Just made a lovely trip from Llanberis in N. Wales to Dublin Intl airport Ireland, great to practice level flight etc. longest trip so far in my Cessna 152
But it got me thinking - when on a trip like that where you are over water, no landmarks, the airport is practically coastal, how do you know when to descend and go to final approach etc??
The flight-planner actually worked this time, ATC was on-board too. I even sat at Dublin in the drone cam and watched the planes coming and going for a while so even that was working
That’s a demanding situation for every student pilot.
How to proceed ?
Even with a Cessna 152 one normally follows the published traffic circuit. Try to get the AIP, where you find the traffic circuit for every airfield. When you enter downwind, normally you will be 800 to 1000 ft above ground. Try out some power setttings and flap settings during base and final yourself. Maybe 1700 rpm will be ok when there is no wind. But as a student pilot, the instuctor would not let you fly alone at stronger winds either.
One or two hints:
The elevator sets the airspeed , with the rpm you set the decend rate !!
So trim your good old Cessna to hold 60 to 65 knots during final. Do the rest with the throttle mainly.
…
In real flying a student pilot needs between 50 t0 100 landings
(always at the same airfiled and mostly in favourable weahter conditions) before his first solo.
Only practice helps !!!
Wish you a lot of fun and happy landings !
Sadly enough many students retire at the stage where the training of the landing is the major part .
But mostly, these unhappy students did not have an appropriate flight instructor.
This black and white, pitch = speed and power = glidepath is a very outdated philosophy. Nowadays speed and glidepath control is considered as a combination of both pitch and power.
This sim is really excellent for learning flying.
When I fly in my BĂĽcker in real, I sometimes ask me just out of curiosity and fun, where is the difference !
For you only, as a dedicated student pilot, let me comment on:
“The elevator sets the airspeed , with the rpm you set the decend rate !!
So trim your good old Cessna to hold 60 to 65 knots during final. Do the rest with the throttle mainly.”
At final, when you think you reach the airfield with your present settings just relax and continue with your setting.
When you feel you come short, ease in the throttle .
And NOT by pulling up.
When you feel you are too high at final, just reduce power.
And always stay calm !!! Training in the sim will help a looooootttttt .
Trying to use throttle and power simultaneously in the final is unmanageable for a student pilot.
And in some situations for a professional too.
But sometimes, for example as in strong downwinds, you have to ( stick forward, and full power) !
Yet now, we cannot train that with the sim, - maybe next year this possibility will exist.
And with much heavier airplanes as our C152 you may also use throttle and elevator together during approach and flare.
One hint for the final flare in your C152/172 :
When you feel you should begin to flare, always try to check the airspeed during flare permanently (that needs a lot of exercise and trust into your machine) AND stop from staring at the touchdown point like under a spell , but rather stare into the distance now. So it becomes easier to dose your stick input.That even works with a 2D monitor, and still much better in real. So you’ll get a smooth unexited flare.
When you manage one day to check the airspeed permanently during the whole flare then you will have gained the confidence into the machine and your skills you need for pleasant flights .
Wish you the best ! You’ll be a good pilot, I’m sure !
Bye, walter
What does “checking the airspeed permanently” mean? I have never heard of this technique, I have been an instructor for many years and a commercial pilot for many more years. The key-points are: crossing the threshold at 50 ft at the correct speed, upon initiation of flare you shift the focus from the aiming point markers (“blocks”) to the end of the runway, from this moment onwards speed is not something worth checking.
Thanks,
Its pretty much where I’m at, right hand fully on the throttle, left on the yoke, 60 knots, 300-500fpm descent rate, i’ve not crashed for a long time now, just working on hitting the centreline better.
I have a couple of videos on my YT channel where I went up in the recent UK storms this week, I managed a full throttle landing into 30+ knots headwind, it just did not want to land, I stopped the engine after and the prop carried on spinning It was almost impossible to taxi to parking, great fun.
Trying to be more precise: a glance at the airspeed indicator about every 2 to 3 seconds in a C 152 with the blink of an eye.
A student pilot can’t do that ad hoc. But he may try to get this good habit.
In very gusty weather, only checking the airspeed during flare gives you real control over the plane, and not just let it fly you.
Especially in an ultralight, when gusts throw you up and down and airspeed and vertical speed change very quickly.
For heavy planes that’s not the case. These planes have a lot of impulse and inertia.
But the flight student flies a C152.
That’s very good news !!!
Maybe it’s time to try real flying at a flight school for 10 minutes in calm weather, just for one traffic circuit.
You are less stressed when you fly from a grass airfield, There is’nt this dammed centerline.
(I remember very good about that )
What are you talking about? What is your definition of “flare”. Considering the aircraft is on speed at the initiation of the flare, airspeed becomes insignificant.
How does focussing on airspeed in the flare gives you “real control” over the aicraft? What are you doing with that info? The throttle is already idle…
Now you are talking about ONLY checking speed during flare, how will you land a plane only looking at the airspeed indicator?
This is a flawed technique, no instructor will teach a student to land like that. Bigger aircraft have more inertia, thats right. What is impulse supposed to mean?
Why did you have to land full throttle with a 30 kt headwind? With a headwind groundspeed is lower and therefore rate of descent for a given glide path is lower, more power required, but full throttle? Was the full throttle to correct for a gust? Otherwise I don’t see the purpose for full throttle.
In a steady headwind the aircraft should land way shorter since the groundspeed is lower. Positive windshear can cause the aircraft to float a bit, but you shouldn’t have any trouble putting it down. Make sure you pull the throttle all the way idle upon starting the flare.
The spinning prop after engine shutdown is not realistic by the way. Won’t happen in real life.
My apologies,
I just watched my videos again and the nearest one i can find (i don’t record all of them) was into a 51 knot wind at 270 landing on rwy 22, it wasn’t full throttle but much higher than usual, and the the landing was not a great one, but I think i would have walked away and also not damaged my plane It was a very bad storm. Even the takeoff was bad, probably should not go up in a storm
Lets start with the take-off. I noticed you are not using ailerons at all. Ailerons need to be deployed fully into the wind at the beginning of the take-off roll, then released as speed increases as to keep wings level (ailerons are becoming more effective as speed increases), you likely still have quite a lot of ailerons (and rudder) in at the moment of rotation in order to keep wings level and maintain centerline.
When airborne center the rudder and ailerons and let the aircraft “weathervane” into the wind. Use ailerons to adjust the crab to keep tracking the extended centerline.
But with that wind you are experiencing a 39 kts crosswind component which the C152 is not certified for, so likely you won’t be able to keep it on centerline.
For the landing, first of all keep tracking the centerline while maintaining a crab into the wind. This means that the ground track is following the centerline while the nose is pointed into the wind. Don’t use the rudder other than for maintaining coordinated flight.
At the moment you initiate the flare, use rudder to line-up the nose with the centerline (the nose is now pointing in the runway direction), simultaneously use ailerons to lower the upwind wing into the wind.
Use rudder to keep the nose parallel to the centerline, use ailerons to prevent drift and keep the aircraft laterally on the centerline. After touchdown keep the wings level by keeping ailerons into the wind! You need more and more ailerons as speed reduces until ailerons are held fully into the wind.
Next chance i get i’ll dial the conditions back in and try that, so i should be on right-yoke for that i.e. heading into the wind, balancing yoke and rudder as speed increases?
IIRC the 152 is limited to 12kts crosswind max?
As a student pilot I guess I should have not gone up for a joy-ride then TBH i was surprised I made it back
Yes initially ailerons fully into the wind, then use rudder to maintain centerline. As speed increases you need less ailerons to keep wings level. At the moment of rotation there likely is still some ailerons left but not much. When rotating the aircraft will start to bank so you need to release aileron input and at the same time release rudder input so the aircraft will establish a crab into the wind.
Any landing really, even if there is only a slight crosswind (let say 5 kts) apply ailerons fully into the wind at the beginning of the take-off roll. With a slight crosswind you just have to centralize the ailerons quicker as speed increases. Vice versa during landing roll. Just do what is needed to keep the wings level, don’t just apply ailerons into the wind based on the wind direction you received from ATIS or tower during take-off roll. Winds change. If you notice the aircraft starts to bank in the opposite direction, apply ailerons in the other direction to keep wings level. Its a bit harder to make a crosswind landing in the sim compared to real world. Its a lot better compared to other sims but its still a bit twitchy.
