Three Most Dangerous Landing Mistakes Pilots Make and How to Prevent Them

Over-shoot, under-shoot, losing directional control, wing rule strikes... are all symptoms of

mistakes made Before the pilot touches down. Mistakes that are easily prevented - but not

necessarily you might say you might think.

I landed in the Nuttree Airport in a Cessna 172 in 1968. My partner and i felt pretty smug. It's a

very smooth landing, one of those landings that one could hear but not feel. Then a wind gust

picked myself up and I landed an additional time on a parallel taxiway. That pilot taxiing in the

opposite direction was kind enough (or perhaps stunned enough or frightened enough) to carry

short of a turn-off so i could move over to the parking apron. I couldn't look him inside eye as we

went past. I mumbled a few excuses to my passengers i didn't believe. I had just produced the

three biggest (and a lot of common) mistakes a pilot tend to make when landing.

Determined to never let that happen ever again, I spend a lot of time in the intervening 40 years

thinking about preventing these mistakes. The NTSB says that a full 45% with the weather-

related accidents are brought on by crosswinds and gusts. We believe it. It is time to introduce

some little known techniques that help alleviate problems with these accidents. But primary, we

should look with their causes.Landing too fast is brought on by flying the approach too fast or

trying to force the airplane to land before it can be ready. The solution may be to fly a consistent

approach at the same airspeed, picking a safe projected glide point (or PGP), and controlling the

PGP until you land. But hold the airplane a foot or possibly even longer off the runway until the

airplane nose has rotated up to the landing attitude. Hold that attitude until the airplane lands.

That way you certainly will land at the right speed.

Failing to cross control in a crosswind leads to floor loops, being blown off the side of the

runway (the commonest cause of accidents in the country), wing tip damage, or, in my case,

flying over the infield and landing on the taxiway. To put it simply, cross controlling is with the

rudder to keep the long axis in the airplane parallel to the long axis with the runway and using

the ailerons to keep the airplane positioned above the runway. This guarantees that you will

keep the airplane going straight down the runway after the wheels touch. Quit flying the plane

prior to the plane is through flying is among the most dangerous mistakes that a pilot could

make. Its cause is lack of concentration. Its solution is usually good flying habits.

I was lucky at the Nuttree. If the crosswind had been coming from the opposite side, I might

have been blown into a canal. Remember that just because the main gear is on the ground does

not mean that there's no 'fly' left inside airplane. Also remember that if you keep that airplane

just above your runway until it definitely, positively will not fly anymore, then it will a great

unusually strong gust to put it in the surroundings again. It is simple to be lulled into this bad

habits that result in these mistakes. When that wind is gentle and the runway is long, all is going

to be forgiven. So the issue is: how to always keep

these bad habits with developing?

Let me introduce two exercises that contain helped my students far more than I could get ever

imagined. They could be the 'very slow Dutch roll' and also the 'controlled projected glide' stage.

Neither is difficult and also dangerous. Both simplify together with strengthen any pilot's ability

to land.

The very slow Dutch roll is a simple exercise done at a safe altitude. It teaches two very

important skills. First the pilot learns to continuously move this stick and rudders to manipulate

the airplane as circumstances change, and second, the pilot learns ways to cross control the

airplane in the most extreme circumstances.

Here is how to do a very slow Dutch roll. Pick a point coming and hold it steady since you change

the angle involving bank, airspeed and flap configuration. Maintain constant altitude. Switch

your bank very slowly but surely. Continue to increase your angle of bank till either the aileron

and also the rudder is forced to its limit. This is the angle of bank for the maximum crosswind

that your airplane can land within. The cross controlled airplane slowly accelerates to the side

for just a few minutes. During this time, the pilot must move the airfare controls continuously -

an unanticipated benefit of this exercise when My partner and i thought it up.

Let me tell you about the projected proceed point or PGP. After you approach the runway your

eye might naturally gravitate toward a place on the runway that doesn't move in your field of

vision. The phenomenon is similar to when you are on the collision course with another airplane:

it stays still in your field of vision but just gets bigger. Properly, there is always a point on the

floor where exactly the same thing happens. This is the point that you would glide to if you

never made that previous little flair to get. This is an extremely important concept that can save

you many hours of getting practice. I never heard another flight instructor discuss it but I am

sure that many pilots make use technique.

You can control the PGP with electrical power and drag while maintaining the airspeed constant.

To advance the PGP closer back, reduce the engine's power or improve the airplanes drag -

constantly with flaps. To move the PGP far away from you, increase the engine's electrical power

or decrease the airplane's drag.

Put the two concepts together to produce consistent, safe landings. When established on final,

make use of the center line of this runway as your research point for very impede Dutch rolls.

Use the ailerons to position the airplane on this extended centerline, the rudder to keep the long

axis of the airplane parallel to which extended centerline. Move this PGP to the same place

every time. I recommend the runway patience. Consciously continue cross controlling before

airplane slows to some sort of taxi.

These two simple techniques will get you to the same place to the runway every time in the

landing configuration that makes up for crosswinds or gusts before airplane is going so slow that

you can taxi to parking.

Private Pilot Training Online focuses on the little things that hold pilots back; dispels the myths

that make learning and flying unnecessarily difficult; and makes the ‘hard’ subjects easy.Douglas

Daniel, long time flight instructor, invites you to visit at http://FlyingSecretsRevealed.com/ for

more flying tips.You may also feel free to contact Doug by visiting his website.