New Member - scared myself today!

erikjohn19

New Member
To the pros this will be nothing but to a student pilot about to go on a checkride i freaked.. Now i am mad I freaked and should of gone around.

I fly a new 172 with g1000 and was landing on 7 at KORL today.. at the last second a gust from about 320 that blew me from the center line all the way to the right side of the runway just before i was about the flare. now this is a 150ft wide runway and i went from center line to my right gear was flying just above grass in like a second.. instead of going around i worked it over and made a messy landing.. looking back and talking to my instructor i should of asked for runway 31 and i should of gone around.. What bothers me is at the time i didnt even think to go around i just wanted to land.. needless to say i scared myself..

I love flying and I want to make a career out of this. Any advice?
http://forums.jetcareers.com/images/smilies/rolleyes.gif
 
Welcome aboard!

Good for you for analyzing what happened and asking your instructor about it.

We all botch one up now and again. Last week I messed up a circle to land at 400AGL by not correcting enough for the wind and flying too tight of a pattern. I rolled from downwind to final and immediately initiated a go-around. It's just not worth it to continue and not be stabilized down low. I'm never one to try and 'save' a landing.
 
Welcome to JC!

Good for you..... now you have one more item to place in your bag of experience, and the good sense to do some reflection on what would have worked better. And you know what? Because of this experience, next time you probably won't hesitate to go around and give it another shot!
 
I love flying and I want to make a career out of this. Any advice?

Yeah, before your training is over, you'll mess up more landings. After that, until the day you quit flying you're going to have some more bad landings. Any pilot who tells you he never has any bad landings, ever, is a liar. Just learn from your mistakes and I'm sure the next time it happens, you'll make the right call. That's why it's called experience.
 
To the pros this will be nothing but to a student pilot about to go on a checkride i freaked.. Now i am mad I freaked and should of gone around.

I fly a new 172 with g1000 and was landing on 7 at KORL today.. at the last second a gust from about 320 that blew me from the center line all the way to the right side of the runway just before i was about the flare. now this is a 150ft wide runway and i went from center line to my right gear was flying just above grass in like a second.. instead of going around i worked it over and made a messy landing.. looking back and talking to my instructor i should of asked for runway 31 and i should of gone around.. What bothers me is at the time i didnt even think to go around i just wanted to land.. needless to say i scared myself..

I love flying and I want to make a career out of this. Any advice?
http://forums.jetcareers.com/images/smilies/rolleyes.gif


Man hasn't your instructor taught you about the 3 kinds of landings?

1. A Great Landing - A great landing is one after which the airplane can be flown again with zero maintenance.


2. A Good Landing - A landing which all occupants and bystanders on the ground survive. The aircraft may, or may not be resuable.

3. The landing that kills you.

Sounds to me like you made a great landing. ;-)


Seriously, from time to time, everyone has a landing that's sloppier than they would have prefered. This was a learning experience, but remember it won't be your last. We all can learn more from our mistakes than our successes if we do as you have and taken time to analyze what you did right and where you went wrong. You are off on a great start to a long flying career, don't let a little set back harsh your buzz.
 
Hell, I cut across final at KISM and nearly nailed someone dead on as a student pilot. At the time, I wondered if I was cut out too. Just have to understand it happens, you're not Chuck Yeager, and tell yourself that it's one mistake out of the billions possible, that you won't make again :).
 
"1. A Great Landing - A great landing is one after which the airplane can be flown again with zero maintenance."


I always thought a great landing was one you could walk away from. :rawk:
 
To the pros this will be nothing but to a student pilot about to go on a checkride i freaked.. Now i am mad I freaked and should of gone around.

I fly a new 172 with g1000 and was landing on 7 at KORL today.. at the last second a gust from about 320 that blew me from the center line all the way to the right side of the runway just before i was about the flare. now this is a 150ft wide runway and i went from center line to my right gear was flying just above grass in like a second.. instead of going around i worked it over and made a messy landing.. looking back and talking to my instructor i should of asked for runway 31 and i should of gone around.. What bothers me is at the time i didnt even think to go around i just wanted to land.. needless to say i scared myself..

I love flying and I want to make a career out of this. Any advice?
http://forums.jetcareers.com/images/smilies/rolleyes.gif

This reminded my of one of my last flights before my checkride. My instructor & I were in the pattern for a while and decided to opt for a full stop and end the lesson.

I was on very short final and just about to cross the threshold and out of the corner of my eye I see what is referred to as a dust devil lurking at the right edge of the runway about where the numbers were. No sooner than I was able to utter the words "dust devil" the 172 was lifted and pushed past the left edge of the runway and over the infield grass.

I think most people would have elected to go around at this point. I made a decision to save the landing anyway. Since I had the extra altitude and plenty of runway left, I added a touch of power, brought the airplane back to centerline and decended to flare and made a nice landing about midway down the runway. We rolled out to the end of the runway and my instructor called the tower to inform them of the dust devil. My instructor then commented on the nice landing and said he didn't even see the dust devil.

Now I'm not saying that my decision was necessarily the best one, but I think it boosted my confidence knowing that I kept positive control of the aircraft and knew I could still make a safe landing after an unexpected gust of wind.

Don't be too hard on yourself, just press on and take from the experience what you can. I think most of us on here can say we've scared ourselves a time or two.

Welcome to the boards, and happy flying!

Al
 
man, you're deff. not the first to be scared $%)@less during landings...i have 3 landings i'll never forget.

1. I was on my fourth or fifth solo...something just didnt feel right on the landing...about 20 feet off the ground i decide to go around...full throttle, flaps 10...and the plane just kept sinking...that was the roughest landing i have ever had...i still havent figured out what happened.

2. Just a couple weeks ago, had about a 50 degree crosswind at about 30 knots...in a 172. wow...thats all i can say. i started on the left side of the runway...got pushed over to the right side...about a 100 foot wide runway.

3. My best landing ever. It was after my private pilot checkride...i took my parents up for the first time...greased it...still my best landing to date. There's a few I will NEVER forget. Dont get discouraged. Flying is a great thing!

Blue Skies and Tailwinds..
 
I love flying and I want to make a career out of this. Any advice?
http://forums.jetcareers.com/images/smilies/rolleyes.gif

I don't do many things to scare myself these days, simply because I'm fortunate to fly a very capable airplane in a very controlled environment coupled with the fact that I've been flying "all weather" flights for about the last 10,000 hours.

However, early in my career, especially as a freight dog with limited weather flying experience...I did some things that scared me so bad that I still shudder about them today!!

My advice would be to push the limits of your experience and airplane capability...but always leave yourself an out...and if you are not confident about the outcome of your present situation...remove yourself from it and try some other option.

For example...push yourself on crosswinds...but if you get in the flare and you are not certain of a successful landing...go around...try again...try another runway...or divert to another airport.

I think the experience that you had is part of a normal growth pattern of a new pilot. I know a private pilot who has 600 hours over the past 30 years and has never really left the vicinity of the airport. Consequently, by never pushing boundaries, this pilot has never really reached his potential in abilities or confidence levels.
 
Just one more comment....regarding the runway centerline.

Always, always be on the runway centerline. If you are not on it...be working to get there. I don't care if the runway is 200' wide...the mark of an accomplished aviator is runway centerline between the main gear. Always.
 
first tailwheel landing ever - 25G32kt 90 degree crosswind in front of a crowd of fellow aviators and people i aspire to be like, at an aerobatic competition.

talk about scary, in many ways.

its a small miracle i didnt ground loop the damn thing.
 
This will not be the last time that you will question if you are cut out for this stuff... trust me.

I have two quotes in my logbook.

"Getting ahead in a difficult profession requires avid faith in yourself. That is why some people with mediocre talent, but with great inner drive, go much further than people with vastly superior talent."

"Victory belongs to the most perservering."
 
You're going to scare yourself now and then... the important thing is that you learn from it and become a better pilot because of it. It sounds like you did... at least you didn't land in the grass, and the next time I'm sure you'll go around when things don't look good.

I slammed a few in there pretty good when I was working on my private, then again when I was starting commercial (it's a known fact that you lose your ability to land while doing your instrument rating :D), and then a few more when I was starting in the right seat for my CFI. As you get more experience, you'll learn how to make most landings smooth, but you're never going to be perfect.

The last time I scared myself I was trying to beat a summer thunderstorm back into the airport and had the wind shift 90 degrees and increase 20kt between the time I turned base and the time I was on short final. I tried to get it down, but the wing got picked up by a gust at about 50ft AGL... I went full throttle, got the hell out of there, and diverted to wait the storm out. That's the kind of judgement that will come with experience.

Good luck with your training and your upcoming checkride!
 
Any person who has more than a few hours here could easily list at least ten times when they scared themselves, and probably more. It happened to you, and will likely happen again. Analyze each of your flights and take some credit for the good things you do but don't forget to take a tough and critical look at the not so good things. Strive to make every flight better and safer than the last. Pretty soon you will be offering tips and advice to new members who are seeking the wisdom of pros just like you. :)

Relax, you will make a great professional pilot.
 
Any person who has more than a few hours here could easily list at least ten times when they scared themselves, and probably more. It happened to you, and will likely happen again. Analyze each of your flights and take some credit for the good things you do but don't forget to take a tough and critical look at the not so good things. Strive to make every flight better and safer than the last. Pretty soon you will be offering tips and advice to new members who are seeking the wisdom of pros just like you. :)

Relax, you will make a great professional pilot.

:yeahthat:
 
Don't beat yourself up over it! As everyone else has said you will make more mistakes. That's the whole point of training though! Get out there, keep on keeping on and you'll be fine. You can't learn without making mistakes.
 
I've read plenty of these threads in the past, and I thought that I was an exception to the rule. "I've never really had a bad landing". That was until I was flying my wife home from a x-country and made a nose wheel landing. It was ugly, and embarrassing. But I went around and found a beautiful landing on my next try. You live and you learn. Remember that you always have an out...."go around".
 
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