plane. I am not only talking about our model airplane simulators. For example, I have flown Falcon 4.0 simulator for years along with Dave Brown's Flight Simulator and they have been tremendous training for landing one of the tuffiest landing models around, the Gee Bee. So here is what I have learned over the last 18 years of flying.

As was intimated above, the key to great landings is the approach. I have found that the key to great approaches is throttle control. What I mean is simply this. You enter your pattern at the desired height that will allow you to place the model on the correct glide-slope at final leg. The throttle allows you to adjust the rate of decent to the final leg. The throttle also adjust the the glide-slope, and not the elevator which is so often used. If the glide-path is to shallow, increase throttle. If the glide-path is to steep, decrease throttle. It is as if you are flying the plane on the prop. If you calculate that the plane will not make the end of the runway, you simply add enough throttle to power it to the runway, decrease throttle and flair it down.

Maybe simply was not the correct choice of words, as the landing does require discipline and much practice. Again the simulators are wonderful tools for this. I love flying the FA/18 Hornet to the deck of a carrier. They refer to this manuver as trapping. It is an apt description as you come into to the deck at approximately 135 knotts and go to full power just prior to the touch. During the whole process however, you are constantly working the throttle to maintain the proper glide-path.