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Andy Lutz
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 Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2007 2:01 am Post subject: Lining up the landing |
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I had one of those ah ha moments on my last lesson. I have been having a
hard time getting lined up on landings. Plenty of side loaded touch downs.
Last time out my instructor had me watch him (again). I'm not sure whether I
noticed it then or not, but on my next approach I asked him, "is that row of
rivets on the cowl lined up with the longitudinal axis?" He hadn't noticed
that either. In all of his MANY hours in a 172, he hadn't noticed that there
is a built in guide.
I actually heard the landing gear give a great sigh of relief. |
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Mark Hansen
Guest
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| Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2007 2:21 am Post subject: Re: Lining up the landing |
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On 04/24/07 14:01, Andy Lutz wrote:
| Quote: | I had one of those ah ha moments on my last lesson. I have been having a
hard time getting lined up on landings. Plenty of side loaded touch downs.
Last time out my instructor had me watch him (again). I'm not sure whether I
noticed it then or not, but on my next approach I asked him, "is that row of
rivets on the cowl lined up with the longitudinal axis?" He hadn't noticed
that either. In all of his MANY hours in a 172, he hadn't noticed that there
is a built in guide.
I actually heard the landing gear give a great sigh of relief.
|
It's great to hear things are going well for you, Andy.
I've had a few of those 'moments' during my training as well.
I remember one time when I felt there were just too many things to stay
on top of at one time. I was pretty depressed, but on the way home I
realized that I do the same type of thing (dealing with many different
issues at once) just riding my motorcycle around a corner - dealing
with the throttle, adjusting my speed, braking, using the clutch,
shifting - and all while checking my mirrors and watching for traffic!
How could anybody be expected to do all that at once! ;-)
The very next flight lesson, things were much easier. I think I just had
a mental block believing that it was too hard for me when that really
wasn't the case.
Thanks for the posting!
--
Mark Hansen, PP-ASEL, Instrument Airplane, USUA Ultralight Pilot
Cal Aggie Flying Farmers
Sacramento, CA |
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Peter Dohm
Guest
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| Posted: Wed Apr 25, 2007 5:21 am Post subject: Re: Lining up the landing |
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| Quote: | I had one of those ah ha moments on my last lesson. I have been having a
hard time getting lined up on landings. Plenty of side loaded touch
downs.
Last time out my instructor had me watch him (again). I'm not sure
whether I
noticed it then or not, but on my next approach I asked him, "is that
row of
rivets on the cowl lined up with the longitudinal axis?" He hadn't
noticed
that either. In all of his MANY hours in a 172, he hadn't noticed that
there
is a built in guide.
I actually heard the landing gear give a great sigh of relief.
It's great to hear things are going well for you, Andy.
I've had a few of those 'moments' during my training as well.
I remember one time when I felt there were just too many things to stay
on top of at one time. I was pretty depressed, but on the way home I
realized that I do the same type of thing (dealing with many different
issues at once) just riding my motorcycle around a corner - dealing
with the throttle, adjusting my speed, braking, using the clutch,
shifting - and all while checking my mirrors and watching for traffic!
How could anybody be expected to do all that at once! ;-)
The very next flight lesson, things were much easier. I think I just had
a mental block believing that it was too hard for me when that really
wasn't the case.
Those are a lot of good observations, and I will keep them in mind when I |
return to flying.
BTW, there are a lot of features of the sight picture that you can use to
"calibrate your eye" while taxiing out to the runway and even during the
take-off roll. A line of rivets is just one example, although a good one.
Another is the angle of the wings when looking to the side, which is similar
to their appearance when level in cruise; and my personal favorite is my eye
level on the runway--which is a little lower than I want to complete my
flare on landing. (I have no experience in hilly terrain; but here in
Southeast Florida, which is flatter than a pancake, I used the roofs of
nearby houses and the tails of airplanes parked on the ramp to help confirm
the top and bottom of the flare--and I was also taught to make maximum use
of the runway edge lights at night.)
Peter |
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Euan Kilgour
Guest
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| Posted: Thu Apr 26, 2007 6:13 am Post subject: Re: Lining up the landing |
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On Apr 25, 9:21 am, Mark Hansen <m...@NOSPAMwinfirst.com> wrote:
| Quote: | On 04/24/07 14:01, Andy Lutz wrote:
I had one of those ah ha moments on my last lesson. I have been having a
hard time getting lined up on landings. Plenty of side loaded touch downs.
Last time out my instructor had me watch him (again). I'm not sure whether I
noticed it then or not, but on my next approach I asked him, "is that row of
rivets on the cowl lined up with the longitudinal axis?" He hadn't noticed
that either. In all of his MANY hours in a 172, he hadn't noticed that there
is a built in guide.
I actually heard the landing gear give a great sigh of relief.
It's great to hear things are going well for you, Andy.
I've had a few of those 'moments' during my training as well.
I remember one time when I felt there were just too many things to stay
on top of at one time. I was pretty depressed, but on the way home I
realized that I do the same type of thing (dealing with many different
issues at once) just riding my motorcycle around a corner - dealing
with the throttle, adjusting my speed, braking, using the clutch,
shifting - and all while checking my mirrors and watching for traffic!
How could anybody be expected to do all that at once! 
|
I had that exact epiphany one day after a "bad" lesson. I just wasn't
in the right head space to be receptive to my instructor and he wasn't
having a great day either. I was so angry with myself that I drove
halfway home in a silent rage before it dawned on me I had operated a
motor vehicle and navigated safely all that way while being totally
fixated on something else.
| Quote: | The very next flight lesson, things were much easier. I think I just had
a mental block believing that it was too hard for me when that really
wasn't the case.
From that point on I knew in my heart of hearts that it was just a
matter of time and practise before things would become second nature, |
and what will surprise you is how quickly that will happen. |
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Andy Lutz
Guest
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| Posted: Thu May 03, 2007 6:13 am Post subject: Re: Lining up the landing |
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Today when I went out for a lesson after a week off due to scheduling
conflicts, I found a piece of tape on the cowl over the rivets to highlight
them and make it easier to see. Then I asked him how many other planes now
had tape. There are several. One of the planes is privately owned and leased
back to the school. He took it off his tape because he didn't want people to
think the plane was held together by tape.
Today's landings were much smoother. We had 22 kts along the runway with
ocassional cross winds. Lining up the tape has made my flying experience
much more enjoyable.
I love ah ha's!
"Andy Lutz" <caldex (AT) earthlink (DOT) net> wrote in message
news:f0lr7k$ifo$1 (AT) aioe (DOT) org...
| Quote: | I had one of those ah ha moments on my last lesson. I have been having a
hard time getting lined up on landings. Plenty of side loaded touch downs.
Last time out my instructor had me watch him (again). I'm not sure whether
I noticed it then or not, but on my next approach I asked him, "is that row
of rivets on the cowl lined up with the longitudinal axis?" He hadn't
noticed that either. In all of his MANY hours in a 172, he hadn't noticed
that there is a built in guide.
I actually heard the landing gear give a great sigh of relief.
|
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