because of that long blue radial line on the airspeed gauge). If you want to know what the deal
is with Vyse and why it is so vital to safe operation of a piston twin, then again, read the POH!
3.
When your intended runway touchdown spot gets behind your shoulder on about a 45
degree angle, then turn to your base leg. When the runway is at your ten o’clock position (no
wind), then turn to final approach. When you are about one to two miles from the approach
zone of the runway and the runway is clear and then commit to landing. Extend your flaps to
full down, and use your rudders to make very fine adjustments as necessary to remain on
runway centerline. As you approach the runway leading edge, smoothly throttle back to idle
and keep the nose pointed at your runway aim point (which should be about 300 feet prior to
your intended touchdown point).
4.
When you are about a half a wing length above the runway (hopefully on centerline)
rotate the nose to level and watch the airspeed bleed down. (In real aviation, this become
more a feel of listening to the airstream plus gauging the speed of the ground rushing by as you
keep your eyes glued to the far edge of the runway to maintain orientation). As the speed
bleeds down close to stall speed, pull the yoke a bit more aft so you touchdown on the main
landing gear (this is called the flare).
In summary, good landings are essentially all about pitch, power and speed control. When you
need to increase descent rate, you reduce power and pitch the nose down. When you need to
decrease descent rate, you add power and pitch the nose up. You adjust the power and the
pitch the nose at the same time – this is called “pitch and power.” Pitch and power on
approach to land are like conjoined twins – they go together and stay together!
To accurately touchdown on the optimal spot on the runway, you use a three-step process,
called “Aim, Level, Flare.” On final approach, you aim the aircraft’s nose at a spot about 300
feet prior to your desired touchdown spot on the runway. As written above, when you get
about a half a wing’s length above the runway, you pull back the yoke and rotate the nose to
level pitch. As your airspeed approaches stall speed (bottom of the white arc on your airspeed
gauge with gear and flaps down) you pull the yoke back further to the nose high flare position,
which should be about five to ten degrees nose high. Ideally, this is done in one continuously
smooth and fluid yoke motion.
At this point, you should touchdown. If you have crosswinds, then you have to use rudder to
point the nose down centerline and use the ailerons to “bank into the wind” to cancel out any
sideways drift caused by the crosswind. This is called “cross-controlling” the aircraft. This is
easy to explain, but pulling it off accurately is rightly called the “artwork of piloting.” To perfect
this we have three words: Practice, Practice, and Practice!
