Landing
 

I'm learning to land (with an instructor) and I would like to read some suggestions in how to improve my landings

Landing
 

Do a search of this forum using "landing" and/or "approach" as a keyword.
Read til your eyes cross.

Landing
 

I'm still figuring out how to get a smooth landing. It takes some practice to get professional at it you know. Usually my wheels pop off at landing, but that was my old plane. Now my new one keeps bouncing off the ground, then crashes. :mad:

Landing
 

Practice, Practice, Practice and when you think you've done them enough, practice some more. This is my 23rd year of flying and I still practice landings in the spring. Just practice, practice and more practice!

Landing
 

Any input or suggestions on how to improve my landings will be appreciate.

Landing
 

My instructor says its alright to scrap the tail so you main gear will touch first. ( i fly a superstar main gear is in the back) so you won't break a prop. But i just made my first landing with about 3 bounces but nothing broke so i was please. And this was my second week flying and the instructor said i have been his best student. :)

Landing
 

When I was learing to land about the best thing someone told me was "remember elevator controls speed and engine will controls altitude". The more elevator you use the slower the plane will fly, but too much elevator and you will stall. If you need to gain a little alt. a small burst of throttle will do. Ailerons to keep the wings level. I also think that a trainer is one of the hardest planes to land without bouncing, the gear is made to bounce to avoid damageing the plane when you are learning to land. However I also agree with the practice idea. KEEP WITH IT YOU WILL GET IT!!!!!!! Good luck hope this helps.

Landing
 

Tara*Starr and others: The bounce is typically caused by lack of flare and/or to much airspeed. The flexible gear is NOT causing the bounce. It may aggravate it, but it is not the cause.

This is what happens, plane hits on nosewheel. This pops the nose back up in the air. The mains then hit, but now you are nose high. The nose high attitude of the plane (and/or probably too much airspeed) causes the plane fly again, but just barely. So plane stalls, comes in nose first again. Plane hits on nosewheel... wash, rinse and repeat...until airspeed slows enough to prevent the model from becoming airborne.

To stop this "bounce" try the following, but since I can't actually see what you are doing, ask your instructor to closely watch your landings.

Land at a slower speed. Flair more. Change to a softer tire (like all foam.)

If the bounce starts, to fix: When plane bounces up, add some power and down elevator to level plane. This should prevent the stall and the second bounce, reestablish glide and land.


Hope this helps. Cheers.

Landing
 

I have found that different people favor slightly different techniques. I remember being told that you should try to make the plane fly to the end of the strip when landing by holding off. This is also a technique used in flying full size GA planes. However, i found that doing this caused a lot of problem for a beginner. This is i think is due to the fine control needed. I have seen many newbies try this technique and end up having the plane stall at about 1 foot in height causing it to drop hard onto the runway. This is a good idea for more experienced people who have the ability to hold the plane off the ground a couple of inches. While learning i used a similar style but once the plane was slow i would try to set up a slow decent rate and let it touch down. Not the most professional style but worked for me while learning. The plane however must be going slow enough to touch on the main wheels first or you will bounce

Landing
 

I am having a lot of fun in the simulator to hold the elevator stick at max, and then just controll the height with engine, then I manouver the plane slowly around using only engine and Ailerons, now I can even land it on the right spot I want.
Maybe this also works in real life :-)

Landing
 

altho it is almost the correct way to land.. if you throw rudder into that equasion going that slow.. when you "burp" the throttle you are really close to Vmca ( velocity min control airspeed) and you run the risk of rudder fin stall... the plane will flip over onto its back in .5 sec and crash..you need to maintain just enough speed so you still have control authority on all surfaces..next time you fly.. try this.. fly your normal pattern but EXTEND THE DOWNWIND 2 SECONDS.. and get yourself a good glidepath with 1/8-1/4 stick of throttle (depending on size of aircraft) and work in a steady decent to the threshold of the runway.. that way when you float ... you have plenty of room to set it down.... if you go more than halfway down the runway.. GO AROUND... no shame in a go around.. hell, i usually have to do 2 or 3 every session depending on wind speed.. also.. get to know the rudder.. if you look fast on final.. SIDE SLIP THE model slightly..preferalbly nose into the wind ( its just crosswind controls..) and the extra drag will slow the model.. however... keep in mind that you only need to do this for a second or so.. and remember to land normal.. if you land in a crab,( ie sideslip) when your model touches down, it will either hit the ground and hook to the direction of the nose or it will cartwheel.. not good either way.. and as always.. PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE!!! try it this way a few times to a low approach and gently start feeding the fuel to her at about 5 ft agl. the look is very professional looking when done correctly and is usually the best manuover of the day!!! good luck to all hope you understand what im talking about :)

In a few sentences, it tough to describe fully
 

There is good advice in this forum by doing a search, also some good RC books that belong in your library - may as well get them now and read their techniques/advice. My technique - cut/reduce throttle at end of downwind leg, align with the runway, which I find one of the hardest things, then slowly decrease altitude. With a trainer, make it slow enough that you float yourself to the ground with plenty of elevator_up (hey, that's me) to grease it onto the ground. I try to let it land slowly enough so that I can't tell exactly where it first touches the grass, vs a nose dive landing. Obviously lots of other details and thinking, but in a few sentences that a start. The books give at least a page or 2 of description that you can discuss with your instructor. Oh, also important - dont get to nervous about crunching your plane on a hard landing, it will happen so look forward to the repairing. Relaxing and havining fun is a big part of it.

Landing
 

Like someone said the hardest part is aligning the plane with the runway, I'm using the slip to reduce speed and to align the plane, but soo far is my third time flying and I know is going to take a lot of practice, thak everybody for thier inputs.

Landing
 

Check to make sure your plane is level or a little tail high when on the ground. I had this same problem with my Eagle II and discovered my tail was low and there was almost no way, especially for a novice, to land rear wheels first.
If the tail is low on the ground when the plane is level during flight the front wheel will be the lowest object and hit first - the cause of the bounce.
I bent the rear wheels in, raising my tail, and my landings improved immediately. The cost is the plane won't take off by itself quite so easily.
Good Luck,
KW Counter

Landing
 

The wheels Idea make sense.

Landing -- tail dragger vs. tricycle gear
 

How different is it to land a tail-dragger vs. a plane with tricycle gear? Most of what I've read in this thread seems to apply to both styles, but without a nose-wheel, some of it doesn't really seem to apply. While applying up-elevator, do you have to worry about your tail-wheel hitting the ground first (which I'm assuming is a bad thing)?

Landing
 

Hitting the tailwheel first is a "show off" thing to do. Unless you're really REALLY nose up, it won't be a problem at all. When I'm landing tail draggers, it's what I usually aim for.

So, no, landing a tail dragger isn't really different than landing a trike. Things do happen differnetly if you come in too hot, but the techniques used to slow the plane down, establish a glide path, line up with the runway, and flair all work exactly the same.

Landing
 

I was practicing and I think I found the tecnique that fits me better, I'm aiming the plane straight to me and the correct the alignment with the ruder, trhottle=altitude and elevator=speed, and glide down, don't know if it makes sense to somebody, but is working for me.

Landing
 

Landing tail draggers and trikes is about identical. Ground handling is different, but that's another thread. However, if you try to land a taildragger without the flare, you' bust a prop. In the trike, you just bounce.

Tailwheel first landings on tail draggers isn't a bad thing, but a 3 point landing is typically preferred (mains and tail set at same time.) If you touch tail first, your AOA is too high, i.e. you are getting too (read dangerously) slow. I'd agree with Montague, it is a show off thing...I'll do one on occasion for my own amusement, but I really think a good 3-point landing shows better skill.

Cheers

Landing
 

One thing Newbies do when they are trying to land is to get tunnel vision on the airplane. Then they are surprised when the ground comes up and hits it. I always stress to my students to open up their field of view so they can watch both the plane and the runway.

I also stress to hold the fuselage of the plane LEVEL in the glide. Then it is not going to either stall, or build up a lot of excess airspeed. It's usually easy to judge with a longitudinal stripe on most fuselages.

Lastly, I show them that they should try to fly 1" off the ground, with the throttle closed. The plane will run out of airspeed and settle on the mains if they do that.

Are you really learning to land this way ?
 

Jucava,
I'm concerned about one statement you made in your earlier post,
" ... I'm using the slip to reduce speed and to align the plane ..." Is your instructor teaching you how to reduce speed by entering a slip ?

A slip is where you use the fuselage as an air brake by turning the rudder in one direction and the ailerons in the opposite causing the place to enter a somewhat sideways position and the surface area of the fuse slows you down. Is this what you are learning ? I'd consider slipping an advanced techinique that I would not teach to somone just learning how to land. How are you doing with it ?

Landing
 

No he is not, but I'm finding my self landing too fast, I'm not slipping it too much, just a little(yes aileron in one direction and rudder in the other), but my main problem is to align the plane with the runway.

Landing
 

The landing flare is a very critical phase. In the flare, you are bleeding off excess speed as the plane settles down onto the runway. Most pilots come in and land much too fast.

Practice prolonging the flare until the plane just won't fly anymore. You should "hold it off" the runway a couple inches as the speed decreases. About the time it just won't stay up, the wheels should touch the ground. That's perfect!

It also helps to make every approach exactly the same. Try to visually establish several "waypoints" along the approach path and fly the plane through each point.

Tom

Landing/ready to solo
 

I was taught to reduce the throttle on the down wind leg and practice turning descending to 50' just flying the pattern aligning with the runway each time then working each pass lower and lower and finally landing. Each approach was made just above an idle trying to make the approach without any elevator input so you learn dead sticks at the same time. About 4 trips to the field and lots of sim time I was landing very well! On the sim (G2) I practiced lots of low slow flight and flew the limbo contest to practice! Good Luck! :D :D

Dwayne

Landing
 

Landing an airplane is like golf: No matter how good you get, you can always be better. Nobody hits a hole-in-one every time.

For aligning with the runway, I like to put the airplane aligned with the fence/barrier/flightline just as I turn final. Then it is going ever-so-slightly away from me to the touchdown point.

If you are arriving with too much speed, don't let the nose down in your approach. Elevator controls speed. Throttle controls altitude. Bring the fuselage to LEVEL, and cut the throttle. It will come down, nice and slow. then when you're close to the runway, flare and hold it off an inch high until it touches down.