Hi everyone,
Ill start a new thread here, previous posts are here Starting soon?. Currently working on TOL phase, my traffic pattern and my final approach is fine but I am having difficulties judging when to flare and round out, is there any tips I can try?
Brandon
Youâre probably fixating on your landing target. Stop looking right in front of your nose and look down the runway.
Adam
Brandon,
As Adam mentioned, a majority of the time, the trouble with landings and timing the touchdown is eye placement. Looking too close or too far will throw off your depth perception. Try not to think of it as a flare in a GA plane. People tend to âover-flareâ when they are first learning because they are thinking about how a jet flares. Once your aiming point disappears below the cowling, transition your eyes to the end of the runway, or somewhere far enough down the runway, and try and roundout/transition the aircraft to level flight to arrest the descent. Try and hold the plane just above the runway. The better you get, the closer youâll be able to go. Think about how in slow flight, as the airspeed bleeds off, you need to add more and more back pressure to maintain altitude. In the roundout/flare, you are very close to the control feeling during slow flight. Its not a pull and hold, its a gradual pull back throughout the entire landing, with minor adjustments. Once the airspeed bleeds off, youâll continue to add that back pressure and lift the cowling to the end of the runway so that you touchdown on the mains first.
Iâll say that landing is the most challenging part of learning how to fly. Good landings will come from eye placement and repetition. Try and remind yourself on each landing to move your eyes to the end of the runway. Even have your CFI audibly remind you when you are 10-15 ft above the runway. It might even help for them to do a couple of landings for you, and you just focus on the sight picture.
When I have the occasional ârougherâ landing in the E175, I think about whether I transitioned my eyes correctly.
Youâll get it with more practice!
Roscoe
Maybe? I fly with people with thousands of hours who still canât land well. Blows my mind.
Adam
Brandon,
Landings will come with practice and time; however, it takes the right kind of practice. And every good landing starts with a standardized and procedural pattern.
As Roscoe mentioned, the word âflareâ is not to be used in training and GA flying, think of it as a transition or round out. One thing to remember is Aiming Point versus Touchdown Point. The Aiming Point is where you would end up if you never transitioned into a landing attitude, in any aircraft. Itâs a pseudo glide path that if you extended miles up at a 3.00^degree glide, you would ultimately âcrash ontoâ the runway. I typically taught to aim 200-300 feet prior to the touchdown point as you begin to decrease to idle power and transition, touching the mains down to your touchdown point. News flash, youâre not going to be greasing the runway like you would a pan to fry eggs, it just wonât happen overnight. It will take time.
My question to you, are you stabilized on your descent? You should be at your target airspeeds when youâre over the numbers which will decrease the amount of float, allow for âslow flightâ down to the touchdown and allow for proper crosswind techniques.
I did this multiple occassions to students that struggled to find that sight picture as well, slow flight down a runway and demonstrate a go-around from an excessive floated landing. This taught slow flight attitude on the runway, where your eyes should be in the transition and what the sight picture will look like for almost every landing at a given flap speed. It almost became second nature to many students as their landings improved. Maybe your instructor or of experienced at your training center can demonstrate this?
Brady
I will force myself to do that next flight, even tell my instructor to yell at me, thank you!
Brandon
Understand, practice makes perfect, thank you!
Brandon
Hi Brady, I will tell my instructor to try the slow flight down the runway, see if it helps, thank you!
Brandon
Hey Adam, do you take into consideration that you are such a dynamic, intriguing and dominant personality that your FOâs have trouble shifting focus from you to the task at hand - 
- Ed
I have and apparently it affected Capts Iâve flown with as well! Itâs a curse 
Adam
Brandon,
You didnât answer my question: when youâre flying an approach to land, are you stabilized?
Brady
Hi Brady, sorry I forgot to answer.
Overall I am stabilized on final with stable descent rate and on the glide-scope with the speed as it said on the training supplement. My problem is the decision on when to round out and âtransitionâ to when to look towards the end of the runway
Brandon
Brandon,
No worries, didnât want to be left hanging. 
The biggest thing with rounding out is judging your height, as the others said, maybe try having your instructor provide height guidance. One thing I recommend is trying to work the power out as youâre coming over the threshold for landing, that way youâre near a tighter speed for landing, with a landing attitude. In the airlines, youâll hear pilots discuss Vref speeds, that is crossing the threshold at X value in feet, a speed at which should be obtained for minimal float, touchdown and flaring. Similarity in GA trainer, you are flying a few knots faster on final, then slow to approach speed short final.
Brady
Hi everyone,
After some reading from mentorâs replies, youtube videos, as well as letting my instructor demonstrate the first landing today, I was able to land the plane by myself today smoothly. While still need some work, I was able to flare at the right timing and the right amount, while still need some work, I just need to work on the consistency!
Thank you to the mentors,
Brandon
Thank you Brady on this comment, I was able to judge the height on when to start rounding out and transitioning for my flight today, I let my instructor demonstrate the first landing to see how high to start rounding out!
Hi everyone,
As of today, I passed my TOL EVAL!!! 3 takeoff and 3 landings. Thank you to mentors who helped me on how to work on my landings, onto solo prep!
Brandon
Brandon,
Great job! So help us old timers out, what happens next in the program for you?
Chris
Brandon,
Nice work! Congrats on the passing evaluation, have fun with Solo Prep. Soon youâll be soaring the skies solo! Solo photos are welcomed!
Brady
Hi Chris, moving onto solo prep! My next eval is the solo eval. Then after that it is time to solo!
Brandon
Hi Brady,
Solo prep I believe will be fun indeed!
Brandon