tennessee_

I've been working with an instructor, I can takeoff and fly around OK but landings are giving me a fit. seems like everything I'm doing is wrong, I'm able to keep my left right orientation OK but getting the final turn, glide and flare right is a huge problem for me.

Any and all advice , tips etc. greatly appreciated.

G.Barber

My Feedback: (1)

Practice, practice, practice! That is the only way to master landings. When you are landing, do you chop the throttle back to idle or leave a little power on until the last moment? Give us an idea of you landing procedure.

rwright142

Like G.Barber said. Don't rush it, it will come with experience.

gboulton

My Feedback: (15)

Most helpful advice I got for both full scale and rc was:

MinnFlyer

My Feedback: (4)

Pick a point on the horizon using whatever landscape you have. Maybe there's a bush, or a phone pole in the distance, etc. and make your turn to final so you are (let's say) just to the left of that bush. Now, see how you line up with the runway. If you're too far past the runway, or too close in, adjust your turn on the next pass.

Eventually, you'll find that sweet spot - like, "Ok, if I come in just left of that big rock I'm lined up"

Next, stay a little low. You can always add power to make it over the threshold, but it's a lot harder to lose altitude if you're too high.

noveldoc

My Feedback: (2)

Rotate a bit away from the model and look at it over your shoulder. Point the transmitter antenna in the direction the plane is flying. Voila, no reversed controls in this view.

Tom

goirish

Hey, do what I do. Chop the throttle and close your eyes at least that is the way some of my landings look

MinnFlyer

My Feedback: (4)

I taught him that

BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

If he doesn't have a control reversal problem then its probably best not to get in to this bad habit.

CGRetired

My Feedback: (1)

One little trick my instuctor taught me was that once you make the turn from base to final, point the plane right at you and then work out the details of the approach. As said, it you are to long (to far away), add throttle then reduce it when you are happy with the approach, then slight "taps" of the elevator to bleed off speed.

Pointing it right at you gets you into the orientation. My approaches were always on the far side of the runway then the landings would not be on the runway at times, which, at our field, caused some problems.. broken gear or props mainly. Flying it right at you then adjusting the position slightly to get it to the centerline seemed to break me of the habit of being to far away, and also helped me orient my approaches correctly for both alignment and orientation.

What I also suggest is to forget the landings for a short time during a flight and just do repeated low-level approaches. Do them over and over again. Then, after several reduce the altitude and do them over and over again.. eventually, landing. If fuel state is ok, add throttle, take off and repeat.

Every time I go to the field, after I take off and trim out, I practice landings for just about the whole tank of fuel... doing them over and over again, just as I said. First approach, go around and do it again, and again and again... then lower, then eventually land.

It's the sort of thing that you can never get to much practice doing because you really want to get the landing right, ya know?

CGr.

pdm52956

My Feedback: (1)

Hopefully with the wheels down!

Practice. Oh yeah, did I mention practice? I've only been flying about 3 years but everyone jacks one up every now and again. I know I do and I figure I will be for a while yet.

I have noticed that if I find myself focusing too hard, I just make myself nervous about it which in turn makes it worse. It will come to you.

billd76

My Feedback: (3)

Agree with the low level approaches, not only do the low level aprroaches help with alignment, but also will let you know what to expect on landing, in regards to wind conditions. Flying the plane at me was one of the best things I was taught as well. Keep in mind that different planes, land differently, some will float in, others need a little power, some you need to fly all the way into the landing. Months ago minnflyer suggested to some one to practice flying @ 2 foot off the deck and maintaining that altitude the length of the runway. Once you get to where you can do that, landings will be a breeze!! Like the others have stated. PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE.

CGRetired

My Feedback: (1)

Actually, that's what I do, Bill.. fly very low, as low as comfortable, but after about 20 approaches.. get the jitters out first..

jester_s1

Learning how your plane stalls is really helpful. Trainers tend to slow gradually, then quickly, then drop their nose. So if you notice a quick deceleration, you know you've gotten it too slow, unless you're an inch off the ground in which case you're perfect. The idea is to keep just enough lift to support the weight of the plane until you're nearly on the ground, then stall the wing to set it down. If you can recognize that stall, you'll know if it's happening too high (add throttle) or isn't going to happen when you're ready (extend the glide).

DadsToysBG

My Feedback: (35)

It also seems to me when I teach is that new people what to do something with the plane on landing. When you are set up on final use the throttle to control the rate not the elevator. And when everything looks good, now heres the hard part. DO NOTHING. The landing will happen all by it's self. Dennis

tennessee_

Do you guys makes two turns (Base &Final) from the Downwind leg or do you just do one continuos arc from the downwind leg?

MinnFlyer

My Feedback: (4)

It depends on that particular approach.

It's sort of like saying, "When you make a right turn in your car, how much do you turn the steering wheel?"

Even at the exact same intersection, you may never turn the wheel exactly the same.

billd76

My Feedback: (3)

Depends on the conditions, wind being a key factor. If there is a cross wind I 'll usually set up from down wind, the base, then final, into the wind as much as possible. When conditions are perfect, I'll just fly the plane around doing what ever it takes to get the plane flying at me. I have the tendency to approach to high. But it makes the plane more visible to me. One thing to remember, it that you don't need to force the landing, unless you're deadsticked, you can always go around. I lost site of my yellow cub last fall, blended in nicely with the yellow fall leaves on some oak trees off in the distance. Cub completely dissappeared! I landed it and luckily it landed fine, but what I should've done was go around and tried a different path for final approach. Just stick with your instructor, he or she will get you to where you need to be. Be sure to let them know how you feel.

cfircav8r

My Feedback: (1)

The key to any good landing is a good approach. first you need to find a slow speed that is still easy to control. Start by reducing the throttle a little at a time and trim to maintain level flight. You should still be able to maintain altitude through gentile turns. You need to set your trim for this speed and mark it (note the setting on digital trims) and this will be your landing trim position. Now that you have the trim locked down, start every landing (for now) by entering down wind and reducing power while adding the trim. You should be level at the landing trim setting before you turn base leg. About the time you reach the landing end of the runway on down wind reduce power a little to start a slow descent. The turn to base will be determined by the amount of wind and the rate of descent (this takes some practice but is not overly critical.) After the turn to base if you are losing altitude too quickly add a little power, if you are loosing altitude too slowly reduce power a little. Start your turn to final early enough that you can make a gentile turn and look at your distance and rate of descent and make corrections accordingly. On final you should be able to just make minor corrections to maintain runway alignment and descent rate. Plan to cross the runway threshold at about 5 feet. When you cross the end of the runway start to apply elevator to level off and start to reduce power slowly. The plan is to try to hold it just of the runway until it stalls, if it balloons stop applying elevator and add a little power to keep it from stalling. Do not release elevator once you start flaring or it will drop to the ground and start the long bouncing landing that everyone loves to see someone else do. If you are smooth on the controls you will touch down a little nose high with no bounce. During this entire approach if you have set the trim properly you will need almost no elevator input and can concentrate on direction and descent rate.

cloudancer03

My Feedback: (22)

giving you advice in here is particularly hard not knowing what your final approach looks like.are you starting too high ?how do you algin the plane with the runway ..most beginners start too high and when they get close nose the plane down realizing they will overshoot the runway and usuallthey dont lineup with the runway and panic when they see the plane headed off to the extreme left or right.

when want to land cut your throttle a little on your downwind leg and bank your plne to turn in the center of the runway.once lined up cut your throttle to start a gentle glide if its a high wing it will likely float down.

most importantly practice pratice practice. slow you plane when your high up to get a sense of how it flies at slow sppeds.just dont cut the throttle so much that you cause the plane to stall.that takes practice and you do learn!

tennessee_

When you say:"You need to set your trim for this speed and mark it (note the setting on digital trims) and this will be your landing trim position." is this something you "record" in your transmitter (landing trim setting) and can recall for use reuse with a transmitter button push later for future landings?

CGRetired

My Feedback: (1)

One day, after a long winter (this was last year, by the way), I was out at the field and flying my first flight of the day. The wind was blowing about 10 or so and was right down the center-line of the runway. Good stuff.

So, I took off, it seemed to take longer than normal, but what the heck, this was my first time out in a while so what did I remember, anyway. So, off I went, and flew the circuit a few times, and as I had been preaching, set up for a few approaches. After going around a few times, I set up for a landing.

I pointed it right at me and started the procedure to land. But, the darned thing was going a bit faster than I expected it to, so I went around. Again, the set up was pretty much perfect, but it was going a bit to fast yet again. So, I stretched the landing and got it on the ground. I taxied it to where it was in front of me and I shut down the engine.

A fellow pilot was nearby and said, "Are you practicing downwind landings?" I looked at the wind sock, and then back at him and answered, "Yeah, of course I was....."

hmmmm.. sure I was...

The next flight was done into the wind and I ended up landing right smack in front of me, where I wanted it to be in the first place.

It happens.

CGr.

BarracudaHockey

My Feedback: (11)

Sorry I disagree with that, throttle setting will vary with wind conditions.

Here's some reading for you including one that discusses great circle landings.

http://masportaviator.com/2004/01/17...ng-techniques/
http://masportaviator.com/2004/03/25...ding-approach/

Gray Beard

My Feedback: (-1)

It just comes with time, my instructor had me do the approach over and over until I was able to do it. My advanced instructor taught me more like Minn is saying. Once I got the descending turn down I got a lot better then it took more time. I got pretty good, then I was taught to three point so things got even better. This took a lot of time though. If it was easy everyone could do it.

bigedmustafa

My Feedback: (2)

I've always been a big proponent of practicing 90 degree turns and using them on final. We have a 500' long paved runway that many club members seem to have difficulty hitting. The guys that do land consistently and practice touch-and-goes on a regular basis all seem to use the square turn to set up their final approach.

A good 90 degree turn on final, as opposed to just trying to curve around into the runway, basically lines you up perfectly to land. You don't have to manage a lot of minor course corrections or adjustments to straighten yourself out, except in case of a cross wind. Instead, you can focus on your glide path and throttle management, and it's much easier to land smoothly on a consistent basis.

Once you turn to your final approach, hitting the runway should be a foregone conclusion. The 90 degree turn is the simplest way to achive that.