I have 15 hours and still have a hard time landing... is this normal??

[Zonno]

I currently have 15.2 hours of instructed flight time, and although I've pretty much gotten the hand of preflighting the airplane, taxiing, doing the takeoff, and talking on the radio, I'm STILL having a hard time landing. Flying on downwind, then turning to base is fine, and getting lined up on final is no problem.
But once I'm right above the runway, I either flare to early and end up doing a drop-in landing, or I end up waiting to late to flare and risk doing a nose-wheel landing. (The instructor always tells me to pull the yoke back at the last second). I also have a tough time doing crosswind landings.
Occasionally I can do a landing where the instructor only has to talk me through a little bit, but never has to touch the controls, which is good. And I've also done a couple where he neither touched the controls OR said anything, which is what we want. But is it normal to have 15 hours and still not be able to land on my own just yet?

[Dantilla]

You're right on schedule.

The number of hours is not important. The number of landings is. At some point, it will "click", and it will become almost second nature.

Keep at it.

[Zonno]

Originally Posted by Dantilla

You're right on schedule.

The number of hours is not important. The number of landings is. At some point, it will "click", and it will become almost second nature.

Keep at it.

That's good to know. As long as there is no wind, or the wind is headed almost straight down the runway, I can usually almost land it with no help (except on roundout and touchdown). But let there be a good 5 kt crosswind, I can't land it to save my life.

[AngelKiha31]

It almost literally does "click." I've got about 18 hours (i think... too lazy to get my log out of my car...) and it seemed that during my last flight, everything seemed to click.

My normal problems were flaring a bit soon and landing a little hard on stable approaches, where I had time to think about the landing. On all of my simulated emergency landings, I set that plane down smoother than that plane's been landed in its history. Well... most likely. During the last flight, I finally stopped thinking about the landing and just set it down. It was a suprise how much smoother my landings were from that point on.

I think I first landed the plane without physical assistance at 5 hours with my alternate instructor. Then at 6 hours with my primary instructor. I think at about 9 hours, they no longer had to walk me through it over the intercom. Though the comments on the intercom was an "oof" when we landed...

Sadly I have very little experience in crosswinds... like 5 landings. It seems that during the time I fly, the wind never blows. So, I can offer no advise there, or stories, or w/e. I can tell you that my instructor had me move to the upwind side of the runway, then straighten out as I started the flare so we landed facing straight down the runway on the centerline.

[Zonno]

Originally Posted by AngelKiha31

It almost literally does "click." I've got about 18 hours (i think... too lazy to get my log out of my car...) and it seemed that during my last flight, everything seemed to click.

My normal problems were flaring a bit soon and landing a little hard on stable approaches, where I had time to think about the landing. On all of my simulated emergency landings, I set that plane down smoother than that plane's been landed in its history. Well... most likely. During the last flight, I finally stopped thinking about the landing and just set it down. It was a suprise how much smoother my landings were from that point on.

I think I first landed the plane without physical assistance at 5 hours with my alternate instructor. Then at 6 hours with my primary instructor. I think at about 9 hours, they no longer had to walk me through it over the intercom. Though the comments on the intercom was an "oof" when we landed...

Sadly I have very little experience in crosswinds... like 5 landings. It seems that during the time I fly, the wind never blows. So, I can offer no advise there, or stories, or w/e. I can tell you that my instructor had me move to the upwind side of the runway, then straighten out as I started the flare so we landed facing straight down the runway on the centerline.

As far as take-offs and flying the pattern goes, I can do it without having to be talked through. It may be a little rough around the edges, but my instructor has told me that as long as he doesn't say anything, I'm doing good. I've even gotten to where when I'm on base leg, I can already look at the runway and tell if I'm too high or to low, or just right. I used to ask him all the time "Does this look alright, am I too high, etc.?"

But it's that final moment right before touchdown that always gets me. When descending, I see the runway 'rushing' at me, and I always start pulling back too soon. Then the airplane usually balloons, and then suddenly drops in. I guess my problem is I'm looking at the near-end of the runway, and not the far-end (as I've been told to do).

BTW, although I've attempted a few crosswind landings, I'm not too good with them either.

[airtractorflyer]

[QUOTE=Zonno;7061]As far as take-offs and flying the pattern goes, I can do it without having to be talked through. It may be a little rough around the edges, but my instructor has told me that as long as he doesn't say anything, I'm doing good. I've even gotten to where when I'm on base leg, I can already look at the runway and tell if I'm too high or to low, or just right. I used to ask him all the time "Does this look alright, am I too high, etc.?"

But it's that final moment right before touchdown that always gets me. When descending, I see the runway 'rushing' at me, and I always start pulling back too soon. Then the airplane usually balloons, and then suddenly drops in. I guess my problem is I'm looking at the near-end of the runway, and not the far-end (as I've been told to do).

BTW, although I've attempted a few crosswind landings, I'm not too good with them either.

[/QUOTE
Practice makes perfect! I am an ag-pilot in arkansas we put out alot of dry fertilizer on rice, and a load doesn't go very far. I have made a 100 takeoffs and landings a bunch of days in all different wind conditions. Every now and then I mess one up. Actually quite often. Nothing anybody says is going to substitute experience! Keep it up and don't get your head down it will happen one day and you will never look back!

[Zonno]

[/QUOTE
Practice makes perfect! I am an ag-pilot in arkansas we put out alot of dry fertilizer on rice, and a load doesn't go very far. I have made a 100 takeoffs and landings a bunch of days in all different wind conditions. Every now and then I mess one up. Actually quite often. Nothing anybody says is going to substitute experience! Keep it up and don't get your head down it will happen one day and you will never look back![/QUOTE]


I know ag-pilots are considered by some to be the best pilots around. I'm still keeping at it so far. I can fly the pattern fine, I can even line it up on final pretty good, but it's those last few moments when I'm right above the pavement is when everything goes to s---. I either roundout too soon and end up doing a drop-in landing, or I'm not going straight down the runway, and if I focus on NOT rounding out too high, I end up landing on the runway without ever stalling at all (which have actually not been bad landings so far, only thing is the danger of the airplane doing a nose-dive after touchdown.)

[airtractorflyer]

What part of the runway are you looking at when you are landing? Look at the end of it that is how you get your depth perceptiong you cannot tell how high you are off the ground looking of the nose.

[JasonJohnson]

My instructor had me do slow flight just over the runway. I really learned how to judge my height above the runway. He told me that he found a website that talked about these rather unorthodox techniques. He encouraged me to sign up for the newsletter.

Flying Questions

Let me know if this helps.

Jason

[mcmahonm]

Thanks, for the information I have about 7hrs in and was concerned that I seem to be having a hard time getting the landing completed by myself, instructor has told me no issues it will come,just need more practice.

[AngelKiha31]

I've learned something in the last 6 ish hours.

If you wear sunglasses, try one or two flights without them. I noticed that with my sunglasses, everything is slightly magnified (not exactly magnified, but that's the best word for it), making your depth perception slightly off.

If you still are having trouble, see if you can spend an hour doing simulated soft field landings. That seems to help a lot in getting the plane down easier.

Hope those help!

Angel

[Zonno]

Originally Posted by AngelKiha31

I've learned something in the last 6 ish hours.

If you wear sunglasses, try one or two flights without them. I noticed that with my sunglasses, everything is slightly magnified (not exactly magnified, but that's the best word for it), making your depth perception slightly off.

If you still are having trouble, see if you can spend an hour doing simulated soft field landings. That seems to help a lot in getting the plane down easier.

Hope those help!

Angel

I do wear sunglasses. Most of our flying is during the late afternoon, so sun glare can really be an issue, but I'll lay off with the shades and see how that helps. Sometimes I take them off during the flight anyway because they have a tendency to get fogged up.

[Gimble]

Originally Posted by Zonno

When descending, I see the runway 'rushing' at me, and I always start pulling back too soon. Then the airplane usually balloons, and then suddenly drops in. I guess my problem is I'm looking at the near-end of the runway, and not the far-end (as I've been told to do).

I had fits with that exact issue, and your diagnosis was largely correct in my case. My mental aid ultimately was to shift from looking at the near numbers ( e.g. on runway 29, the 29 ) to looking at the far numbers ( e.g. 11 ) once I thought I was ready to start the flare.

That viewpoint transition helped the ground not come at me so fast, ensured I was still aligned properly, and my problems finally went away. Or at least they reduced.

Best way to get good at crosswind landings? Practice when there's a stiff crosswind (with an instructor), and get ready to do lots of go-arounds. Nothing like experience.

On a recent XC, I returned to my home base where winds suddenly blew up and were 14 gusts 24 in a direct crosswind. Not surprisingly, I was the only airplane in the air. It took me six tries to land the plane. I taxied to the tie-down, and was securing the plane (and feeling good about myself) when I saw a tail-dragger taxiing down to the run-up area. I watched as he did a few touch-and-gos, so obviously he thought it was a lot of fun. I've still got a lot to learn...

[Gimble]

Oh, and Over the Airways actually has an interesting set of paragraphs on landing and power. See

http://overtheairwaves.com/

and go down nearly half-way through the article ( or search for "Think POWER" on the page).

[Lead7]

you'll get it eventually, it's the most important and most difficult part of flying. even the experts mess up sometimes. YouTube - A380 Hard Landing at Oshkosh

Keep at it and don't give up.