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Gary G · Guest

OK, I had just about "2 steps backward" day yesterday flying.

We're just focussing on pattern and landing.
I'm fine on everything. then after the turn to final,
things start falling apart.
Holy crap!
In fact, I did so bad, I called it quits after 3 times
around. I was just completely flustered and embarassed.

I'm not 100% starting abeam the numbers, not getting the
plane setup right - but I generally make up for that.

I correct a bit on base and final for "high/low fast/slow",
but still have a few issues getting the right airspeed.

By short final, I'm not on the centerline, can't quite
get back on, and then blow the flare, and things go goofy.

OK - I've read the posts before. But now I'm just about
to the solo point, and am feeling that I'm not having any
fun now.
I am embarassed by my peformance.

- So, ar there some tactics I should consider?
- Take a couple weeks off and relax?
- Take some time to read and review some videos?
- Go fly somewhere else once or twice and see if a different
instructor can connect?
- Take clarinet lessons with Squidward?
- Get a vasectomy?

I'm really frustrated today and haven't even booked another flight
because I'm pretty underconfident at the moment.

OK-the boilerplates.
About 18 hours flying.
About 42-45 landings (although I figure the first 10 or so don't count
as they are just still in the "what the hell is an airplane" phase -
ha!)

Thanks and regards,

Gary

giorgi.piero@gmail.com · Guest

Cecil Chapman · Guest

jsstevens@usa.net · Guest

Gary G wrote:

giorgi.piero@gmail.com · Guest

Mark Hansen · Guest

On 12/6/2005 08:02, Gary G wrote:

Wiz · Guest

Way to early to be thinking of calling it quits... In my brief
experience, inconsistent approaches at 18 hours are not unusual.

Here's what helped me: First, recognize that a stabilized approach is
required for consistent, decent landings, and that begins at the
numbers on downwind. Set power, flaps, and TRIM for your desired
airspeed and descent rate, and make sure you are at or darn close to
those targets on each leg of the approach. When I screw up a landing
in the last minute, which I still do on rare occasions, my CFI can tell
it's going to happen before I turn base. A stabilized approach is
your best friend. You can usually correct for "high/low, fast/slow" on
final, but if you have to in any significant amount, your approach
isn't stablized, and you will find yourself trying to manage too many
variables to late in the landing sequence to make reliable landings.

Know what airspeeds you want on downwind, base, and final, and fly
them. Most people fly the pattern way too fast. If you do, you are
carrying too much energy down to the runway, and when you flare, that
energy that was excess speed or a high descent rate may translate into
float, and the longer you float, the more time for crosswinds to try to
push you off the centerline.

Don't give up. Almost all of us have had days like you describe - I
certainly did.

Good luck!

Dudley Henriques · Guest

I'll be honest with you Gary, I'm surprised your instructor let you walk
away from this lesson feeling like this. Of course I wasn't there so I won't
comment in that direction.
At 18 hours, you're going to have days like this where nothing seems to fit
into place. Actually, it's not all that unusual. You simply hit a plateau.
The answer lies where it always lies and will lie forever more; in the
basics.
Your CFI should be picking up on this and back you up to where you need to
be.
One thing; don't fall into that "I'm ready to solo" trap. Just take your
time, sit down with your instructor before you fly again and have a serious
and in depth discussion on this last bad lesson. Focus on what you were
doing wrong as that relates to the basics, then simply back track a bit;
practice a bit more where the CFI thinks you need the practice, then come on
back to where you were when things didn't go right for you.
Remember, when it comes to flying an airplane, pattern work is nothing more
than doing what you have already learned to do piece by piece, but doing it
in the pattern putting the individual pieces together in a constantly
changing dynamic. All this means is that you are multi-tasking in the
pattern where you were simply concentrating on one or two things at a time
doing your airwork.
From what you have written, it sounds like it's the multi-tasking that's
screwing you up. All you need to do is back up a few paces, think over
what's happening, then throw that frustration out the window and come back
into the pattern again.
Dudley Henriques

"Gary G" <gary (AT) NOSPAMgilbert-land (DOT) com> wrote

Peter Duniho · Guest

"Gary G" <gary (AT) NOSPAMgilbert-land (DOT) com> wrote

Rob · Guest

Gary G wrote:

Jeff Shirton · Guest

"Gary G" <gary (AT) NOSPAMgilbert-land (DOT) com> wrote

Darkwing · Guest

"Cecil Chapman" <bayareapilot (AT) sbcglobal (DOT) net> wrote

tjd · Guest

I've started a couple different replies to this today and keep churning
out these long, rambling posts - here's hoping the third time is a
charm. The essence of what I wanted to say is - I was recently in a
similar situation (with a good many more hours than you), frustrated
and discouraged to the point where I talked with my instructor about
giving up, because I couldn't make a decent landing and didn't seem to
be making any progress. Now, 10 hours later, landings are going well,
I've done my solos, starting XCs, my confidence is certainly back, and
obviously I'm happy that I decided to stick with it.

Other people have said it, but obviously the first step is to get
yourself back in the plane. And I can completely relate to what you
said about having no fun - my advice is go out and have some fun! Get
away from that stupid rectangle for a while and just take in the
scenery, think about how cool it is just to be flying, do some steep
turns or stalls or whatever floats your boat (unfortunately my
instructor wouldn't let me see if you could loop a 172, but you can't
have everything...). It may not have done much to improve my ability
to land, but it certainly helped my mood.

As far as some specific things that helped me - I had problems both
with the pattern and with the flare. For the former - and this
probably goes for a lot of piloting skills, the important thing is to
relax, you can't divide your attention as well if you're anxious. But
you can learn it in parts instead of trying to learn it all at once - I
went and flew some patterns around a cornfield with an imaginary runway
at 1500 AGL. Initially you can concentrate on the checklist items and
nailing the airspeeds, after a while you don't have to think about it
as much, so more brain cycles for other things.

For the actual landing, I had read about the "low pass" thing that Rob
talks about above, I was completely skeptical about its value, but I
think it was the biggest thing that snapped me out of my funk and I
wish I'd done it sooner. You can go a lot lower than 15 ft - I've seen
people say you should be able to do it 6 inches off the runway, in my
case we tried to do it at the proper flare height, around 3 ft. Seeing
that picture burned into my retinas for that many consecutive seconds -
as opposed to the snapshot you get during a normal approach - finally
made obvious what 100+ landings did not. I was trying to flare way too
low - which my instructor had been trying to tell me, but since I kept
ballooning (after waiting too long, I applied the elevator too
abruptly), the words didn't really sink in. Once I started to flare
higher, I no longer felt the urgent need to keep the nosewheel from
hitting the runway first (which is something I managed to do once and
resolved to never do again) and almost instantly I went from 20% good
landings to 100% (although still always ready to go around of course!)

good luck - now get off the internet and back into the plane already!

todd (if you think this was long and rambling you should have seen the
previous two!)

Darkwing · Guest

"Gary G" <gary (AT) NOSPAMgilbert-land (DOT) com> wrote

Saville · Guest

Gary G wrote: