Touchdown Point

I can remember a few years back when I first started seriously day dreaming about working on my private license that the school I fly out of had a flight training FAQ. One of the questions was simply "How long does it take to get the PPL" and obviously the answer tried to address that question as well as possible. The subject of pace talked about how retention starts to drop off quickly after a few days and as a result of not flying on a regular basis you might find yourself reviewing what you did last time for 25% longer than someone who had just flown the day before.

My pace has for the most part been slow. Just look at the dates on the blog entries to see how slow! Every now and then I get a good block of time wide open and take as much advantage of it as possible. This flight was to be my 4th in 10 days, and I had flown just 16 hours earlier. This accelerated pace made all the difference in the world.

Another beautiful morning for flying. Today I was again paired with I5, and I'm happy to say at this point that I5 has landed himself the role of my primary flight instructor. I suppose everyone has to stop playing the field and settle down some time ;)

The first few circuits were extremely precise, the landings were pretty much down the middle, and there was a massive improvement in staying on center line during the roll. I5 wanted to nail me down to a better approach angle and started by asking me if I knew where I had been flaring, how long I had been floating, and where my touchdown points were. I was unable to answer any of them. We started talking about the different runway markings and what they meant.

While on approach, I5 told me that on average I float "x" feet, and thus based on that float - where would I need to start to flare in order to touch down on a certain bar. With that in mind he told me "OK, land there" and I continued the approach. I flared exactly where I needed to and found myself going much faster than anticipated - thus the float looked like it would be long. I made some adjustments and put the aircraft down - HARD, right on the intended landing spot.

In the crosswind I5 told me that I landed exactly where we were intended to, however I would have failed my exam. He went into more detail, probably due to my puzzled look. As it turns out, the exercise isn't about actually landing on the intended spot, it's about PLANNING the approach and flare so that you have the best opportunity to actually land there. There are many factors involved in landing an aircraft, as a pilot you have control over many of them, and others you can only react to appropriately.

Armed with this tidbit of knowledge we continued to select landing spots that were closer and closer to the threshold. Each of them required a lot more planning during the circuit. RPMs back on the downwind, flaps down before the base, precise airspeed and angles on final, and carbon copy flare heights. The results were astounding. We nailed each of the landing spots almost on the dime. The approach angles became much shallower and I no longer found myself "diving" for the runway. The angles were also fairly consistent the entire approach.

For our final two we flared over "the dirt" and landed smack on the numbers. Amazing what some planning and analysis of past results can do for future results.

Everything in the circuit was comfortable, the workload seemed far reduced from the previous flights, I was close to the centerline when I landed, and I managed to stay close to it as we slowed and then accelerated again for the next time.

I5 mentioned that one of the largest things he has noticed is that when I slow down and take my time, I have more time to think about things, and thus relax - resulting in far better performance.

After the lesson I5 reviews my PTR and notes that we need to get some crosswind work in soon and I should show up next time ready for the emergency procedures review. Here in Canada we are required to know the emergency procedures for our aircraft by memory.

The lesson ends with I5 telling me he's of the opinion that it is time for me to solo.



(gulp)

19.7 Hours and counting...