Here is another chapter that I am inserting in my Seaplane and Tailwheel training manuals
…Dave
LANDINGS:
The Flight test standards for Airplanes have tasks for several different kinds of landings. 1. Normal and Xwind, 2. Soft Field, 3. Rough Water, 4. Short Field and/or Confined Space, 5. Glassy Water and 6. Emergency. Most discussion about these landings is on what is different about them. Power pilots who elect to get a glider rating soon learn that their previous training has had too much emphasis on landing (the where and how of touchdown) and too little on approaches. In this discussion we will start in the beginning and decide what is not different, (the same) about them.
DECISION: First you must decide that getting the aircraft on the surface is the most prudent thing to do. Could be that you have arrived at your destination or you can't get there. The weather has gone bad or your aircraft is malfunctioning. What ever. Waiting too long to make this decision is the cause of many fatalities when a precautionary landing was in order.
WHERE: You must choose a place and do a reconnaissance. Here is what you need to know and have going for you. (As many as you can).
1. Is it big enuf? 2. Is it close enuf? (Can you get there for sure?)
3. Does it have an acceptable surface? 4. is it level or sloped which way?
5. Is a headwind available or what winds will you have to deal with.
Also consider current if it is a river.
6. Can you land away from the sun for better visibility? Wires etc.
7. Is access for rescue and/or retrieval nearby?
COMMIT: Unless you subsequently discover a severe hazard don't switch to something that looks like it might be better.
APPROACH THE OBSTACLE: There is always an obstacle. Something which you must go above and beyond. For glassy water or snow it could be your last reliable height reference. If you pass the obstacle no higher and no faster than you need to be the subsequent landing will be the best it could be.
FLAIR TO A LANDING ATTITUDE: A flair is a gentle reduction in vertical speed. Not a "hockey stop". I describe it as a "round out" and these are the words used in the Flight Test Standards. Where you do this flair depends on the availability of good depth perception. Could be in or way above ground affect, also depending on the availability of power for the next move. If power is available and space is not limited there is no need to be close to the surface. If you do it closer than you need to, someday you will be distracted and it will reach up and grab you.
FLY THE AIRCRAFT TO THE SURFACE: Here is the first place that you adjust your speed and attitude to accommodate the surface you are approaching. Up to this point you adjusted power, lift and drag to accommodate approach conditions not surface conditions.
1. If the surface is smooth, hard, dry and not short your biggest problem is the wind speed, direction and gusts. Change the word "dry" to "ice" and you lose half your ability to handle the wind after touchdown. Make it "downwind" also and the rest goes. How you handle it depends on the configuration of the aircraft. There is no standard technique. The points in the test standards are that the touchdown be aligned with the landing path with no drift. Also it must be at or a limited distance beyond a specified point. So much for normal and crosswind.
2. For Seaplanes normal is soft so the techniques are similar to wheels, The problem is a lot of drag after touch down to be coped with. This means that extra airflow over the elevators from the prop will help hold the tail down. Drag is related to speed and weight so flaps help but too much flap cuts off the air to the elevators, -- Catch 22. The Test standards emphasize a soft touchdown so trying to get too slow resulting in a stall and drop is a no - no.
3. Landing in a confined space is defined as (a) Having maximum visibility by landing away from the sun, (b) Maximum utilization of low terrain for the approach. (c) Maximum utilization of wind and current and (d) Maximum utilization of the landing surface available. As you can see only the last item has to be adjusted for the type of surface, the rest is approach. The PTS calls for accuracy in the touchdown point followed by breaking action as appropriate for the surface.
4. Landing in a rough field or rough water is helped a lot by doing a stall landing into the wind. This cuts down the time it takes to get stopped, hence less pounding. This doesn't work if the roughness is an undulating field or swells on the water. What happens then is several hard stall landings and busted butts. The PTS says to have the proper pitch attitude and the proper airspeed considering the type of rough surface.
5. Landing in snow, glassy water or at night means that you will not have the ability to flair in ground affect as in a normal approach. The only safe way is to flair to a landing attitude using a reliable altitude reference and fly the aircraft down to the surface. (a "stabilized approach"). If this is very far you will need power to keep the descent rate reasonable, It is better to plop in than to bore a hole.
FLY THE AIRCRAFT UNTIL IT STOPS: In a full stall landing you are temporarily out of the control of the bird. You get it back after touchdown. If a stall landing is called for try to do it with only a few inches to fall. Otherwise an undesirable attitude change may occur.
THE STABILIZED APPROACH: As it's done by airliners is similar to a Glassy Water landing wherein the aircraft is configured at a landing attitude, flaps, power setting, airspeed etc. all the way down final to touchdown. They usually fly the glideslope. As they do it they hang out a lot of drag and balance it with a lot of power. Ground affect cushions the decent rate. Small planes mostly make their approaches as Gliders. Some carry a little power or Zero Thrust but we all get there by pointing down and acquiring induced thrust from the wings. We modify our approach by adding drag with flaps and slips. As we pass thru the wind gradient we maintain our ground speed by modifying our pitch or drag or power. The PTS refers to having a stabilized approach. I interoperate this to mean a continuous relatively smooth controlled approach to our obstacle at which point things change.
FORWARD SLIPS: Turn the aircraft sideways to the relative wind and you have an affective air brake. A windmilling prop is also an airbrake. It doesn't make any sense to slip with power on. You wouldn't leave your right foot on the gas and brake with your left in your car when going down a steep hill. A Glider has other drag devices, which you are not to use when demonstrating a slip for the PTS. What the PTS wants is a ground track aligned with the intended landing path and a glideslope controlled by varying pitch and drag.
GO-AROUND/REJECTED LANDING: The PTS says "Makes a timely decision to discontinue the approach to landing" As I said above, " if you arrive at the obstacle at the right altitude and the right airspeed the subsequent landing will be the best it can be". BAD landings have two causes, - Bad reconnaissance and Bad approachs. If you see a bad landing coming, once you enter Ground Affect it is usually too late to save it. Glider pilots are trained to approach. Power pilots are trained to land, assuming they will never become an involuntary Glider pilot. Simulated emergency landings are rarely continued to the surface. "Timely" Show me a pilot who has made a bad landing and didn't know it was going bad before he entered Ground Affect and I'll show you a one D ten T.
TOUCH & GO'S: They don't count at night or in tailwheel airplanes. Why instructors who are being paid by the hour to teach in an airplane that is rented by the hour think that they are being efficient by teaching touch and go's is hard to understand. Accident statistics show that they are doing a dis-service. They are teaching their students to be comfortable with trying to go-around after touchdown. Teach complete landings, "Stop and go's". Better yet take some time to taxi and talk.
SITUATIONAL AWARENESS: Landing is like flying into a funnel, the further you go the fewer options you have. Make your choices to keep your options at a maximum. Be reluctant to do things that tend to commit you to a narrow path. (like applying full flaps). Coping with variable conditions is a lot easier when there are few surprises. Pay attention while doing your reconnaissance.
Dave