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Contents
Why is there so much poor instruction?; ...An Instructional Learning Experience in Two Parts; …The Dangers of Giving Flying Advice; …Memes You Should Know; … Flying Memes; …The Why of Poor Landings; ...Calm Wind Landings; …Crosswind Landings; …Crosswind Takeoff;GenericLanding; …The Last Few Seconds of Flare; ...Doing the Flare with Flair; …Refining the Flare; …The Approach; …The Roundout; …Ground Demonstration; … Salvaging the Landing; … Pre-solo Radio/maneuver Confidence Exercise; … Planning the Go-around Lesson; ...Go-around Instruction; ...Go-around and Low Approach; … All Phases of the Go-around; ...Reasons the Go-around Is Difficult; ...Reasons For Go-around Accidents; Go-around Preparation; ......Go-around and Flare; ...Go-around Procedures; … Look Out for Go-Around Hazards; …

Why is there so much poor instruction?
It is my opinion that the problem is much the same as in most of the educational systems of the world. Teachers are expected to be dedicated to their profession, having both experience and knowledge of their subject, and willing to work for less pay than their skill and education warrants. The field of aviation is no different. When the aviation student pays thirty-two dollars per hour for instruction half of those dollars go to pay such fringe benefits as social security, workmen’s compensation, unemployment and disability insurance, as well as the employers fixed costs for space, accounting, utilities and overhead.

Your FBO flight instructor is going to be making somewhere between ten and fifteen dollars per teaching hour. Additionally the flight instructor will be expected to spend a number of hours at the office counter at minimum wage. Is there any reason to expect quality personnel or instruction except where there is independent income helping the cause. Aviation is not unique in taking advantage of the newest instructor and mechanic recruits. Future expectations allow FBO operators significant leverage.

Although there are numerous textbooks about how to perform flight maneuvers the premiere source of how to teach and how student learn is the governments Flight Instructor’s Handbook (FIH). This is the most compact source of teaching and learning theory I have ever read. Many educational texts will write chapters where the FIH uses a sentence. It contains a flying syllabus that I have used for thirty years. For the student the FIH would provide a good means of instructor evaluation in so far as formal teaching technique is concerned.

The weakness of the FIH is that teachers tend to teach the way they were taught. The CFI’s contact with the FIH did not occur until most of his own instruction was completed. Personally, I have made the FIH a standard part of my student’s required reading. Flight instruction existed long before there were textbooks. Flying texts that are most concerned with maneuvers concentrate on what the maneuver looks like and specific parameters of airspeed, pitch, and roll. Fundamental to a complex maneuver are a series of relatively simple basic control movements. It is the sequencing of these basics that creates the complete maneuver. This is as true in a level ninety degree turn as in the immelman turn.

There are instructor types who feel that ‘their way’ is the only way. To an extent I am one of these when dealing with those who would become instructors. A poor instructor has the potential of perpetuating a specific instructional defect through generations of instructors and a multiplicity of pilots. I have seen it happen.

I actually learned to fly by teaching. This is not peculiar to me, many instructors have learned the same way. I was fortunate in being a school teacher whose specialty was repairing the damage of prior teachers. I was able to discern the weaknesses in the instruction of my several instructors as well as their strengths. I became a cherry picker of the very best instructional procedures. Nothing new or created by me; just a few things that will make a great difference in the teaching and learning process.

My pet peeve is the tight hold on the yoke or stick. The potential student who takes a demo ride is usually allowed to use a full grip on the yoke. This grip is usually tight because of the sense of control it conveys. Even the design of the yoke grip implies that the full fist should be used. A simple change in this design that would inhibit the full tight grip would facilitate all flight instruction. I have flown with a few pilots who can use a full fist and still be light on the controls. For the vast majority of pilots the use of more than a finger and thumb on the yoke will result in excessive yoke pressure.

Teaching a student to fly with a light touch is not easy. It won’t become easy until the student associates the light finger touch with the use of trim and reference to the horizon. The fatigue and stress usually experienced by student in training can be significantly reduced if they will only lighten up on the yoke. Every basic flight maneuver can be more successfully flown with only one finger and the thumb than with a full grip. As a student looking for an instructor a well worded question in this area could make a significant difference in how well you learn to fly. The most difficult part of learning to fly IFR for many pilots is to unlearn the VFR tight grip which absolutely will not work for IFR.

My next concern is related to making sure that the student knows the what and why of an instructional sequence. We have started working on landings from the very beginning. Landings don’t begin around lesson six or seven, they begin in learning to fly the basics. If the basics are not firmly in place along with ground reference skills, any pattern operations are sure to expose deficiencies. The student must be made to understand and expect to attain reasonable mastery of the basics before doing landings. It is inefficient and wasteful to try to teach the basics of pattern operations along with landings.

Lastly, I feel that every student should be fore-warned that certain aspects of flying will require a series of lessons because of the complexities involved. Radio procedures come immediately to mind. If your airport has only one runway and limited departure/arrival possibilities the variations are limited. Parallel or intersecting runways quadruple the possibilities. The student should be prepared before engine start for each arrival and departure and well as the effect of wind changes. The cockpit is a terrible classroom. Do the teaching and practice before entering the airplane. If necessary write out the procedures to read. In the airplane prior to each initial radio contact, practice until it comes out in one smooth flow of words without punctuation.

An Instructional Learning Experience in Two Parts
Inadvertently, I caused another student to quit flying recently. I should have found another way to show that the present program was not doing the job. I wonder how many other students who in the process of changing or comparing instructors just give up learning to fly. What is the proper professional approach when a student is being gouged.

I feel it important to tell the group what I found. Not so much as criticism of the other instructor as for letting those of the group know of the little things you should be looking for in your own instruction. There are many different ways to do the basics of flying. Just because what you do works does not mean you are doing what is best for the airplane or for your proficiency as a pilot.

The story is in two parts.
The first day
Student was dissatisfied with progress being made. Total time 25 hours in C-172. Phoned and ask to go flying. We went flying for 1.1 hobbes hours.

On our first flight, by agreement, I was not to make corrections or comments but, rather, was to keep track of performance as it applied to the four basics of climb, level, descent and turns. I assigned 90 degree turns, slow flight with and without flaps, and power on and off stalls along with flight to an uncontrolled airport to which the student had been eight times.

The preflight was a thing to behold. The student had a pre-printed checklist on which one out of every three items did not apply to the particular aircraft or to the planned flight. In the cockpit every required and reference paper was checked. Once out of the cockpit the checklist was placed on the ground. The student carried a screwdriver and ‘tightened’ any number of screws during the preflight. Every control rod, counter-weight, antenna, and inspection plate was physically touched for security. The tires were inspected through the air-valve door of the wheel farings. This could well have been a pre-purchase inspection. Forty-five minutes later we entered the cockpit.

The aircraft key was on a ring along with at least twenty-five other keys. It had been left in the magneto switch during the preflight. I intervened prior to start to show that the key could be on a magneto and be still be removed (it shouldn’t) and that the bunch of keys could turn off the engine in turbulence. The engine start went well except for the over-priming on a warm day. The student taxied only with the brakes. Plane is a Cessna 172. Even so, student had never made a pivot turn using brakes and power.

The student obtained a clearance to taxi but was assigned an unfamiliar runway. With assistance we arrived in the middle runup area with no room for another aircraft where four normally fit. We do not face the wind and actually encroach on the taxiway. Student asks me to point out the runway. I had previously indicated that we would depart to the East. Student needed help to construct the departure call-up and request. Left the runup area without clearing the final approach path. Takeoff was more of a hop-off than a lift off with no correction for the crosswind. Student flies with a full but twisted grip on the yoke and, when holding the throttle, uses a full grip around the throttle knob.

The turn to the East was made after several head turns and bobs in all directions including peering around the window posts. The resulting self induced vertigo must have influenced the variations in bank angle and airspeed. There were scattered clouds at 1300 feet. Student was confused as to the FAR cloud clearances required and that we had control over what happened. Student complained about the control pressures in climb. I had pointed out during preflight that the previous pilot had left the trim tab far off neutral. This had not been corrected prior to takeoff. Climb speed was maintained once the trim was adjusted.

The student was given a leveling off altitude. Student leveled off and reduced the power to 2100 rpm. No trim was used. C-172 was proceeding at low cruise. During level off about 200 feet had been gained. Altitude was lost by reducing power. I asked for a series of left and right turns. Every turn was preceded by no fewer that three or four head turns and bobs followed by erratic bank angles and altitudes. Student made the turns but had difficulty timing the leveling off so that the desired heading coincided with wings level.

Going to slow flight took a relatively long time with more than a couple of hundred feet change in altitude. The process consisted of slightly reducing the power and waiting for the airplane to slow down. Use of trim required instructor’s suggestion. Student was able to reduce power and lower flaps but required coaching for power application and trim. On recovery, student was unfamiliar with milking up the flaps.

We simulated two landings at altitude where the student would pull carburetor heat at mid-field, do the pre-landing, reduce power to 1500, flip the trim once or twice, slow to 70 knots, add 10 and then 20 degrees of flap and then slow to 65 knots on final. All student’s landings had been made with 20 degrees of flap. The go-arounds were done with full power followed by dramatic pitch up and concurrent loss of airspeed. Student had to be reminded to bring up flaps.

Because of the time involved in the preflight it was necessary to return the club plane. We flew back over a route that the logbook showed had been flown no fewer than eight times. The student got the ATIS after listening four or five times but was unable to give a reference point on the ground for call-up. I assisted in the call-up by having it written down to read. The base entry required referencing a two mile base reporting point. The point involved can be used by all three of the main runway directions. Student had heard of it but did not know where it was.

Instructor coached student into the base entry, the two mile report, the addition of flaps, and even the turn to final. The landing was anti-climatic because I had the student leave 1200 rpm on in the flare.

Return to our parking space consisted of a wide sweep with the left wing as close to an adjacent aircraft as could be judged before turning for alignment with the space. This procedure is, in my experience, probably the major cause of minor aircraft damage. Reason: Students copying the bad example of other pilots.

The prior instructor had nurtured an emotional attachment. They were both divorced with kids. Couldn’t match that. My wife won’t let me have a girl friend and a divorce means I have to take the kids. Who wants to be a single parent with 40 year-old kids.

Second day
The next day we made the same flight on which I actually taught the lesson, prepared the student, rehearsed the radio work, and came back with an enthused student who then quit flying. I have not initiated any contact to find out just why.

I met the student at the flight line. The plane was late in getting back. I walked and talked the student through all of the flight maneuvers that we had done the previous day. I discussed and showed the student a new way to move the trim by the use of the fore finger tip instead of by pinching the trim wheel. I explained the advantage of making 30-degree banks as requiring a lower level of attention from any other bank. We would later do a demonstration series of left and right level 30-degree banked 360s hands off.

We walked through the pattern of the uncontrolled airport and rehearsed the radio procedures. Everything is being tape recorded. We walked through the course reversal process and how the sum of the digits of any given heading would equal the sum of the digits at the 90, 180, and 270 degree points of the heading indicator. If the reader does not understand this look carefully at a heading indicator with any number set to the top. When the plane returned, we reviewed how the trim wheel would be moved with the finger tip. The same finger and tip would be used to index the throttle movements and settings.

We reviewed the clearing process and how making the process both visual and verbal was important and how the best way to see on repeated no-pause turns was to always clear to the raised wing. We would level off by first moving the trim, holding heading and altitude while the plane accelerated to 100 knots and then reducing the power to 2450. We would avoid all altitudes of even thousands or five hundreds when below 3000 feet AGL. We would be using the half-angle bank recovery method until reasonable accuracy was acquired. We would practice the course reversal before over-flying the uncontrolled airport.

The two different slow-flight procedures were done as dry runs. From level cruise we would reduce the power to 1700, which decreased to 1500 during deceleration, hold heading and altitude while trimming all the way to the stop for sixty knots before adding power to 1800 rpm. 30 degree banks could be made at a level altitude with the addition of 100 rpm. Recovery was made with the use of full power and the rapid removal of trim while holding heading and altitude. Power was reduced to 2450 on reaching 100 knots and fine trim used for hands-off. Full flap slow flight was to be accomplished by first reducing power to 1500 while holding heading and altitude until airspeed reached the white arc. At that time full flaps would be applied while holding heading and altitude. With full flaps, full power would be applied and one or more turns of trim would be used to maintain 50 knots hands-off. Recovery would be done by applying full power, milking off flaps while maintaining heading and altitude until Vy was reached. At Vy the flaps would be fully raised and trim pressure removed while climb at Vy was maintained.

I proceeded to tape record my recommendations as to how the preflight process could be expedited and time reduced to ten or 15 minutes. The ignition key was placed on the fuel selector pedestal instead in the ignition. The flaps were only lowered partially, as a battery saving procedure, while still allowing full inspection of the flap mechanism. We checked the aircraft with a minimum of retraced movements. The left wing chain was removed first. The wing tiedown chains would laid out so that they would show where the tires should be when the plane was returned. Movement and security of the wing controls and attachment points are visually confirmed. Left fuel sump is drained and sump cup placed on right seat where it will be available for draining the right wing sump and engine sump as required. The fuel caps are removed, fuel level confirmed by touch and the caps secured and aligned with airflow. Shimmy damper is checked for security and the chrome strut wiped clean of abrasive dirt. Alternator belt is checked for proper tension by turning belt 90 degrees between two fingers. This may also be done by getting 1/2 inch flexing with moderate finger pressure.

I recorded a checklist start procedure that was more specific for the aircraft and the flight as the student proceeded through the start procedure. Student will bring checklist in scratch form so that it can be amended. There will be at least five revisions before the list is ready for lamination. The final checklist will be specific for the aircraft and the pilot.

The student wanted to get the ATIS before start to save hobbes time. I went along with that but demonstrated how all the essential information could be logically placed in the four quadrants of a + sign. I stressed that it was most economical to learn to listen well enough to get the ATIS the first time. Prior to entering the plane I had the student make a guess as to the wind direction and velocity by reading the wind sock. We started the engine by using my taped checklist and priming only with two pumps of the throttle and using the fore finger to set 1/8 inch of throttle for 800 rpm. Next we rehearsed the radio call until it came out without punctuation. This time the active runway was familiar to the student but we practiced the call to go to the smaller runway. Student had never taken off or landed on a smaller runway. My question was, "Would you rather use the small runways with an instructor or by yourself?" I assisted in the taxi route but insisted that the lines be followed using no brakes and only the spring loading coming off the rudder pedals and plenty of anticipation. Taxiing went beautifully. Yoke position for wind was uncertain. That will come with time. We are #2 in the runup area but we finish the control check and runup first so I advised ground that we will taxi to the hold bar and contact tower there.

I had gone over some study sheets with the student about departures one of which was the 270. The student was curious about the 270 so during the runup time I had rehearsed and diagrammed the 270 departure that we would be making. We had made a point to face the final approach corridor while making our call and request to the tower. Everything went as planned.

While waiting for the airplane to get back, I had described the Dutch roll as to training purpose and relation to the crosswind landing. As we climbed out I demonstrated the roll with the student on the controls with me. The rolls were continued by the student with me advising for rudder application and anticipation. We did this the first time for only a couple of minutes.

The leveling off began as the day before but I intervened and had the nose leveled and trim for level applied at the same time. Power was not reduced to 2450 until reaching 100 knots. Surprise! The plane is in level flight, hands off.

After the second or third try, the turns were made with rudder sufficient to keep the ball centered. I coached the recovery lead of half the bank angle. Student occasionally forgot to clear or to verbalize the clearing. As part of this review I had the student enter a 30-degree bank put in two buttons of trim and then fly using only the rudder. We did this in two 360s both left and right. Surprise, it works.

As the day before, we went through slow flight with and without flaps. This time the student was coached progressively through the use of trim and power. My comment the day before was that the student was working too hard in flying the airplane. The reaction to the slow flight today was that everything seemed so easy. We did practice the full flap slow flight recovery until it was right. This is a necessary go-around skill. No time for stalls, today.

Again we simulated landings, this time using the runway direction most likely at the uncontrolled airport near by. On the previous day I had noticed that the student used the four count system for getting 10 degrees of flap. This works quite well. The student, however, watched the flaps go down. On these simulations I had the student watch the over the nose to maintain heading, altitude and/or airspeed. Again, things were "easy".

I did an area survey of identifiable reference points and the student did quite well. Part of the lesson in this instance was to have the student locate a specific small city. Student couldn’t. The reasons? We were right over it. Good lesson. I asked the student to point to our destination airport. Wrong by 90 degrees.

We rehearsed, the radio calls for unicom and traffic from our present position and for our arrival over the airport. Student had been to this airport according to the logbook five or six times. Surprise, student was unaware that airport had a windsock and its location. Heading there after our initial radio call to traffic, I remembered that we had not practiced course reversals. Since I had planned our arrival to take us over the field outbound on the 45 we were well placed to practice the reversals. We did two successive, one to the right and the other to the left. The student knowing how to do the course reversal makes the process of safely determining the active runway from over the field and the proper 45 entry "easy".

Student missed a radio call by an aircraft giving away the active. I had student query the frequency. Frequency quite active from other fields but verification of active finally made so that student could plan arrival. Flew outbound on the 45 made the course reversal and talked the student through the previously rehearsed radio calls. Coached student through the prelanding, power reduction, trim, flaps, and airspeed through the landing. Cleared the runway, taxied back, and coached student through clearing turn and departure call. Student pleased with landing. Keeps asking, Did I make the landing? Did you help?" (Well, maybe.)

On the way back I pointed out the various common call-up points in common use. The more distant ones are used by high-speed aircraft to give ATC planning time. We rehearsed the radio, call but had to write down the part that said, "...request right base will report two-mile base" (No punctuation in radio calls.) Tower responded, "Approved as requested" A winner! Student pleased. This was the same reporting point used yesterday with a different runway.

Another aircraft was arriving as we were so by happenstance we were asked to widen out and land on the small runway. Student exhausted but pleasantly satisfied with the flight. Instructor tired too...forgot to change to ground frequency when told to follow another aircraft into parking area. Student tries, but fails to make a smooth return to the parking place. Next time. Total time 1.3.

Pilot who had returned plane late for us had dropped his wallet under the right seat. I called the pilot while the student tied the plane down. We went to the parking lot and waited for him to arrive. I went over a printout of material that would allow the student to understand and improve the greatest weakness that I had observed. Radio procedures and area familiarization. If you don’t know where you are, you won’t know what to say.

The dangers of giving flying advice
Learning to fly well requires that you make some conceptual changes in what you perceive as safety. The safety parameters of every day activities, including driving an automobile, lose validity when the third dimension of flying is added. It is this adjustment, or rather, lack of adjustment by student pilots that creates confusing conflicts in the perception and the reality of safe flying. Some of this is because of the physical differences between airplane models but most of it is the mind-set the individual has toward where the hazards of flying reside.

Nearly 50% of all aircraft accidents occur while taxiing. You are far more likely to damage an aircraft by running into another aircraft than by any other means. Thankfully, you are not likely to suffer personal injury. Why should this be so? Taxiing or parking an airplane is not like driving an automobile. The binocular perception of clearance fails very near wing-tip distance. The combination of braking and power use is quite different from that of an automobile. The control of turning radius and speed requires considerable practice before an airplane can be positioned smoothly where you want it. Safety is compromised every time an airplane fails to conserve space for the other guy in the run-up area. In terms of safety, skill, and conservation of space, taxiing is the last ‘flying’ skill mastered. A very small proportion of taxiing accidents are directly related to yoke position but these accidents do tend to do significant damage. Any time delay in establishing the proper yoke position can have serious consequences. Safety suggestion: Always taxi as though you had 30 knot winds.

The way an aircraft moves on to the runway is a safety consideration. You often see low-wing aircraft just dart right out at an angle and depart. Good visibility except for the short approach plane on a base behind you. What is the harm for the low-wing pilots making the base clearing turns commonly practiced by the high-wingers? Being cleared to cross a runway or takeoff by ATC in the face of oncoming traffic makes you rely on your reality over ATC’s perception. Make That big S-turn to clear both close in base and final before taking the runway. the life you save may be your own.

Safety in flying, includes the care you take of the airplane, it is a safety measure to get into the air as slow as is normal and then to climb at Vy until at least pattern altitude. I have flown recently with two different pilots from two different instructors who perceive safety as being more related to being able to see over the nose at all times, rather than getting the safety insurance that comes with altitude. Perception vs. reality. These same two pilots had relatively weak rudder skills and are unlikely to acquire them unless some remedial exercises are programmed. Safety suggestion: Dutch rolls.

The next area of safety is the making of turns. ATC would like to know for certain if an aircraft is turning or just flying wing low. The pilot who favors shallow turns for comforts sake is prolonging the blind exposure time for any significant turn. The 30 degree bank is an ideal compromise for pattern turns and most other airwork. It only increases the G-force by 15/100s and greatly reduces the blind time. High-wing or low-wing you have a blind area in the turn. By making your initial clearing turns to the left you reduce the probability of being hit from behind. Why? A following aircraft is supposed to be passing to your right, but you already knew that.

When in level cruise within 3000’ above mean sea level (MSL) how do you decide on your altitude. Wantabet that the vast majority of you fly at even thousands or 500s. Wantabet, that if you make a practice of flying westbound at 2800 and eastbound at 2700 you will be amazed at the number of planes that whiz by just above and below you. What about level cruise above 2000’ hills? You will be legal all the way up to 5000’ MSL flying in any direction at any altitude. Wantabet, a very high proportion of the planes will be at 3500’ and 4500’. Wantabet, your safest altitude west bound will be one of the even 100s over 3000 such as 3200, 3800, 4200. 4800. Eastbound use odd hundreds like 3300 or 4700. No altitude will be perfect but some are somewhat safer than others.

I have had pilots tell me how ‘careful’ they are when flying. Being careful is again a variation between perception and reality. We see similar thinking on the freeways. Slow is safer??? In flying you much be aware of where you are, where other planes are likely to be, and whether they are where they say they are. It’s called situational awareness. A pilot in a strange situation does not know what he doesn’t know. Prior planning might have helped the awareness and orientation. Use the radio. Stay high. Use lights. Get help. Use standard procedures. The standard procedures are designed to maintain separation and order in the airspace.

A relatively high number of accidents are caused by weather. Every student pilot is made overly aware of the hazards associated with weather flying. The net result is that students usually wait for the weather parts of the year before learning to fly. Fact is, it is better to learn to fly during the bad weather parts of the year. The student learns to have weather experiences and make weather decisions under qualified guidance. The student should be exposed to rain, clouds, fog, and winds under controlled conditions that expose both the hazards and the options. A pilot should not have his first SVFR experience without knowledgeable assistance. You can never fully predict the timing of weather. You must be exposed, in training, to the making of weather making decisions both on the ground and in the air. The relative safety of such training is beyond doubt. Ever wonder why so many students quit flying after one year? They’re smart enough to realize that their training was not complete. You don’t know what you don’t know and it is relatively unsafe to be your own instructor.

Being ‘careful’ is a very poor substitute for knowledge. Again perception vs. reality. Safety is a knowledge factor. Some procedures are safer than others. Flying without knowledge is unsafe. Most pilots intuitively recognize when they are under stress in a flight situation. If you find certain conditions causing you stress, you are relatively unsafe. This is not something where you want to experiment, fumble, and bumble until you work your way out. Certain deficiencies in knowledge are due to careless disregard for procedures and rules. Other deficiencies in knowledge are due to a pilot’s inability to accept the reality of certain safety measures when in conflict with personal perceptions. Finally, safety deficiencies can be due to negligence. Not having a chart or flashlight available are examples. ATC and other pilots may cover for your ignorance this time. As in other aspects of flying, the worst thing that can happen to an ignorant pilot is to ‘get away’ with it. Flying is..."terribly unforgiving of any carelessness, incapacity or neglect."

Memes You Should Know
The word meme is a descriptive term coined by psychologist Richard Dawkins. Meme rhymes with gene. A meme can exist as a word, a phrase, or a complex idea in the memory. Memes can be benign, useful, clever, dangerous, hateful, or deadly. Memes work and live just like viruses. Unable to survive on its own, a meme virus must imbed itself into a host’s emotional and intellectual psyche to live and propagate. To make itself contagious, a virus executes certain instructions that cause the host’s memory to activate infection-spreading activities.

A meme is not a virus in the true sense of the word. It does not destroy its host. Instead it is a contagious information pattern that replicates by triggering the memory. The meme is a behavior altering activator that drives a recipient host to spread it on to other hosts. It is a snippet of information that survives by infecting host humans. It embeds a copy of itself into the human memory bank and saves itself for future use. When a situation arises that triggers the memory bank, the pseudo virus meme is executed by being implanted into another host or hosts.

The meme cannot be contagious or propagated without convincing the host that to spread it will raise his status in some way. The psyche of the new host expects to gain in status, acceptance, and knowledge. This is done first by becoming a host and secondly by planting the seed into others. A meme is an opportunistic, self-replicating idea that tricks its new host into being a willing participant. Sometimes only of few transitions take place as among acquaintances, often a few thousand times when published as a letter in a magazine, or worse many thousands of times when posted on the internet. It works by finding hosts with inability or unwillingness to understand how a meme, as a piece of information, can be spread.

Like a dirty joke, a new diet, a political rumor, or an April Fool news bite, a meme replicates on and on. A meme of any kind acquires a life and existence of its own, ever growing and spreading despite any reasoned criticism. The more bizarre the meme the more likely it is to be implanted and replicated. Any warnings that it is dangerous, foolish, and even deadly will not get to the source of the problem. The best cure a defective meme is to replace it with another that is more valid. More typically a meme vaccine is devised to ridicule, insult, and publicize those who would serve as hosts.

Flying Memes
The most dangerous carrier is the one who establishes relationships with potential hosts before beginning to pass on memes. It is all about the power of ideas and the growth process that all student pilots must go through. The law of primacy, which is the cornerstone of all flight instruction, states that first learned knowledge, be it an idea, an procedure, or concept will be there forever. If any of these first learned elements are defective the unlearning, relearning will require great time and effort to overcome. In fact, they may never be overcome if the meme occurrence arises during a period of stress. The flashback to the original meme can be absolute, overpowering and deadly.

Defective memes have real consequences. Defective flying memes are time-consuming to disinfect, a dangerous nuisance, or if done without ill intent a terribly misleading path. A classic example of this occurred thirty years ago. Richard Taylor, as publisher of the pocket sized Air Facts magazine, casually wrote that engine failures were most likely to occur at first power reduction. This idea, from such a valid source acquired the status of a law of engine behavior. It was repeated many thousands of times. Years later, Richard Taylor, indicated that he had made the statement with no valid data base or even experience. That ‘engine failures are most likely to occur on first power reduction’ then joined many other aviation memes. Even when refuted by Taylor and engine manufacturers as having no basis in fact. The meme’s life continues on.

In the case at issue we have someone who is vengefully serving flying students defective memes because of enforcement action taken in removing his solo flying privileges due to a deliberate violation of the Federal Air Regulations. He flew into controlled airspace without communicating or a clearance or even knowing where he was. In the process of doing this he did fly in the immediate vicinity of landing and departing commercial airliners and posed a danger to himself and hundreds of others.

It is the deliberate propagation of defective memes with the intent to disturb student learning/thought process that some degree of accountability should be assigned. When a person decides to exact retribution from the flying community for an FAA enforcement action. With a deliberate ego prestige building process of an ingratiating series of student contacts soon to be followed by one meme after another any one of which is capable of triggering the replicating spread of defective information to the innocent and unwary. The flying student has every reason to be scared that any given meme may be capable of inflicting damage. We are seeing a deliberate spreading of defective memes on the internet. Anyone giving flying advice should be doing so, even from ignorance, never with the intent to cause harm. To spread a meme while fully aware that the defect has a very deadly capability, should come under the ‘abuse’ terms of internet use.

Most student pilots believe that their knowledge of flying is able to analyze and detect a meme of questionable value. Depending on the status of the transferring host, a meme has a greater of lesser chance of both transferring, infecting, and replicating itself through a new host. A defective flying meme is a tremendous drain on human resources. Knowingly to transmit the AIDS virus is a criminal act. It is no less criminal to knowingly place into the flight training/learning environment a meme that can cause a pilot’s death.

This is currently happening and being allowed to happen on the internet with the concurrence of those able to prevent it. By providing shelter and carte blanc to continue a nefarious program you have achieved the rank of an accomplice. Allowing free rein to do this on the internet makes the internet all the more vulnerable to outside control. I call it irresponsible complicity.

The Why of Poor Landings
Of late there have been a number of students who have indicated that just prior to the checkride that they begin to have difficulty making landings. There are many extraneous factors beyond the basics of airspeed, configuration, and attitude that can cause sudden loss of landing skill. I will try to come up with a few and hope that others will fill out the picture from their experience by posting on rec.aviation.student.

Begin with the pilot who is supposed to be 80+% responsible for all problems. Stress is a factor that can be very insidious in its ability to affect performance both physical and mental. A certain amount of stress is good but the individual has no way of knowing when the stress cup runneth over. Fatigue, sleep depravation, nutrition, and chemicals can have effects on both reaction and anticipation flight performance. As often as not it is an unasked question that is the source of a problem. An unasked question can be a matter of knowledge, emotion, or just personality. If your landings are not what they should be, begin your search for reasons by checking yourself out. Begin by asking questions of yourself and your instructor.

The set up your arrival to a runway makes considerable difference in the adjustments you must make. The standard 45 degree to downwind entry gives you the best opportunity to anticipate any adjustments that may be required. The straight-in requires a higher degree of approach slope perception than other landings that keep you closer to the runway. There are more adjustments to being high on the glide slope than when low. High means you can put in maximum flaps for conditions, reduce power, and even slow-up. Full power is the best universal correction for being low. Knowing how to get to there from here even in the pattern is a skill that comes easily to some but must be acquired in steps by most.

You must become familiar with reading wind directions and velocities. Begin by comparing your estimate with the ATIS or AWOS wind. After a few tries you will get pretty close. Now look to the windsock and note how it is performing. Relate the stiffness of the windsock to wind velocity but become familiar with the differences that exist since there are windsocks designed to become stiff at different velocities. Reading the wind effects on your aircraft is an essential skill. Low level drift effects in light winds are the hardest for students to detect and correct. Work on 'seeing' the wind.

The variables of weather can have dramatic effects on even the most experienced pilot. The first hot day of summer shows how quickly a flaring plane can run out of ground effect. The calm wind often makes ATC keep a noise abatement runway in use often with a light tailwind. On such occasions everyone lands long, at least on the first try. The strong wind right down the runway over 15 knots require that the pilot make many anticipating adjustments on the downwind, base and final. Failure to stay close and high will require full power to make interception of the glideslope possible. Don't be concerned about being high in such a wind. Use the wind; don't let the wind use you.

The crosswind requires that the pilot make an initial estimate as to how he plans to configure the aircraft. Use the minimum flaps for the wind and your experience. The less flaps the easier will be a go-around. As in all landings, the go-around should be the first option when things are not going well. Basic skills for the crosswind, in addition to airspeed and configuration , are the Dutch roll and side slips. Always fly a crabbed heading into the wind to achieve a much wider downwind any time the crosswind is blowing you toward the runway. Failure to do so means that you will be exposing yourself to illusions conducive to the stall-spin accident. If you are unable to keep the nose parallel with the runway using the rudder on final, you have winds that have exceeded the crosswind rudder control required. You have the option of increasing the approach speed or power so as to improve rudder authority. The side slip is used to keep the aircraft aligned with the extended centerline of the runway. Basic skill is the Dutch roll.

Some difficulties related to the sudden onset of poor landings have to do with being exposed to unfamiliar runways or pattern direction. If you have learned to land by relating specific points and altitudes in the pattern direction at a particular runway, this knowledge will not transfer readily to another airport or runway. The size of runway presents an optical perception that can confuse the most experienced pilot. For years I used a beautifully numbered and painted model airplane runway to confound my students when doing simulated emergencies. Use your charts and guides to get runway dimensions before taking off. Required information by FAR, you know. The normal tendency is to fly much closer to small and unfamiliar runways. Try flying twice as far away as you think you should and you will be about right.

The unfamiliar airport and runway at night is exceptionally difficult since there are no visual references other than the runway lighting system. If at all possible visit an airport in the daytime before going there for night landings. The illusions of size, layout, slope, and taxiways are compounded at night. Don't try for the full stall landing at night. Accurate depth perception at night is most difficult.

The last area of student difficulty is the human ability to focus on one factor of concern to the elimination of all other factors. Tunnel vision they call it. Under stress a pilot concentrates on an area of concern such as, "Will the airport stay where it is?" As a result of this focus such unimportant things as power reduction, trim, altitude, heading, flaps, airspeed, and aircraft control get out of sequence and position. Flying is a skill that requires multitasking capability. The pilot coming in to land must have division of attention to all the factors above along with awareness of the big picture that comprises the runway, airport pattern, and other traffic. Doesn't sound easy, and isn't. Just necessary. You are not ready to solo until you can do all of the above, talk/listen on the radio and have enough emotional and intellectual energy left over to carry on a side conversation much as you would in an automobile.

It takes some pilots longer to reach solo than others. The reasons are usually hidden in weaknesses of the basic skills of aircraft control, situational awareness, misconceptions, or preconceptions. There are always solutions, they just sometimes take longer to find.

Calm Wind Landings
I have read that world-wide the average wind has a velocity of about twelve knots. At each end of this reference are wind extremes that can and do cause pilots pattern and landing difficulties. One extreme the strong winds are expected while the other extreme, the so called calm wind, has unexpected capabilities. A student should be exposed early to runways of varied widths and lengths in both left and right patterns Each of these extremes offer specific problems that can be solved only by a varied exposure. Once exposed a pilot will better avoid problems by using the skills of anticipation he has acquired.

Last week, as I walked up to the plane, I momentarily stopped and felt the wind. It was very light but could be perceived as a tail-wind for the noise abatement runway currently in use. I had my student, sitting in the plane, get out and asked him to feel the wind. What followed was an analysis of what happens when a wind is classified as "calm". Even more importantly, we covered all the effects for the even greater probability that the wind would be "light and variable". We did some watching of aircraft making their landings. Landings were consistently long on the 5000’ runway. Also, the landings were usually off to the side of the center line.

On average, landings are made into runways with the twelve knot relatively constant velocity and direction winds. Most of our practice and landings are into such winds plus or minus a knot or two. This experience has taught us to make the adjustments to the pattern and aircraft configuration required to produce a satisfactory landing. "Calm winds" do not provide the clues the inexperienced pilot has come to expect.

The light tail wind will increase the ground speed and shallow the approach angle. The usual changes in flaps, power, and airspeed fail to produce the desired results. This is caused by the fact that, while the tail wind may exist from 600 feet down to 100 feet the winds higher and lower will be from different directions and velocities. Even the tail wind will vary in velocity on final. The momentary truly calm wind compounds the difficulties.

The solution I offered my student was to extend the down wind leg of the pattern by twenty to thirty seconds any time the ATIS, wind sock, or AWOS indicates a calm wind condition. This adjustment allowed for the more shallow approach angle caused by the increased ground speed. The student was on a good approach but a new "calm wind" problem arose. In the flare the aircraft would begin a barely perceptible drift off the center line.

It seems that the intensity of the landing itself often so focuses the attention of the student that he/she is completely unaware of drift unless it is either pronounced or occurring just before touchdown. The likelihood or probability of this condition occurring must be pre-registered into the mind of the pilot any time the "calm" condition exists. With the runway out of sight in a proper flare the pilot must get his clues from the peripheral vision and the horizon. This takes both practice and experience especially in calm conditions. A failure to correct even the slightest side load on the landing gear is potentially very harmful to the aircraft since this is the weakest area of landing gear geometry. The instructor who does not foresee this area of landing difficulty is not properly anticipating an area of difficulty.

A few day prior to this flight another student and I had winds at 23 knots with higher gusts 40 degrees off the runway heading. Once again I proceeded to talk and walk through the headings for both left and right traffic that would produce an appropriate pattern. Just to get into the plane and start doing landings in these conditions would have been most inappropriate. We were transitioning the student from a C-150 to a C-172. This was his third C-172 flight but his first since getting his license.

In the pattern walk through, I gave the student the needed opportunity to see that some operational adjustments would be required. The initial takeoff would cause us to gain altitude over less distance so that our crosswind would need to be flown angled well into the wind and extended somewhat to create a wider downwind. The turn downwind would need to be angled away from the runway since it was necessary to fly a somewhat wider downwind leg both because of being in right traffic and because the wind direction would produce a an effectively shorter base leg due to a higher ground speed. The power reduction would begin before the numbers and even more angle into the wind would be taken to counter the increased wind effect at a slower airspeed. The wider downwind would give us a base leg sufficiently long to allow adjustments in the length and height of our final approach. The instructional emphasis here is that the pilot’s control over the final approach must begin on the downwind leg if not sooner.

Under these or similar conditions the landing must be considered an option not a necessity. The go-around is
the first choice option if the stabilized final approach cannot be established. Flying the same runway in left hand traffic in the same wind conditions requires the pilot to make a shorter crosswind to help counter the wind’s efforts to drift the aircraft away from the runway. The downwind leg must be angled toward the runway. The base leg again must be sufficient to allow adjustments to the height and length of the final approach course.

The instructional process for landings is not complete unless it exposes the student to the wind conditions
described above. The opportunity to fly both left and right patterns in the same crosswind conditions is
essential. Variety of pattern and conditions can be created by going to controlled airports with multiple
runways. ATC will honor requests for crosswind runways and different patterns when traffic conditions allow. Changing the time of day is a good way to obtain varied wind velocity.

Crosswind Landing
To begin with we must assume that the student pilot has flown the pattern in such a manner as to arrive on the final approach with appropriate flaps for wind angle and velocity, on glide slope, and on airspeed.

The basic training exercise for the crosswind landing is the Dutch roll. The presumption is that mastery of the Dutch roll has prepared the pilot to keep the aircraft parallel to the runway at all times on final, while maintaining runway alignment with left-right side slips as required. My preference is to maintain a constant airspeed regardless of the slip. This means that the greater the slip the greater the forward yoke pressure.

In the ideal approach the wind would remain as a constant. This would mean that the slip angle and required rudder would remain constant. It doesn’t happen. The wind is a constantly changing approach factor both as to angle and velocity. This means that the pilot must constantly adjust aileron, rudder, and yoke to maintain a stabilized approach with constant heading, runway alignment and airspeed. The essential skill is the previously mentioned Dutch roll and anticipation of changing conditions before radical adjustments are required. I very much recommend that extended straight in approaches as a planned training exercise to give smoothness to the control applications.

The wind velocity usually decreases during the descent so that less cross control application is required as the flare approaches. The actual flare is much as with any other landing but since generally less than full flaps will be applied greater care must be used to avoid ballooning. At this point full attention must be paid to prevent any sideways movement of the aircraft. Landing gear are exceptionally strong and resilient but they are most subject to damage when side loads are applied.

If everything goes well the touchdown is made at minimum speed on the upwind main wheel with the nose wheel and downwind main still flying. This configuration can be bothersome to passengers and should be explained as normal before the landing. The wing low need not be of concern if the aircraft is kept going parallel to the runway center line. As the aircraft decelerates the yoke should be held ever more into the wind and back. The downwind tire will touch to be followed by the nose wheel. Use rudder as required to hold a straight course down the runway after the first touchdown. Correctly done you are now in the proper configuration for taxiing on the runway.

Other Opinions:
Opinion
There are two distinct techniques used:
1. Keeping the longitudinal axis of the aircraft aligned with the centerline of the runway and maintaining a certain bank-angle to compensate for the crosswind; and
2. Maintaining a crab angle on approach, and applying some rudder just before touchdown to get the aircraft aligned with the runway.

Opinion
Technique #2 actually consists of crabbing into the wind and remaining coordinated for most of the final approach and then converting to technique #1 just prior to touchdown. The trick is in judging just how much slip is required to eliminate any sideways motion at touchdown.

Opinion
Practice makes perfect, but don’t get in over your head. Start with a modest, steady crosswind and work up as you become proficient. Don’t practice alone, make sure your instructor is there to give advice and keep you out of trouble.

Opinion
Sometimes the simplest explanations are the best.

From a former instructor
Use the ailerons to compensate for drift away from the centerline, and the rudder to keep yourself aligned parallel to the runway. With this in mind, you’ll be using the controls automatically to compensate without realizing it. Like driving a car; do you consciously think of how much pressure to apply to the brakes to stop in a certain manner, or how far to turn the wheel to turn into another street? Probably not; you just do "whatever it takes". Of course the landing/driving analogy breaks down when one considers that you can always see which way the road will go when driving, but you can only react to gusts when landing. But that makes it fun.

Opinion
Put aileron into the wind with opposite rudder during the final approach. If strong winds are present then use a no-flap or partial flap approach. It’s that simple. Don’t make it more complicated than it is.

Opinion
Wish I could have made it that simple and easy for the students I have taught over the past thirty years. Seems that students have trouble with all the variables of airspeed, wind velocity, bank angle and rudder application. Of all standard flight maneuvers the crosswind landing requires the greatest variety of contradictory control applications.

Opinion
The trick is to separate in your mind the function of the controls. Once you turn on finally, the rudder has one purpose - keeping the nose aligned parallel with the runway, regardless of the position of the runway centerline. The ailerons have just one job, maintaining position over the centerline.

Opinion
Every aircraft is certified as having a demonstrated crosswind capability. This is determined by the winds available at the time of certification. An average pilot should be capable of landing in such conditions. As crosswinds exceed this demonstrated minimum a pilot should minimize flaps and increase approach speed. The maximum aircraft capability is exceeded when full control input is not capable of maintaining directional control even at increased speeds.

Crosswind Takeoff
The crosswind takeoff requires some timing skills that are not present in other landings. On full power application the yoke is held full over into the wind but not back as in normal conditions. The intention is to hold the up-wind wheel on the ground while remaining firmly enough on the ground to prevent any sideways skipping of the aircraft. As the ailerons become effective only enough is used to prevent side movement.

Once the speed reaches within five knots of your normal rotation speed a combined series of events should occur.
The yoke is leveled and moved relatively abruptly to ‘pop’ the aircraft off the runway. Once off the runway the plane is held into ground effect and crabbed into the wind with rudder application. The intention is to allow the plane to accelerate quickly while maintaining runway alignment. Unlike the landing, no effort is made to keep the aircraft parallel to the runway centerline.
Opinion
The rate of (aileron) reduction depends on the absolute magnitude of the crossword component and the developing forward speed.

Opinion
I have a different viewpoint. I do not want anyone that I have taught to arrive at a destination with crosswinds that they have not been exposed to.

Opinion
My suggestion to you is to get with your instructor on the windiest day you can and practice x-wind takeoffs and landings to determine what your maximum capability may be.

Generic Landing
The landing climaxes at the point of touchdown but will not end there. Furthermore, the beginning of a particular
landing occurred at some past landing where a lesson was learned when the pilot was high, low, fast, slow or out
of control. The mistake of the past is avoided, corrected and blended into a successful landing. Not perfect, just
satisfactory.

The satisfactory landing begins with aircraft control. Aircraft control is the pilot’s ability to perform the four basics of climb, descent, level, and turns within a predetermined tolerance level. Aircraft control also includes the ability to use the four basics to position the aircraft in the landing pattern within another predetermined tolerance level of distance and altitude. The last element of aircraft control has to do with configuration. Wind and terrain are used by the pilot to select the optimum configuration for the situation. The so-called stabilized approach to landing begins far before turning final. The amount of tolerance allowed by an instructor is a variable based on how close you are to doing solo landings. In the landing practice pattern the takeoff and climb to downwind can be just a precise as any other part of the pattern. The lift off occurs at Vso or slightly higher in crosswind conditions. Climb is delayed until Vy unless Vx is a requirement. Runway alignment is maintained with crab as appropriate with at least one visual check around 300 feet. Takeoff ranks #2 behind landings as a source of accidents. You can’t achieve a successful landing without first making a successful takeoff.

The turn to crosswind is initiated after visually clearing the turn area and selection of a visual or heading reference.
In the turn the eyes and head are not turned but are used to maintain attitude, bank and airspeed until the visual point comes into view. Very slight forward pressure is used both during entry and recovery from turns if a constant airspeed is to be maintained. At the thirty-degree point of bank, back pressure is used to maintain airspeed. All climbing turns are with coordinated controls at altitudes according to local practices at Vy. Entry and recovery from the turn bank is coordinated with anticipated rudder and aileron as required by the direction. Begin turn recoveries 15 degrees early. Left and right climbing turns are significantly different and should be practiced equally.Just where the turn to downwind occurs is usually determined by wind and terrain conditions but occasionally traffic may require turns sooner or later. The width of the downwind must be adjusted wider for any wind that blows the aircraft toward the runway and closer to prevent a wind from blowing the plane too wide. This downwind adjustment is a critical flight positioning of the pattern which can only be made with repeated exposure to varying conditions. A short base is a prelude to tragedy.

Leveling the aircraft at pattern altitude and anticipating the amount of trim required must be done according to the
downwind speed desired. There is no one best way to select this speed. My personal preference is to use level
cruise speed for several reasons. Trainers are the slowest aircraft in the air. Using a slow trainer speed downwind places unfair hardship on non-training aircraft in the pattern. The cruise speed is a familiar trim, power, and sound condition. The reduction of power at the numbers while maintaining heading and altitude gives a relatively constant key position for the base turn. Most urban airports require (request) that pattern altitudes be maintained until turning base. This technique allows each aircraft to select its pattern key position according to its performance.

There is a helpful logic behind ATC always requesting that you report a two-mile final or two-mile base. A 45-degree entry to downwind to a mile-long runway would allow a mid-field downwind turn 1/2 mile from the numbers. A 45-degree entry to downwind to a shorter runway should be made at the departure end to prevent the optical illusions that lead to close-in downwind patterns. With a half-mile to do the pre-landing before reaching abeam the numbers, another half-mile to slow down and reach the key position, still another half-mile base, and a half-mile final we have adapted the ATC two-mile base and straight-in to the basic downwind entry.

On downwind you should make a preliminary decision as to the flap configuration you will use. The POH standard is to land with full flaps if wind conditions allow. Just how you set the power, apply flaps, and trim for an airspeed is multi-task variable. Whatever you choose to do should have a consistency. Only in simulated emergency or short-short approaches should power be taken all the way off. Shock cooling the engine is a relatively dangerous practice.

Whatever the power and flap setting the trim should be adjusted for the hands-off airspeed desired. Do not accept trimmed airspeeds off the desired speed. Most trainers use the same approach speed from the key position, to base, to final, to the round-out. Beyond the trainer, aircraft will use two or three different speeds from downwind, base, and final.

One variable that often occurs in downwind is an ATC call or situation that puts you as #3 to land or a need that you extend your downwind. In both cases you initiate the slow-flight procedure immediately even before using the radio. You want to avoid getting too far from the airport if possible. You hand-fly the slowflight by using the same trim as you would have but add about 500 rpm to hold altitude and 10 degrees of flap to improve over the nose visibility. Resumption of the approach requires only reduction of power.

My preference is to reduce power to whatever setting will give me 1500 rpm when I reach the key position. At the key position I will have maintained altitude and trimmed for my base approach speed, I put in one notch of flaps hold that airspeed with forward yoke and retrim while turning base. I have learned to put in flaps, apply forward pressure, and trim without looking any place except over the nose of the aircraft. I have begun my descent and am trimmed hands-off. Once my aircraft is under control I look to see the airport. A major fault of those who lose control is mixing up their priorities.

I make most of my approach adjustments on base. I may add a second notch of flaps, fly a wider base, or one closer in. Occasionally, ATC may ask you to make an adjustment by asking that you, "square your base" or "fly directly to the runway". Regardless of what you do, do it at a constant airspeed. Only by having a constant airspeed can you develop the skills needed in determining a stabilized approach angle.

On final and on final approach airspeed I use the nose as a sight to make my high/low decisions. By aiming short of the runway a hundred feet you can become experienced in the use of ground effect. Being high offers the most
corrective options; I can add flaps to maximum for wind conditions; I can reduce power in increments of 100 rpm or more; or, I can reduce my approach speed to cover less ground for altitude lost. Runway permitting I assume normal approach speed just prior to round-out. The universal solution for being low consists of adding full power while holding approach speed for an estimated time needed to intercept normal glide path.

Other opinions to the contrary, small additions of power can cause a pilot to enter into a condition known as ‘the
constantly decelerating approach’. As the power is added, the speed drops until there is not enough power to
maintain altitude. You are behind the power curve and with the ground close by you have run out of options.
The worst thing that could happen to a low-time pilot is to ‘get away’ with additions of power that lead to the
decelerating approach. Next time you may not get away with it.

The Last Few Seconds of Flare
If only we could go back and do the last thirty seconds of every landing over again. I have written about the flare before as well as other aspects of the approach and landing before. Now I will try to touch on the myriad reasons no two landings can ever be the same. I might as well be talking about snowflakes.

Constant repetition at one airport in one pattern will not organize all the variables into a blue print fitting all other airports. Even by setting all the pilot controlled constants the uncontrollable variables will make every landing a unique experience. The purpose of landing practice should, after pilot control of airspeed is standardized, be directed toward learning to adapt to and use the variables to make safe landings.

Without regard to how they occur in the sequence or in importance we have variations of airspeed, approach angles, aircraft attitudes, power settings, power changes, density altitudes, heights of flare, smoothness of flares, ground effects both high and low, wing lengths, wing positions on aircraft, landing gears, wind velocities, wind variations, and angles, flap configurations, flare altitude, pilot anticipation, pilot reaction, pilot perspective, control effect, timing, patience, runway alignment and more.

During WWII the phenomena known as ground effect was for the first time fully studied. Ground effect occurs when ever an aircraft is within half a wing span of the surface. The actual effect is very complex but it allows an aircraft to remain aloft with less drag and less power than is possible have even slightly higher altitudes. All other variables relating to landings have influence on ground effect. The pilot’s ability to control ground effect depends on how he both anticipates and reacts to these other variables.

The closer to the ground the flare, and the greater the airspeed the more pronounced will be ground effect in causing float and ballooning. Once again variables of density altitude, wing length, wing position on aircraft, get to have their say. An aircraft with a relatively short wing may fall right through ground effect at below specific airspeeds. The same aircraft with a relatively long wing will float ...if only a slightly high airspeed is used into the flare. The flare into ground effect in the early morning will need a completely different touch in the mid-afternoon due to changes in the air density of the ground effect. A combination of a short wing, a hot day, and a low airspeed makes a landing more like a crash. A long wing, a cool day, and a high airspeed will cause you to float till tomorrow.

The airspeed, flap configuration, and approach angle to the runway is one group of variables that affect the accuracy of the landing. A constant airspeed will not bring you down to the runway at a constant angle if the wind velocity varies. The wind velocity always varies on an approach. The proper approach airspeed only allows us to flare in ground effect to bring the sink rate to zero. The flare transfers the energy of descent into forward motion in ground effect. Too slow may reduce the efficiency of ground effect. Too fast and the improved efficiency of ground effect results in either a balloon or float. The problem of the pilot is to adapt all the variables to the existing ground effect so as to accomplish an acceptable landing.

The pilot’s best opportunity for an acceptable landing is to set as many constants as he can. The easiest to acquire are those of power, attitude, airspeed, and configuration. Power is set quickly by sound and feel, then checked visually for fine adjustment. Attitude is set by knowing by predetermined trim amounts to be finely adjusted later. Airspeed is set by attitude and small trim adjustments. As configuration changes pre-determined changes in attitude and trim are made to acquire desired airspeeds. On short final we have committed ourselves to an approach angle that is best varied by small power reductions if high and timed full power changes if low.

Reaching the round-out and flare all of the constants we have acquired come into conflict with variables that will be reacted to by inexperience and anticipated by experience. You will make and are expected to make mistakes during the flare to landing. Your instructor will even create the opportunity for you to make and learn from mistakes. The importance of this phase must not be underestimated by the student. You need to learn how to deal with variations of winds, ground effects, perspective and control effects. This is not easy. It is literally impossible to recreate the same situation twice in a row. If it were possible the landing process could be taught more quickly with a greater sense of success.

We have now reached the last thirty seconds of the landing process. Each landing, good, bad, and indifferent will be a combination of reaction and anticipation the timing of which will meet with varieties of success. This is the way it has been from the beginning of aviation and will be until we have full movement simulators for small aircraft such as exist for airliners.

As in the approach, there are some new constants that can be taught and used in the last thirty seconds. My first recommendation is that you learn to develop a smooth speed increase in yoke movement that corresponds to the deceleration of the aircraft. Along with this yoke movement you want to acquire a kinesthetic (Butt/stomach) feeling, augmented by sight, for ever so slight rising and falling of the aircraft. This sense and the anticipation-reactions that you use will adjust the aircraft attitude during the last thirty seconds. You are trying to keep the aircraft at a near constant altitude above the runway. The airplane should land when it is ready; not when you want it to.

Now the variables come into conflict with your effort to keep a constant altitude. A slight difference in approach speed either fast or slow will make a significant difference on how well you anticipate or react to the ground effect. You will need exposure to both high and low approach speeds. You will learn how different speeds require different control application to achieve the equivalent result. The flap configuration must be varied according to wind conditions. More or less flap extension will make a significant difference in the lift to drag ratios that occur in the flare. You will need exposure to all landing configurations from no flaps to full flaps. You will need to make a full range of flare altitudes from high to low. You will learn when to wait, when to react, when to anticipate and most of all when to go-around.

As a student, you will never get a chance to do all the variations. You will be given the learning tools to perform basic landings safely. Only by continued exposure to the variables will you become proficient in landings. It is the variables that give students a sense of intimidation and lack of progress. Every landing will be different and only relatively good when compared to what is possible. Seek not perfect landings but safe landings.

Doing the Flare with Flair
Here goes using a C-150. With very slight changes of procedure the method can be made to fit almost any single engine aircraft.

First I must assume that you are capable of hands-off, full flap descent from 600' to 100' at a constant airspeed of 60 knots which will allow you to keep the runway numbers in view with a power setting of 1500 rpm. This is the stabilized approach often mentioned, frequently sought, and seldom achieved without adequate trim skills. You are not ready for landing practice until you can demonstrate, at altitude, a descent 500' hands-off on airspeed. In the C-150 you will be close if you are trimmed for level cruise. Pull the C.H. reduce power to 1500. Hold heading and altitude and put in full flaps at the white arc. Plane should begin a descent at 60 knots. This is the same procedure you would use in making a short approach.

With practice and experience you will learn to visually detect the 'sweet line' across the windshield that tells you that your approach is relatively high or low. A constant airspeed is essential to make this determination quickly and accurately. Being high, with the runway moving toward you, in a full flap configuration, requires that selective power reductions be used as required to stabilize and set the 'sweet line'. After full flaps and power off, your last recourse is to lower the approach speed to increase the sink rate over distance. The best practice for correcting the high approach is to use the suggested procedures while making a series of go-arounds at ever-lower altitude over the runway.

The low approach is quite deceptive in making the pilot with too little experience think just a little more power, a knot or two lower speed, or a change in pitch will salvage the situation. Being low, can most safely be corrected by using full power and a 60-knot airspeed to re-acquire the desired glide path. Practice doing this by time since visual cues will be missing. Do not re-trim during the process. Of all approach procedures, the use of full power in this manner requires the greatest anticipation and skill of application. Don’t let the nose pitch up. Practice and master the process at altitude before using on approach.

The best ground demo that I have is to lower the tail of the aircraft very slowly as you, in the pilot’s seat, very slowly bring the yoke back and up. The intent is to get the elevator full up at the same moment the tail touches the ground. During this process the student should be noting that the visual horizon remains stationary as the pitch axis rotates. A landing is an act of faith. You must believe that a good landing will result even though you can’t see the runway.

We are now down to the last hundred feet of the approach. You can now safely ignore the airspeed indicator and rely on visual and kinesthetic senses. You are entering the round-out. This is the transition from 100' to about 3 or 4 feet above the runway. You look down the runway much as you would in an automobile going 60-70 miles per hour. You already have the required visual skills. Landing is just a new application. Once you have leveled off, the round out becomes the flare. At most, use only two fingers on the yoke.

Where you look in the flare makes a great difference in the landing to follow. Look down at the ground and you will probably flare too high and give the spring gear a chance to do its thing. Focus too far and could fail to roundout and do a kangaroo-with-wings imitation until the nosewheel collapses.

There is a football skill that does transfer readily to the flare for landing flying skill. I don’t wish to imply that football players make better pilots but I do believe that they can transfer a visual skill to flying to make the better landings sooner. Football players, as a group, exercise their visual skills to be able to see straight ahead while being aware of what is occurring at the outer edges of their peripheral vision.

As a pilot you need a similar ability to see at a distance the end of the runway until the nose rises to cut off the view and at the same time you must have sensed the position of the visual horizon. As you move the yoke back and up, you are attempting to rock the aircraft on its pitch axis in such a way that the visual horizon remains constant. If the horizon seems to rise, it means that the aircraft is sinking. If the horizon seems to fall, it means that the aircraft is rising. Either of these movements can be controlled, to a degree, by moving the yoke back or holding it still.

The kinesthetic sense that lets you sense rise or fall, as in a slow elevator, in conjunction with the peripheral movement of the horizon give you a dual reference as to when and how much to move the yoke back and up. Concurrent with this up/down potential we have a deceleration occurring. As the aircraft slows it requires ever-greater deflection of the elevator to give the same effect. We are endeavoring to rock the aircraft on its pitch axis with the elevator until it stalls without any fall in the visual horizon out the sides of cockpit.

The ideal, at this time, is that the aircraft has reached its stall angle of attack on the pitch axis. The stall warner lets you know of this occurrence. The elevator is to the backstop. The aircraft makes a slight drop to the ground and is through flying. The pilot continues to hold the yoke full back and up. The flaps are removed while the nose wheel remains clear of the runway. If no power is added, as for takeoff, the nose wheel touches and the strut compresses to allow steering with the rudder pedals. With power the takeoff can proceed without the nose wheel ever touching.

Salvaging a poor flare is best accomplished by going around. The delay in the human response to sense input and then react is just sufficiently out of synchronization to make any corrective response be in phase with what the aircraft is doing and exactly out of phase with what you want to accomplish. Can a poor flare be salvaged?

Yes. The question should be, "How many poor salvaged landings can you afford while you’re learning how to do it?" Make the go-around, it's cheaper.

Refining the Flare
Every approach and landing is going to be different. I will attempt to generalize an idealized approach, flare and landing. We are landing into a constant velocity direct headwind. We have established a stabilized approach on final. The aircraft will fly hands-off, on gross weight airspeed, and glide path that assures touchdown in the first third of the runway.

The Approach
On the approach path you select an aiming point related the runway. You use this point to determine if you are either high, low or all right for your planned flare and landing. If you are on glide slope the selected point will maintain a constant position on the windshield only to pass under the aircraft during the flare.

If you are high, you have a sequence of three corrective actions while maintaining the constant approach speed. First, put in maximum flaps for wind conditions. Second, reduce power incrementally as required to stabilize your aiming point on the glide path. Third and last, reduce the airspeed to increase the sink rate over distance. If the desired slope cannot be acquired, go-around.

If you are low, you have one best option besides the go-around. Apply full power while holding the POH approach speed. Hold a rigid lock on the yoke for an estimated number of seconds you think will be required to reach the optimum approach slope. Do not re-trim. At the end of the selected time reduce power to 1500 rpm and allow the aircraft to re-establish its stabilized approach. Any other corrective actions have hazards that may be beyond the skill level of the pilot.

Where you look as you get close the round-out will significantly affect the effectiveness of the flare. Looking too far down the runway can result in flying into the ground. Looking too close to the aircraft can result in an excessively high flare. Do not change your sighting point until the previously selected approach point has passed. At the POH gross weight recommended approach speed we can expect to have several hundred feet of float before touchdown.

The Round-out
You have already acquired the sighting skill needed for the round-out and flare. It is the same as the one you use while driving at the equivalent speed. Use it until the rising nose causes the runway to disappear. This is going to be very near level flight. The roundout should be planned to bring the wheels to about a hip high height. Any higher will reduce the effectiveness of ground effect. Too low will likely result in a yoke reaction accentuated by the ground effect to give a balloon.

Ground Demonstration
Student to sit in the cockpit with seat adjusted for flight. Hold yoke partially back as though in level flight. Student to look over level nose with wide view of horizon to each side. Instructor will slowly lower the tail to the ground. At the same time the student will, using only one or two fingers below the horn of the yoke, slowly initially but with a logarithmically increase in speed pull the yoke both back and up for its full travel.

This procedure should be repeated until the yoke movement and the tail lowering reach the end of their travel simultaneously. It should be noted that holding the yoke with a full grip will most likely limit the

yoke travel. The geometry of the arm and yoke cause this. By using the finger tips and lifting you will find that the last few inches of yoke travel include an upward moment. Do this until you get it right.

Now the instructor should swing the tail to each side so the student can observe how the movement of the horizon can be used to detect yaw. Explain that any time the nose rises above the horizon an ever increasing P-factor will pull the nose to the left. Increasing right pressure on the rudder is required as the nose rises. This counters the P-factor and aligns the nose with the flight direction. You do this in anticipation not in reaction.

At this point you should use a wide peripheral view to note the position of the horizon to each side of the nose. What you are trying to do in the flare is to maintain the horizon as a constant level as you lose airspeed and raise the pitch attitude. Every yoke movement should be back but stopping is all right. Every power change should be a reduction but not reducing is all right. The coordination of the two can be used to correct any rise or fall of the horizon.

In the round-out as the aircraft loses speed you will learn to sense a kinesthetic sinking as in a very slow elevator. At the very first sensation you should begin and continue the yoke movement as practiced previously. If you observe the horizon falling, it means that the aircraft is rising. A rising horizon means the aircraft is sinking. What you are trying to do is to maintain the horizon in a stable position as you gradually increase the pitch attitude. Any abrupt or instinctive movement of yoke or power will be counter productive. All movements must be in anticipation not reaction.

Salvaging the Landing
How do you know how and when to salvage a landing? Can some poor approaches and flares be safely corrected? The answer is yes. You must have very deep pockets to afford salvaging landings. As previously indicated. Your best option will be the go-around. Judicious additions of power may be applied and be successful. A combination of luck and experience may work. My recommendation is that all salvage efforts be delayed until you are using your own airplane.

An old PTS guide once said that the ideal landing occurred when at the moment of touchdown, the yoke was all the way back, the power was reduced to off, and the stall warner would bleep. As the pilot you are striving for this ideal. It does not occur often. The flare and landing is an act of faith. You must believe that the runway will be there. You will not know just when the landing will occur.

Pre-solo Radio/maneuver Confidence Exercise
I have used a pre-solo lesson for many years designed to overcome a student pilot fear that is often left unsaid although
deeply sensed. "What do I do when ATC tells me to do something I don’t understand?" I select a multiple runway
airport and phone the tower to make sure that they fully understand my request. Calm conditions are best in no or
very light traffic. After this lesson the full radio responsibility rests with the student. (I wish.) This is a very worthwhile
lesson for the student who has trained exclusively at an uncontrolled airport although it is a bit much for an introduction.

Prior to the flight I use an airport diagram chalked on the tarmac to walk through the maneuvers as may occur.
Examples may be similar to what occurs if the active runway changes, traffic conflicts exist, or conditions warrant.
--Make a 360 on downwind,
--Make a 270 and re-enter on base,
--Extend downwind,
--Make short approach,
--Overfly the field,
--Go-around to right side of runway,
--Make full stop,
--Plan 180 on runway and departure (runway),
--Make course reversal on upwind,
--Make 180 on upwind (to parallel runway),
--Continue straight-out until advised,
--I will call your base,
--Fly base leg past final and make(L/R) 270 to final,
--Make S-turns as required for spacing,
--You are drifting over parallel runway,
--Canceled clearance,
--Confirm intentions,
--Advise traffic in sight,
--Follow robin ahead, (trick)
--Caution sea gulls on final,
--Fox reported on runway,
--Construction on right side of runway,
--Turn left NOW,
--Fly wide downwind to follow traffic,
--Number four to land,
--Traffic to follow on two mile final advise in sight,
--Caution wake turbulence clear for takeoff
--Report (specific point unknown to student)
--When speed and altitude permit...
--Remain clear call back in five minutes
--Unable request report downwind, etc.
--Widen your base
--Square your base

The same sort of exercise can be carried out while on the ground to improve awareness of taxiing situations as well as control positions required for ‘selected’ winds. The ability to recognize orientation on the ground is just as difficult as in the air. When orientation is lost knowing how to identify your position and how to request taxi assistance is just a important as in the air. Knowing the symbolism of runways and taxiways is time well spent. It is just as important to plan your taxi routes as it is your landing and departure routes. Recent changes in procedures require that all pilots readback all holding instructions such as:
--Taxi into position and hold,
--Hold short of (runway or taxiway)
--Taxi closer and hold,
--(Ident) Say position,

Additionally, all runway designations are to be read back as confirmation of clearance instructions.
--Taxi to (runway)
--Taxi to (runway) via (route)
--Cross (runway) hold short (runway)contact (ATC)

It is not wrong to readback takeoff clearances but may be considered unnecessary. If you are requested to monitor
a frequency, do just that, do not talk. "Remain this frequency", (obvious). If you do not understand what is said, it
is important that you let ATC know. Even the best of us miss things once in a while. Not a serious problem if you
know what to do.
--If you just didn’t hear, say, "(ident) say again".
--If you didn’t hear who ATC gave information to, say, "Confirm (information) was for (ident).
--If you only heard part of a communication, say, (Ident) say again all (after/before) specific word/phrase.

I have had ATC simulate radio difficulty, use the light signals, simulate failure to give clearance, ignore radio calls, you
name it. They can get rather creative. While on the ground I assure the students that I will not let them make a mistake.
I have made mistakes, however. When we visit the tower afterwards with a pound of coffee they never fail to make
some appropriate comment.

When ATC gives an instruction you perform the action while acknowledging. ATC instructions are expected to be
performed without undue delay. If, for any reason you are unable to perform a given ATC instruction, don’t delay
letting them know.
--(Ident) unable short approach
--(Ident) Unfamiliar (reporting point)
--(Ident) Negative traffic advise
--(Ident) Unfamiliar aircraft type advise
--(Ident) UN familiar area request assistance (? by voice inflection)
--(Ident) Request priority because of fuel, turbulence, weather, engine,
--(Ident) Unable x-wind (runway) request taxiway (name)

Certain words should be avoided when giving position reports.
--"Over (place)", in an airplane you are supposed to be over.
--"Abeam (Point)", Term often used related to mountain in my area. Abeam means off the wingtip. You could be
going in any direction.
--"miles" and "feet" "Five north" has to be five miles. Two-thousand five-hundred has to be feet.
--For since when used it can be mistaken for FOUR.

The actual flight is rather anti-climatic as it should be. The entire exercise takes less than an hour since many of the |
maneuvers can be combined into one pattern. I very much recommend that the entire flight be recorded so that it
can be reviewed by the student and even drawn out in its entirety.

Dessert
By prior arrangement with the tower I may have planned a radio failure lesson. This is quite easy to do equipped with
headsets. We depart the area and remove the student’s headset. We don’t tell ATC of our direction of arrival and
I have student overfly the airport at twice pattern altitude (I keep my headset on and monitor traffic so I can advise
ATC as may be necessary) After we select a runway. Depart outbound at 45 degrees, make a course reversal well
away from airport and enter pattern at pattern altitude on 45 entry. Look for steady green light. Turn downwind,
base, and final. If (by prior arrangement) no green light is given we make go around and re-enter on downwind, etc.
With the advent of full transistor radios, failure is not as common as years previously but it does happen. Knowing
what to do is just another stress bump removed from your system.

Planning the Go-around Lesson
The most common 'emergency' is the go-around. Have the go-around procedure as part of your prelanding list. The "go-around" is one of the best safety procedures in flying. If you are not positioned for a safe landing, go-around. 150 annual go-around mistakes occur every year. Less than 20% are by student pilots. Student pilots do not have the high expectations of landing that many pilots develop in the 100 to 500 hour range. The more experience you get the more you should practice go-arounds.

Request the option but advise the tower that you will be doing a series of go-arounds. Plan to do a series of eight or more. Remember you must anticipate with rudder and yoke the effect caused by a smooth but rapid power application will have. Every change in flap setting and airspeed will require a different amount of anticipation. Failure to anticipate will cause the aircraft to balloon, lose airspeed and make the go-around more difficult to perform. Watch the nose, keep it level. Listen for an increase in airspeed before looking at the indicator. At 60 kts the aircraft will be able to hold altitude while the flaps are raised. Below 60 kts the aircraft will probably sink if flaps are raised all at once. Climb at 65. A speed faster than 65 will not let you climb as well. (C-150)

Begin by configuring your aircraft to land with 10 degrees or no flaps on final, at 60 kts go-around at 200'. The next go-around should be in a 20 degree flap configuration at 55 knots with the go-around at 100'. The next go-around should be with full flaps at 60 knots with the go-around at 50'. The next go-around should be with full flaps at 55 knots with the go-around at 25'. Changing the pattern direction begin the next go-around series in the flare portion of the approach. Begin with no flaps and proceed in gradual flap increments until the go-around is done with full flaps.

Go-around Instruction
Once stabilized on final, the instructor, will point out a certain 'ground level' altitude at which to commence the go-around. The go-around needs to be well orchestrated to be correctly performed. It may be necessary for the instructor to re-establish the full flap descent at 60 kts to give the student another practice effort. No altitude should ever be lost below 'ground level'. Once established in climb and trimmed the crosswind turn is used to regain the original altitude for another practice pattern. I usually find it advisable to practice both two right and two left full patterns before proceeding to our destination airport.

The go-around requires the student to overcome many instinctive and false ideas. We are not trying to get away from the ground, yet. We are initially gaining airspeed and cleaning up the aircraft for climb. We want to go faster, not up. Established in approach configuration of trim, flaps and power the aircraft is descending. Any time we make a significant increase in power the nose wants to rise. This seems like a great idea but the cost in airspeed can be excessive to fatal. We must hold the nose level. Lock the elbow against the door panel to prevent the yoke and nose from erratic movement.

Remember--The idea that just adding power to an airplane will make it fly slower is another example of a flying contradiction. In every other situation in life, adding power makes things go faster. This phenomenon is best demonstrated at altitude. Establish the airplane in trimmed low cruise of 70 kts. Add full power with a touch of rudder to hold heading. The nose will rise and the aircraft will slow. Do this again without the use of rudder to note the effect of P-factor.

There is a problem called 'getting-behind-the-power-curve' that arises when the go-around is delayed. A delayed go-around that adds incremental power changes can create this situation were there is no more power available and altitude must be surrendered. If the altitude is not available a go-around is not possible. See material on decelerated approach. When a landing is not going well, go-around. If the aircraft is doing something you don't know how to cope with, go-around.

Go-Around & Low Approach
We have made a series of left and right go-arounds at altitude and are now ready for the real thing. The proximity of the runway and ground creates tensions that affect the student's ability to perform. By agreement, no landings will be made. Much of the psychological pressure is thereby removed if the student knows that NO landing are going to take place. The Instructor actively supervises and coaches the student as required for the first couple of patterns. Since we have agreed not to land, we will be doing go-arounds. First at 200', then at 100', then at 50' and lastly in the flare. The distinction between the go-around procedure at above 60 kts and at below 60 kts is illustrated in the last instance. We will now proceed to do at least four identical low approaches in the opposite pattern before flying home. The errors common to the go-around should be allowed to occur so that they can be brought to the attention of the student.

The instinctive desire to add power abruptly and climb, especially on the lower go-arounds, should be anticipated by the instructor. Smooth throttle operation will give smooth engine operation and allow smoother application of rudder. Most control problems occur in the interval between power application and removal of flaps. The pitch up and left turning of the nose must be ANTICIPATED and corrected BEFORE it occurs. Putting more than one finger behind the yoke on a go-around is a 'probable cause' of over reaction and abrupt control movements.

The go-around procedure varies somewhat in every situation but there are two basic situation the require significantly different control pressures. If the go-around is initiated at approach speed or higher the flaps can be safely brought up immediately after full power is applied with just a momentary pause at 20 degrees to check climb speed and performance.

If the go-around is initiated at less than approach speed the flaps must be 'milked' up while the plane is led in a level attitude and allowed to accelerate to climb speed. At climb speed the flaps are removed. The most common fault is for the student to freeze on the throttle and forget to bring up the flaps. The most dangerous fault is for the student to take off the flaps too quickly at too slow a speed. This causes the plane to sink and perhaps contact the ground. Student control input will be excessive and as an instinctive reaction rather than in anticipation. Raising the nose to stop the sink lowers the speed even more. The more standardized the procedure used in removing the flaps the better the student can anticipate the control pressures required. The go-around must be practiced until it can be done correctly and safely.

Heard about an instructor who would not teach go-arounds because they were considered dangerous. Like almost any area of flying, the improperly executed go-around can lead to loss of control and/or a stall. If the go-around does not adequately compensate for winds by using a crab angle for the heading the pilot may experience directional control problems. The wing low and opposite rudder is used on final to keep the nose straight with the runway. At the moment of go-around the aircraft is allowed to crab into the wind as required to keep the ground course over the runway regardless of the heading. The stall during the go-around is most likely to occur if the aircraft is not allowed to accelerate in level flight while slowly bringing up the flaps. At approach speeds a rapid removal of flaps will precipitate a stall.

All Phases of the Go-around
The go-around should be a smooth transition from a landing situation into takeoff configuration. Stop landing, start climbing. The go-around usually is initiated for instructional purposes, traffic, lack of aircraft control, weather or surface conditions. The go-around is essentially a takeoff with full flaps. You must have practiced at altitude so that you know ahead of time which pressures to anticipate as flaps are retracted and you maintain level flight. Flap retraction must be carefully controlled because most training aircraft have little excess power.

The earlier you go-around the better. This is an action deemed necessary to correct control, approach, flare, or rollout problems. Altitude allows some trade off for airspeed. The lower the go-around the more difficult it may seem but this is not necessarily so. You have less distance to fall in a stall the closer to the ground you are. This is because flight within ground effect requires less power for a given performance. The aircraft can fly close to the ground even with full flaps. In ground effect the partial removal of flaps is less likely to cause a stall. There is more excess power in ground effect so that more acceleration can occur as the flaps are removed.

The successful go-around is predicated on the pilot’s ability to understand the required planning, set aircraft attitude, clean up the configuration, and the use of power. The greatest enemy of planning is any form of delay, procrastination or hesitation. The delayed go-around greatly increases the plucker factor. The proximity to the ground should not do this but it does. Actually, the ground proximity should rightly be considered an asset. Ground effect, properly used, greatly enhances the ability of the aircraft to avoid the ground, accelerate and climb. Most often go-around accidents are the result of premature and unintentional climbs at low airspeeds. Airspeed is money in the bank. Get the airspeed up with full SMOOTH power, a level attitude or slight dive held against the power and flap effort to raise the nose, and get off the flaps slowly until reaching climb speed. The best go-around is a precision control maneuver when done properly. Every move is done in anticipation of what you know will come next. If you don’t know, learn. A pilot’s reliability factor can well be measured by the smoothness with which a go-around is performed.

Reasons the Go-around Is Difficult:
--Pilot indecision which results in loss of runway and departure clearance.
--Pilot fixation on salvaging a poor approach.

Reasons For Go-around Accidents
--Failure to initiate at earliest recognition point.
--Loss of directional control
--Misuse of power controls
--Misuse of flight controls, especially flaps and rudder

A safe go-around can be accomplished at any altitude if the initial effort is just to stay at altitude while power and configuration is adjusted to allow a climb. The most common fault is attempting to climb before the aircraft is capable of climbing. Have a go-around plan and fly the plan.

Fly the airplane is # 1. The go-around is not an emergency, it is a standard procedure even if the FAA says it is. The go-around is a precautionary option. Properly performed it is neither difficult or of any particular hazard. You don't need to tell the tower anything until they ask your intentions. A go-around should be made when there is a significant deviation from intentions or a requirement for radical maneuvering. A go-around is a sound controlled maneuver. Listen for the sound of full power, acceleration, vy, and climb.

Keep your eyes outside during the go-around. Keep controls smoothly coordinated and a heading in a pre-selected direction. Apply full power smoothly, the remove carburetor heat, anticipate torque, P-factor, and slipstream with right rudder. Keep the aircraft level with a locked elbow and remove the flaps judiciously with reference to your airspeed and altitude. There is no need to hurry. Accelerate to 65 Kts (C-150), trim for climb and set the pitch attitude that will maintain a Vy climb. Now, you can look at your instruments.

Forgetting to bring up flaps is the most common student pilot fault. Aircraft are certified, when new, to be able to climb at two degrees in normal, utility, and aerobatic categories with full flaps. Just as old instructors have more trouble making the climb into an aircraft, so do old airplanes have trouble making the climbs for which they were originally certificated.

Raising flaps too quickly or too much can precipitate a stall. Be gentle. From 40-degree flaps, a slight removal reduces mostly drag. This is true up to about 20-degrees of flap. From 15-degrees to no-flaps you are losing mostly lift. Flap removal by measured stages reduces the change in control forces, change in attitude, and required pilot reaction. The second most common student fault in a go-around is failing to use the pre-landing checklist on the second approach.

At some airports a go-around may not be possible due to the existence of geographical features. This one-way airport should never be attempted without good proficiency both in flying and judging aircraft performance. It is best to overfly at a safe altitude before making your approach.

Go-around Preparation
When you have been flying a while, you expect to land...every time. The go-around becomes unusual, abnormal, and unprepared for. When ATC calls a go-around you are usually high enough and fast enough to perform without any special anticipation. The lower and slower you get into the landing procedure the less likely will you be prepared for the go-around. Do not add additional trim in anticipation of making the flare attitude easier. Such additional trim will greatly increase the control pressures and likelihood of a go-around stall.

A crosswind landing increases the likelihood of a go-around. Because of the possibility of uncorrected drift. You don't want to land with side loads on the landing gear or off runway. The crosswind go-around requires the pilot to make a change in orientation. While the landing is made with a wing-low heading parallel to the runway, the go-around requires a wings-level crab heading at an angle to the runway.

Go-around and Flare
Even inside these C. G. limits your normal reaction time to a ballooned landing flare or a bounced landing may create sensations and flight attitudes that cause your reaction time of one second to make the situation worse. You are pushing or pulling on the yoke at the wrong time. The only correct procedure is to GO-AROUND. Apply full power, hold the aircraft level, milk up the flaps, stay level to obtain climb speed, climb out and make a new landing approach.

Go-around Procedures
If you are behind the power curve when the go-around becomes necessary it is too late. Behind the power curve means that your angle of attack is so great that there is insufficient power to climb. Gaining speed requires a certain loss of altitude. With your AGL (above ground level) near zero, ground contact is assured. Get the power off so that a bounce will not make you airborne and behind the power curve at ever a higher altitude.

"Go-around". Apply full throttle smoothly but rapidly then carb heat. Anticipate the yoke and rudder applications that will be required by your airspeed and configuration. The "go-around" is one of the best safety procedures in flying. If you are not positioned for a safe landing, go-around. Full power in the go-around increases the airflow over the wing. With flaps extended the power application causes the nose to pitch up abruptly. This must be anticipated!! Hold forward pressure on the yoke to prevent pitching up. (I suggest pressing the arm against the door to provide a locked position.)

Hold the nose on the horizon while bringing up the flaps with minimal delay. Since we should be at 60 kts we can bring up 20 degrees of flaps at once and immediately bring back the yoke to set and hold what we have learned to visualize as a proper attitude to hold altitude as the aircraft accelerates to 65. If we stay level this should occur quickly and we can bring up the rest of the flaps and establish a climb attitude. Trim for climb. It will probably be necessary for the instructor to re-establish the pre-go-around configuration several times. It is essential that the go-around procedure be smoothly performed in the correct sequence at the correct speeds. Once performed well at altitude the go-around is ready for use at ground level. Milk up at speeds below 60 knots. Flaps may be brought up without milking once climb speed is attained. Yoke is used to prevent any undesired sink. Trim as required.

There are several common faults typical to the go-around. Most problems occur when power is first added and before flaps are raised. The student's eyes should be focused outside the airplane on the nose attitude of the aircraft. Learn to locate the flap switch by feel. No trim is required. The aircraft must be kept level. The full application of power with flaps will tend to cause a rapid nose pitch up. P-factor will cause the nose to turn to the left so right rudder pressure must be used in anticipation. The nose must be held down or there will be a loss of airspeed. This will require locking the arm on the door and a full palm pressure forward. The pitch-up and left turning of the nose must be anticipated and corrected before it occurs. Apply throttle BEFORE carb heat. If you are having a problem you probably forgot to milk up the flaps.

For some reason many students think that the carburetor heat must go off before throttle application. It doesn't. The throttle should be applied smoothly first and then the carb heat taken off with the thumb to get full power. The position of the carb heat control was designed to be pushed in with the right thumb. A too rapid application of throttle can cause the engine to load up with excess fuel. This causes a delay in getting full power. Smooth throttle operation will give smooth engine operation and allow smoother application of rudder. It is surprising how often students seem to think that the hand must stay frozen on the throttle to keep it in. It doesn't. Keep the friction lock of the throttle snug. By holding the throttle you will fail to get the flaps up. The yoke pressure makes them think that something is wrong with the trim. There isn't. Once full power is applied the right hand goes immediately to the flap switch.

The manner used for removal of flaps depends on the airspeed. The old FAA recommendation was to take 20 degrees off initially, get climb speed, and then take off the rest. This is still good unless the aircraft is below 60 kts. Below 60 kts the flaps should be 'milked' up by quick applications of the switch while being sure not to go past neutral. The nose should be level until climb speed is acquired. Any attempt to climb will result in loss of airspeed. In this very slow configuration, the sudden and complete removal of flaps can result in an immediate stall or sudden contact with the ground. Get the speed; then climb.

When do you go-around? Anytime, for whatever reason, if you feel uncomfortable about any aspect of the landing procedure. On approach if you feel too high, low, fast, or slow. In the flare if not straight, ballooning, high, bouncing, slow or fast. the go-around is an exercise of judgment. The student should never try to save a landing. Go-around. Do not use the radio. Over a real or imaginary runway continue straight until reaching the departure end of the runway and a safe/noise abatement altitude before turning.

There is a go-around situation that can cause instinctive reactions to overcome training. This is when the time of the go-around is delayed until an obstacle gets so close that both power and instinctive raising the nose occurs due to perceived danger. The result is a nose high, low speed, prelude to an accident. In any go-around the nose must be held level during the use of full power. The climb speed must be attained and retained during removal of flaps. The climb will naturally result from the power, configuration, and airspeed. For this reason some go-around instruction should include this situation. As in many flying situations, instinctive reactions can bite you.

The student should be made to realize that all of the final spproach procedures are, when arranged in a given sequence, the landing process. For a landing the airspeed must be made to transition smoothly from cruise, to approach, to stall. There will be a sequence of turns, left or right, while descending. The trim and flaps must be smoothly coordinated in application to maintain the approach angle and speed. Power is smoothly changed from cruise to 1500 to off. The power off stall at moment of ground contact is the landing.

Look Out for Go-Around Hazards
Reasons the go-around is considered difficult:
--Pilot indecision which results in too much runway behind you and not enough in front.
--Pilot optimism in belief that he can salvage a poor approach to make a good landing.

There are several common faults typical to the go-around. Most problems occur when power is first added and before flaps are raised.

Remember--The idea that just adding power to an airplane will make it fly slower is another example of a flying contradiction. In every other situation in life, adding power makes things go faster. This phenomenon is best demonstrated at altitude. Establish the airplane in trimmed low cruise of 70 kts. Add full power with a touch of rudder to hold heading. The nose will rise and the aircraft will slow. Do this again without the use of rudder to note the effect of P-factor. Do it again with flaps and slower airspeeds.

Most control problems occur in the interval between power application and removal of flaps. The pitch up and left turning of the nose must be ANTICIPATED and corrected BEFORE it occurs. Putting more than one finger behind the yoke on a go-around is a 'probable cause' of over reaction and abrupt control movements.

For some reason many students think that the carburetor heat must go off before throttle application. It doesn't. The throttle should be applied smoothly first and then the carb heat taken off with the thumb to get full power. The position of the carb heat control was designed to be pushed in with the right thumb. A too rapid application of throttle can cause the engine to load up with excess fuel. This causes a delay in getting full power. Smooth throttle operation will give smooth engine operation and allow smoother application of rudder. It is surprising how often students seem to think that the hand must stay frozen on the throttle to keep it in. It doesn't. Keep the friction lock of the throttle snug. By holding the throttle you will fail to get the flaps up. The yoke pressure makes them think that something is wrong with the trim. There isn't. Once full power is applied the right hand goes immediately to the flap switch.

Reasons the go-around has a disproportionate number of accidents is related to:
--Failure to initiate at first indication of a problem.
--Failure to use rudder to maintain directional control.
--Failure to anticipate effects of power.
--Incorrect use of flight controls, especially ailerons, flaps and rudder

Forgetting to bring up flaps is the most common student fault. Aircraft are certified, when new, to be able to climb at 2-degrees in normal, utility, and aerobatic categories with full flaps. Just as old instructors have more trouble making the climb into an aircraft, so do old airplanes have trouble making the climbs for which they were originally certificated. The stall during the go-around is most likely to occur if the aircraft is not allowed to accelerate in level flight while slowly bringing up the flaps. At approach speeds a rapid removal of flaps will precipitate a stall.

As in many flying situations, instinctive reactions can bite you. Your normal reaction time to a ballooned landing flare or a bounced landing may create sensations and flight attitudes that cause problems. Your reaction time of one second to make the situation worse. You are pushing or pulling on the yoke at the wrong time. The only correct procedure is to GO-AROUND. Apply full power, hold the aircraft level, milk up the flaps, stay level to obtain climb speed, climb out and make a new landing approach.

There is a go-around situation called 'getting-behind-the-power-curve' that arises when the go-around is delayed. Behind the power curve means that your angle of attack is so great that there is insufficient power to climb. Gaining speed requires a certain loss of altitude. instinctive reactions overcome training until an obstacle gets so close that both power and instinctive raising the nose occurs due to perceived danger. The result is a nose high, low speed, prelude to an accident. A delayed go-around that adds incremental power changes can create this situation where there is no more power available and altitude must be surrendered. If the altitude is not available a go-around is not possible. Get the power off so that a crash/bounce will not make you airborne and behind the curve at ever a higher altitude.

When you have been flying a while, you expect to land...every time. The go-around becomes unusual, abnormal, and unprepared for. When ATC calls a go-around you are usually high enough and fast enough to perform without any special anticipation. The lower and slower you get into the landing procedure the less likely will you be prepared for the go-around. Do not add additional trim in anticipation of making the flare attitude easier. Such additional trim will greatly increase the control pressures and likelihood of a go-around stall.

A crosswind landing increases the likelihood of a go-around. Because of the possibility of uncorrected drift. You don't want to land with side loads on the landing gear or off runway. The crosswind go-around requires the pilot to make a change in orientation. While the landing is made with a wing-low heading parallel to the runway, the go-around requires a wings-level crab heading at an angle to the runway.

At some airports a go-around may not be possible due to geographical features. This one-way airport should never be attempted without good proficiency both in flying and judging aircraft performance. It is best to overfly at a safe altitude before making your approach.

Fly the airplane is # 1. The go-around is a standard procedure. It is not an emergency even if the FAA implies it is. The go-around is a precautionary option. Properly performed it is neither difficult or of any particular hazard. You don't need to tell the tower anything until they ask your intentions. A go-around should be made when there is a significant deviation from your intentions or a requirement for some radical maneuvering. A go-around is a ‘sound’ controlled maneuver. Listen for the ‘sound’ of full power, acceleration, vy, and then climb.

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