 Welcome to the FAA Production Studios and the FAA Safety Team National Resource Center located right here at the Sun and Fun Complex in Lakeland, Florida. I'm your host, Walt Shammel, and our next presenter is a commercial pilot, holds a flight instructor certificate, been flying over 17 years, and is currently the manager of the Safety Education with the AOPA Air Safety Foundation. Her topic is Mastering Takeoff and Landings. Let's welcome Kathleen Vasconcelos. Thank you, thank you. Hi everyone, thank you. Welcome to the AOPA Air Safety Foundation presentation of Mastering Takeoffs and Landings. Before we get started on our featured topic, I just want to touch briefly on a program that AOPA has called the Airport Support Network. This is a network of volunteers that serve as the eyes and ears at our nation's airports. If you have an airport locally that doesn't have a volunteer, we would love to have you sign up or sign up someone you know. You can go to aopa.org slash asn, or you can look at this list we have here. These are some local airports in need of volunteers, and we would love to have you participate in this program. Now let's look at why we're here. A brief demonstration of why we need to talk about takeoffs and landings. So maybe now we all feel better about some of our own landings, right? This presentation is very video heavy. I think the best way to learn about takeoffs and landings is actually to see them. So there's a lot of demonstration, a lot of video, similar to when you go to your local airport and watch takeoffs and landings. That's a great way to learn. So you will see a lot of videos to demonstrate what we talk about. I did all to want to let you all know that here in the back on the table, we have a brochure that highlights some of the things we'll talk about. So please take one on your way out. There's also a registration form for attendance here. And for anyone watching from home, if you go to asf.org, we do have our brochure online as well. So why do we have all this trouble? It sounds pretty basic, right? We take off and we land on every flight. We practice a lot, especially as students, but there are some trouble spots. We have talked about this before. The Air Safety Foundation did a seminar a few years ago called Ups and Downs on the same topic of takeoffs and landings. Since then, the statistics actually haven't changed too much. As you can see from 2002 to 2006, it's really remained pretty steady. Upper 500s, lower 600s, and even into 2007, there were 574 takeoff and landing accidents. So it continues to be a trouble spot for pilots, and that's why we've brought the seminar back. We've updated it and we're talking about it again today. Nobody ever collided with the sky, as far as I know. But when we talk about flying close to the pavement, we're talking about close to the ground, at the edge of the aircraft's performance envelope, with ever-changing conditions and environment. Our airplanes are relatively fragile, and we're using skills at a road over time. I'll admit, as a student, I spent probably too many practice sessions only in the pattern because it's something that you practice a lot as a student. But over time, you may do just one takeoff and one landing, hopefully, on every flight. So those skills do erode, and it is all about practice. There's both art and science to takeoffs and landings. We can't always just do it by the book. It isn't black and white. There's a lot of judgment, and preparation and study certainly help. You can actually compare it to learning a foreign language. It's good to study, it's good to practice, but just over time, you get a feel for it. So preparation and study is wonderful. It's how we learn, but it's all about keeping that up. I'm sure you've all heard the saying, what goes up must come down again. We like to say, what comes down must be able to go back up again. And it helps if you can do that without the help of a crane. This was a gear-up accident, and the bottom line really is to do this safely without an accident. So let's jump right into takeoffs. This is one thing that some pilots suffer from, hyper-applicatus tobrachitis. It's a condition resulting from high foot placement on the rudder pedals. Symptoms include inadvertent brake actuation, extended takeoff roll, loss of directional control. Have any of you had students with clown shoe syndrome? Or maybe you yourself have clown shoe syndrome. So that's one thing that we'll talk about today. I don't know if anyone has ever been in an airplane taking off, and the passengers or co-pilot says, that was a really nice takeoff. You don't hear it very often, right, even if it was a good takeoff. But still, there are some real issues, even though we tend to just take it for granted that it's a simple act. It's clearly not when you look at the statistics. You're at a high angle of attack with a low airspeed, but increasing airspeed and energy, increasing altitude and high engine stress. So that sometimes is a recipe for disaster. In fact, takeoffs are ten times deadlier than landings. These are 2006 statistics. The trends don't change a whole lot. In 2006, there were 2% of the accidents in landings were fatal versus 20% in takeoffs. So it's worth a discussion. We'll look at some of the basic techniques and some trouble spots that pilots encounter when they're taking off. It's a good idea before every takeoff to run through some mental preparation and a pre-flight briefing to yourself or even out loud before every flight when I'm holding short at the end of the runway. I actually verbalize, sometimes I'm talking to myself, but I always verbalize what I'll do on a normal takeoff and what I'll do if the unexpected happens. So you are prepared and you don't have to think about it if an emergency occurs and you're already ready for it. So mentally prepare for that, even if you're just in your mind thinking about it. If you're with another pilot, I find that it helps to say it out loud because maybe they have some ideas too and you can also talk about splitting the duties of flying the plane versus the radio calls and it's all mapped out and you're already before you even do the takeoff roll. Under normal conditions, a takeoff should be a smooth, gradual transition to flight. You don't want to hold the aircraft on the runway too long and you also don't want to pull it off the runway. So let's look at an example of what a normal takeoff should look like. We should all say nice takeoff. We should get in the habit of saying that. Things to look for. There are some things that happen on takeoff that sound really simple and they can just be minor distractions but if they get out of hand, they can lead to big problems. Things like door latches, it should be just a distraction but when you actually are in flight and you don't abort on the ground that can lead to problems. Control locks still being in place. That's not the end of the runway but what's around the runway that can create turbulence, crosswinds and problems like that on takeoff. Foot placement. We talked briefly about clown shoe syndrome knowing where your feet are on the pedals versus the brakes. And then the wind. Loss of directional control because of winds and gussy conditions. So let's talk about that. That's a major trouble spot. We've seen accidents occur with directional control in crosswind conditions. Make sure when you're taking off in a crosswind, the ailerons are into the wind. You roll them out gradually. Use rudder inputs and hold that aircraft off the ground until you have positive and you want positive lift off. When I was learning, when I was a student, I would always ask my instructor how much aileron, how much rudder and the answer always was as much as it takes. There's no formula for that. It depends on what the conditions are and it's good to be aggressive with that and control the aircraft before it gets out of control. Other things to watch for terrain and tall grass these are all going to impact how the aircraft takes off by slowing the aircraft grabbing at the tires and you'll need a longer roll. A rough surface is going to try to bounce the aircraft early and you want to make sure that it doesn't bounce off too early but you also don't want to hold the aircraft on the ground too long which could result in a prop damage. This is what we see on dark nights. This causes problems with VFR pilots especially if it's a dark moonless night and all of a sudden after takeoff you have to go on the gauges. That has caused some accidents as well. Density altitude this is a factor not just in mountainous areas on a hot human day density altitude has a large impact on takeoff and it's something to be aware of during your pre-flight briefing conditions and let's talk a little bit more about that. Here's a video of what appears to be a normal takeoff. Let's look at what happens. So far so good. Let's look at the rest of the story. There were four adult occupants of this aircraft along with 271 pounds of baggage 60 gallons of fuel in the temperature was 107 degrees that day. Let's look at the rest of that takeoff. There just happened to be you can see the courtesy of a news station there just happened to be a news crew at the airport that day shooting some B-roll for an airport story they were doing and they caught that on tape. The 60 gallons of fuel was found at the accident site so that was in the aircraft how much already spilled out we don't know there could have been more. The 107 degree temperature was the temperature in the community that day so over the hot asphalt probably much higher than that. Two people died in that accident to survive so when we talk about takeoffs having fatalities and consequences that is quite a graphic depiction of what can happen. Let's talk briefly about the go or no go decision. There should be again part of that pre-flight takeoff briefing that you do under what conditions will you not go will you abort? As you're rolling is the engine throttling up smoothly producing full power? Is the aircraft accelerating normally? If anything is abnormal the sooner you abort the better. Here's a rule of thumb. I'm sorry maybe you thought there would be no math today but a little bit of math I'll help you through it. A rule of thumb if you're not at half the stall speed by one quarter of the runway it's a good idea to abort so for example if you are aircraft stalls at 50 you would want to be at 25 knots by the 1,000 foot for example of a 4,000 foot runway. That means everything's accelerating normally and you're in good shape. If that's not happening abort. Also don't waste runway. Sometimes when we're taxiing on to the runway we kind of make a wide arching turn it's best to use as much of the runway as possible and start right at the end as depicted in the illustration. So the abort window if you take a look at the airspeed at which you abort there's a very very large difference in the amount of runway. If you abort at 30 knots it's only 250 feet. If you stop while you're at 60 knots you need a thousand feet. So you can see that can lead to problems especially if you're at a short field. Obviously many more reasons to abort early and that's why that rule of thumb is a good rule to follow. Examples such as distractions like we talked about in an open door not a big deal right? But the sooner you abort the better because if you wait it could be a big deal if you go off the end of the runway for example cockpit smoke not a big deal if you're still on the runway but it's a symptom of a much larger problem and you don't want to have to deal with that up in the air if you can avoid it. Short and soft field with a short field you want to use flaps instead of the runway apply full power and then release your brakes and after lift off you'll be climbing out at VX for a short field. Let's take a look at one example of that. And now a brief discussion on soft fields you want to roll right on to the runway without stopping keep that nose high fly into ground effect and then ease the pressure off. Here's an example of a soft field takeoff. Was that a good soft field takeoff? Did anyone notice what was wrong with it? He was stopped at the end of the runway so if it were a true soft field takeoff you would want to keep rolling and that was more of a short field stopping at the end of the runway and holding the brakes. So not the best example in that regard. So when we talk about short field here's sorry more math here's another rule of thumb to use for a short field a 50-50 solution and that just means add 50% to the distance in your POH for takeoff over a 50-foot obstacle. So for example if your POH says you need 1200 feet add 600 to it and your new runway minimum is 1800. If you use that rule of thumb and you already know beforehand then there's no question when you look at the runway length you already know you need at least 1800 feet. Also remember that you probably won't in fact you won't make booked numbers even if your aircraft is new I don't know if we have any test pilots here but the POH numbers are as we know based on a new aircraft flown by a test pilot so it's good to add that safety margin to those numbers. Time to talk about landings. Something else that some pilots suffer from spasticus short finalitis. This is characterized by rapid erratic control movements during approach and landing and if a CFI is present you'll often hear take over or your airplane. It is wonderful when we can do beautiful landings and impress all of our passengers especially if there's another pilot on board right that's what you want to do your best landing but really it's not a beauty contest. Don't overthink it again just like with takeoffs you want to do it safely that's the number one thing and it sounds funny but it's true the bad ones are usually they feel a lot worse than they look so anyone watching they might not think it's that bad even though it feels really bad in the airplane our basic goals on landing are to get from the traffic pattern transition to the ground in a smooth controlled manner without touching the edges of the aerodynamic envelope and we want to use a reasonable amount of runway the greaser that we all strive for where you can't even feel the wheels touched down that's what we all want right it's not always the best thing to do sometimes you just need the airplane down on the ground and planted so it won't bounce it won't take off again you just need it down. High winds turbulence cross winds and even short fields these are examples of sometimes where you just need the airplane down and it doesn't have to be beautiful or smooth you just don't want to harm the airplane no accidents and safety those are our goals here's an airline example of this so the airplane that was obviously a very firm touchdown but it was safe they made it down and that's what is good in some conditions there's more than one way to land an airplane obviously there may be as many techniques as there are pilots in the room right now but there are some basic things that are necessary for all successful landings so I'm not here to change your technique or change the way you land do what works for you but there are some common things that are common on all landings and we'll talk about those things the necessities horizontal, vertical and longitudinal alignment and airspeed control these are the things that are common for all landings if those four things if you don't have those four things that's when we have problems and that's when accidents can occur so we'll look at those four topics today now you'll have to think back to a bad landing some time ago we don't want to admit but just admit to yourself that you've had a bad landing think back to it and when did that chain start the chain of events that led to a bad landing or a problem it probably didn't start during the flare it probably started much before that bad landing can result in misjudged descent from crews even a last minute ATC request something non-standard and unexpected problems on landing unfamiliar field not knowing the airport and the environment around it traffic issues again things that are non-standard and abnormal or unexpected weather all of these things as far back as crews can affect the landing so it's a good idea during the approach to have the airplane collected or to have those four things that we talked about set up properly within range and stable but at what point should you really be stable as a general rule 300 to 400 feet above the runway is a good time to have everything stabilized so all you have to concentrate on is finishing that final approach and going into the flare transition this will vary with pilots and circumstances depending on the experience level of the pilot depending on what you're flying and how comfortable you are your currency and the circumstances such as the environment, the field and the weather so have your own policy this is something you should think about beforehand and if you're not at that stabilized approach by that time frame that you've already set for yourself it's a good idea to go around and get set up again so you'll do a proper landing the runway shape will change on final approach depending on if you're high or low or on a normal glide path approach to the runway these shapes and that's what it looks like it's a good thing for student pilots to study this because this is something that as you fly and do more practice you really just get a feel for this and a feel for how the airplane is reacting on final and whether you're high or low or right on so the shapes are something to have in the back of your mind but the more you fly, the more comfortable you'll get with this the aiming point it's a good idea to look at a point in the windscreen match it up with your aiming point and where that point moves or whether it moves will determine whether you're gaining altitude, decreasing or if you're right on target if that spot is moving up that means that you're getting lower if it moves down then you're getting higher and if it stays right at that same place in the windscreen then you're right on your aiming point let's look at an example of each of those three there's an example of the spot on the windscreen moving up the bar is aligned with the aiming points but you can see how it's changing here's an example where that spot in the windscreen is moving down so the airplane is getting higher in this example the bar is lined up with the aiming point and not moving it remains right on the aiming points this is a great approach I would recommend not putting a piece of duct tape on the windscreen to mark your line so the planes I fly I can usually find a bug to line up with the aiming point but whatever works, whatever point just don't put a bar on your windscreen forward slips, this is a great tool to have in your toolkit sometimes when we're learning how to fly we think oh I can't slip because I just need a little bit of adjustment it doesn't have to be it doesn't have to be a major adjustment to use a slip just know how to transition in and out of them gradually, smoothly and successfully here's one example of a successful forward slip so just something to kind of carry in your back pocket and have in your toolkit just in case airspeed energy management is so important on landing that it's one of those four things we talked about so it's clearly not everything you have to worry about on landing but it just may be the most important airspeed is energy and landing is all about managing that energy if you have excess or insufficient energy that's when you'll have some problems you can see that even just a slight change in the airspeed will give you problems even a few extra knots will give you a lot more distance and you'll float down the runway and we'll see some examples of that as well so managing the energy is really key Goldilocks we don't want the porridge too hot or too cold we want it just right so we'll use the Goldilocks principle when we talk about landing we don't want too cold we don't want to get too slow stall the aircraft that's bad news we don't want too hot and float down the runway again even this is even worse with short field conditions we want it just right let's take a look at this video I was able to get a drink of water during that one so you can see how long they they floated down the runway be careful you never know where the air safety foundation camera crew will be just hang out at these airfields and get fodder for our next seminar another trouble spot is the flare and I will admit since I'm telling stories on myself that my solo t-shirt does have a little note from my instructor that I was miss no flare I'm actually familiar with these problems the three-point landing is a problem when there's no flare let's take a look at that we'll see it in slow-mo here three-point landing the drop in happens when you flare too high you flare a few feet above where you should and then it just falls from there let's take a look at that you flare that high the airplane's done flying the wings are done flying and it just drops in another example is a bounce that can occur after a flat landing so if it doesn't land flat and then roll out you can bounce and again not good for the aircraft not good for the pilot ego either I guess and the last one is the float which we saw demonstrated here's a side-by-side with the normal landing and then a float okay so there's four examples of having trouble with the flare let's talk a little bit more about airspeed control and having excess or insufficient airspeed if the wing is not done flying yet there's excess energy it's going to keep flying until it's getting ready to land if it was done flying a few feet, five feet above the runway then it's done flying and it's going to come down so managing that energy again is really important and let's look at a couple examples of this here's an example of too much energy too much airspeed and then one that had insufficient energy or airspeed here's an example of that pitch control judging pitch using depth perception to judge your height above the runway is really important and being able to judge properly makes a difference between a good landing and a bad landing as far as the flare is concerned here's a look at normal flare and then no flare at all in this example I think what finally helped me since I told you I've had some problems with this what finally helped me was really getting a feel for looking down the runway it's very easy to we're looking at that aiming point right to keep looking at the aiming point but as you transition from the approach to the flare you really need to shift your gaze down the end of the runway and here's an illustration of how to do that it really helps you judge the height above and how to transition into the flare so you're looking where you want to land on approach and right before you as you transition to the flare change your gaze to the end of the runway and it really helps you know when to start that flare briefly leveling out the aircraft is another one of those things to have in your toolkit it's a good thing to have in case you need it it's okay not to go straight from approach to flare you can briefly level out kind of get a feel for what the airplane is going to do so much of this is getting a feel for it and being familiar with your airplane and its characteristics so it's okay to do that it sometimes helps with ballooning and to avoid ballooning also some students have what we call ground shyness where they're aiming at the runway on approach and they're afraid that they're going to actually crash into the runway this helps with it approaching, aiming to the runway leveling out and transitioning to the flare that tends to help students to avoid that ground shyness as well failure to flare has can damage a pilot's ego but let's look at what it does to the airplane the nose wheel think of it as steering gear not landing gear you want to land on the main gear because the firewall and the nose wheel of most airplanes are not designed to handle the large amounts of stress that can happen when you don't flare and we have another video that kind of situation when it's a really flat landing it really stresses the aircraft so it's not good for that everyone in here flies just a variety of different airplanes so I'm really not going to get too much into what each type of airplane their characteristics because we just don't have the time to do that but it's something to be aware of and to know about the airplanes that you usually fly the wing design whether it's high or low loading and how it stalls the characteristics that can affect the landing high and low wing aircraft that's going to affect the landing as well and whether the airframe is clean as well as control forces some airplanes if you've flown a few different airplanes some of them are really heavy and the control forces as you land sometimes you need both hands that's okay just know what it takes for that airplane and for you landing gear, get a feel for how it reacts on landing and also the CG of your aircraft whether your nose heavy or you have an aft CG these are all things that in that situation will change on each flight so this should be part as well as that pre-flight briefing just like your takeoff briefing you should do a pre landing briefing and be familiar so if you're high on final you pitch down to correct for that altitude you're going to build up airspeed right? excess energy will result from that as we talked about this is energy management if you add to that an inpatient pilot we might have some problems let's look at an example of that a lot of the things that we've talked about so far with takeoffs and landings are all about how the wing flies and the aerodynamics involved the Aerosafety Foundation does have an aerodynamics course on our website asf.org slash aerodynamics it's not your college level aerodynamics course we actually make aerodynamics fun you have to see it to believe it it can be done we do have many other courses on our website but this is a really good one as you're studying mastering takeoffs and landings so I hope you'll all check that out on our website let's look at a pilot perspective on landings from Mr. Ron Machado minutes to go around and make a complete circuit in the traffic pattern the actual act of landing flare which is the difficult part takes place in about the last 15 seconds the problem is this in the last 15 seconds the most critical part of the landing for most people that happens very quickly airspeed bleeds off very quickly an airplane settles very quickly it's hard to anticipate ground closure so what you need is a time machine and the best time machine to have is right there on the panel you can call the throttle and when you come down to flare you do the round out typically you bring your power all the way back I'm suggesting as long as you have a long enough runway now this is the key add a little bit of power just a little bit to create smooth air flow over the horizontal stabilizer and how much power that is it really typically varies with the aircraft but maybe an extra 200 rpm maybe an extra 2 inches of manifold pressure what that does is it minimizes your ground closure rate and allows you to anticipate exactly how you should start the round out and the flare and thereby giving you a much better chance of making a smoother landing now there are a lot of ways to make smooth landings but in terms of the best technique that you have where one size fits all that's what I would recommend I would also say that for any students in the room or even private pilots that are having problems judging when to flare something Rod said helped more than something I said I think it's a good idea to fly with a different flight instructor because if they might say something different that really helps you you see if I shouldn't get offended by that it's a good idea to get a different perspective then go back with your other instructor and use that information to improve your landings again talking about the wear and tear on your aircraft because of some of these issues stomping on the brakes is not a good idea it can have some serious effect on the aircraft as illustrated in the tire photo here watch your foot position make sure that you're only on the brakes if you want to be on the brakes and that you're not inadvertently breaking excessively again airspeed control will help with this and you won't have that need let's look at an example of excessive breaking that's not necessary and if you are managing the airspeed correctly then you shouldn't have to do that so just something again to be aware of crosswind since this is something that causes a lot of problems directional control and loss of directional control something worth discussing in depth do we have military or former military pilots in here if you're on a navy ship hey no problem with the crosswind turn the ship into the crosswind if you're in the air force just turn the landing gear the B-52 you don't want to land it in a crab the wings are a little low so you use the crosswind landing gear and land in a crab here's an example that would be fantastic to have on the archer eye fly but hasn't happened yet so for the rest of us we just have to cope with crosswind and that comes into training and practicing remember that as the pilot in command you're the boss how much correction does it take as much as it takes there's no black and white rule be aggressive on the controls so you're properly correcting for that wind and also use enough rudder availability as much as you need but how much rudder is available you don't want to exceed what the aircraft can handle so it may not be illegal to land in more than the maximum demonstrated crosswind that's in the POH the aircraft can probably handle it but I would really question a pilot's judgment if you do that you'll be in test pilot mode in that case and it's really not a good idea you have to have your own basic personal minimums and limitations as well as those of your aircraft and they work hand in hand you may hear some pilots say oh I landed in a 25 not wind sometimes you'll hear that but that's probably the total wind and not just the crosswind component if you're landing in if you're doing the math again it's a very good idea to stay within the POH numbers and not exceed the maximum demonstrated so crosswind technique landing in a crosswind hold the aileron into the wind and the rudder to point the aircraft towards the nose towards the runway and touch down with the upwind main landing gear first then the downwind and then the nose should be last another video to demonstrate this some crosswind issues that you might run into use the minimum flaps needed for the runway length remember that the flaps will extend the surface area and that's just more surface area of the wing for the wind to push against so use the minimum needed above that as we talked about above the max demonstrated crosswind you're the test pilot in a very windy situation you probably don't want to be the test pilot so use your best judgment and short field take into account how long the runway itself is we talked about minimum flaps in a crosswind situation but if you're landing on a short field you want to use full flaps if you're debating whether you want to use minimum flaps for the wind or maximum flaps for the runway length it's probably time to find a new runway that's probably the safest choice is just to go somewhere else in that situation I think we want to get into a debate about crab versus slip we don't really have the time here and it might get kind of wild so everyone has a preference I would just say do what works for you everyone's personal preference is fine take into account the time you'll need to adjust and do that transition versus also your passenger comfort what's best for those onboard your airplane just do what works for you and transition at some point so loss of directional control causes many problems in crosswind situations we have to really be on top of it and know how much to correct for as the airspeed drops you'll need more control input and you'll need to maintain that after touchdown when you're on approach and you've checked ATIS or AWAS and you get the winds and you do a wind check you'll have in your mind a certain wind that you'll be correcting for but that may change and the wind most likely will get a little less around so fly the wind that actually exists not what you have in your mind that should be there really understand the wind that is there so let's look at another video talking about needing more control input in this case there just wasn't enough correction on the approach and the aircraft got blown in the crosswind and here's an example of not maintaining that correction after landing if it's a really windy day and you have your controls in your aileron, your rudder you're so happy with maintaining centerline it feels so great and then you touch down and you're oh I made it that's what can happen you have to keep the controls in or actually when you're on the runway you can get blown to the side because the wind is still there even though you're on the runway and you've made it turbulence this is another trouble spot as you approach the runway but it can add a bubble to your approach and this is what it can look like right as they approach the hot air over the runway there's a little bit of rise there so be aware that that might happen if you're flying in those conditions that also adds to ground effect the opposite can happen if there's cool creeks and rivers the aircraft could have some sink on approach so be familiar with the airport that you're approaching a lot of locals they really know what to expect in these quarks if you're at your own airport if you're at an unfamiliar field just be aware before you go what the environment is so you can be prepared for these things same with terrain and obstructions all of this you just have to know what's around the airport because it can all influence your landing and if you need to be ready to go around there's a great example of maybe you should have gone around this was someone who made a video and he was pretty shaken up by that as you can see when we talk about it felt worse in the airplane than it looks it looks bad enough and it probably felt even worse so maybe in that case it would be best to just go around in short field it's really important to maintain that aiming point on the windscreen use just enough airspeed to transition properly to the flare but you don't want to get too far on a short field okay I've done a lot of talking does anyone else want to volunteer does anyone have a landing tip that you'd like to share and I'll add you don't have to be a CFI to have a good landing tip some shy pilots here today yes a light aircraft you want to install the plane on to the runway without holding excess energy you mean just holding enough airspeed so you're transitioning to the flare without stalling it so again that's something that would be to fly it all the way into the flare and then cutting full power that goes back to the airplane characteristics of your specific airplane but yeah there is definitely a difference right that can always make a that makes a difference but just to simply stall the plane right on to the runway and it makes for a smooth landing instead of forcing it on and the more you fly that airplane the more you get used to that it's hard to transition to something different that's true we're down to about 10 minutes I'm going to move along on a few more slides and there'll be more opportunity for question at the end I want to add so runway conditions can impact the landing as well grass will be slicker and will affect braking you'll have to there'll be reduced braking and if the grass has a dew or frost on it then it will even add more to the slickness a rough surface will bounce the aircraft so there'll be less effectiveness on the braking because there's not that constant impact on the surface so be aware that it will take longer to roll out in that situation same with standing water on the runway and hydroplaning and again reduced braking action go around we looked at that landing where it really should have been a go around some pilots don't like to admit defeat in other cases you just haven't practiced go around in a while you might not be comfortable with them it's a good idea to mentally prepare yourself under what conditions will you go around then you're not having that internal debate as you're approaching you're already ready to go around the longer you wait the worse it's going to be the caveat here is if you've already made it to the runway as with that landing we saw it was a really rough approach and you made it stay down it's just going to be worse if you try to go around again some go around mistakes we've touched on this was an accident that was a classic landing accident a few years ago in mountain air airport in north carolina the pilot came in high and fast bounced on the runway bounced again a few hundred feet down the runway as you can see the runway is at the top of a mountain and it's only 2800 2900 feet long by 50 feet it veered off the runway crashed into some parked cars and there were three fatalities so again a really unfortunate graphic depiction of what can happen when a bad landing turns into an accident okay so enough of the doom and gloom what happens when it's right when it all comes together air speeds on target good pitch attitude good gradual transition let's look at two examples of when it goes right and one more so that's when all those four things are all collected at the beginning of the approach and a smooth transition short rollout you'll impress your passengers and the aircraft will love you too so to wrap up a few things on landing alignment horizontally vertically and longitudinally and airspeed control the most important thing of those four know what you can handle today know what you can handle at that point the environment your currency your comfort with the aircraft you're flying don't think about what you used to do it doesn't matter what just matters is what can you do that one day don't let the airplane control you you're in control if there's a crosswind don't let the aircraft be blown off the centerline put in enough aggressive control to maintain the aircraft and if you're thinking about going around if that even crosses your mind you should probably go around don't have an internal debate you go with your gut instinct and it's probably right it's always better than waiting too long and now what you've all been waiting for the secret to making those perfect landings from Mr. Barry Schiff let's hear what he has to say about it I don't know I've been asked many times about landing and I don't think there is a secret to it I think that it happens and when it does you're grateful and thankful that it does and a lot of it has to do with what you feel in your fingertips what you feel through the seat of your pants I've made approaches to landings I thought we're going to wind up in devastation and the airplane squeaked on the ground and I never felt it on the other hand I've done everything perfectly on the ground in a most embarrassing way I don't think there are secrets except to say it takes a great deal of practice to achieve a level of suitable satisfaction something you're happy with all the time the perfect landing is an accident it's a free okay so there's no secret it's an accident it just happened but it's still good to practice obviously to make better landings I thank you all for coming the Air Safety Foundation has we talked about the aerodynamics course we have many other online interactive courses free of charge for all pilots on our website ASF.org other articles and safety publications are there as well and we're also over in AOPA's tent and we encourage you all to stop by and chat with us today so thank you very much for coming I'm available for questions that you might have we do have a few more minutes so if anyone has any questions yes short field takeoff but not all pilot operating handbooks call for flaps on short field takeoffs that's a great point this is more a general rule but that's a great point is to get some transition training when you're going to a new aircraft if you're familiar with flying short fields and soft fields a certain way that's a great point that not all aircraft will require the same procedures thank you great thank you all very much thank you stay right here well that was pretty interesting all that time that we spent practicing takeoff and landings I did notice one thing you said that flaps should be used as appropriate most of the people that I see having trouble with landings they're always in the full flap position and when I ask them why are you landing full flap on every landing I got an interesting answer well that's what the airlines do well they're different kind of airplanes good point so we need to fly the airplane that we've got not somebody else absolutely and for the conditions that's right so now that the Air Safety Foundation has made this presentation on takeoff and landings do you think we'll be able to apply any of that on our next flight absolutely I hope so I hope everyone takes away at least a little nugget of information to apply yes absolutely that's one of the things I won't do on the next flight and we'll try not to have a video camera there when you do those mistakes any other questions well we've got another show coming up here at 11.30 and it's John and Martha King and they'll be talking about operational risk management not just the theory of it so please come back and join us for John and Martha King