How can someone suck this bad at flying?

MikeD said:
It is unnatural. When I went to the F-117, one of the events we had to keep current on were landings without using the drag chute. In the 117, the drag chute was used for all landings, but you had to know how to perform them in the event the chute wasn't available, or the crosswinds were out of limits for a chute deployment. Being that the 117 is essentially a lifting body with a full flat undersurface, it couldn't efficiently be aerobraked and was very susceptible to lifting back off the runway if even the slightest bit of excess backstick was applied while attempting to aerobrake. So the procedure for a no-chute landing called for normal touchdown, then briskly get the nose to the runway and hold forward pressure on the stick while commencing light-moderate braking, ending up in about a 9000-10,000 foot rollout in order to avoid hot brakes, another thing the 117 was highly susceptible to. Point is, for me it felt completely unnatural to be forcing pressure onto the nose gear due to my background of always learning and putting into practice "protecting the nose gear".
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Hell, I've tried flying some GA aircraft...Piper Cherokee and a twin engined job and I sucked badly at landing both. At the time I had been flying off the aircraft carrier and carrier aircraft and was just to muscling the aircrat and putting it down hard. Granted, not nose first as that could be bad at the boat or anywhere. Landing those light GA aircraft without a meatball!! Not easy for this navy pilot :insane:
 
bunk22 said:
Hell, I've tried flying some GA aircraft...Piper Cherokee and a twin engined job and I sucked badly at landing both. At the time I had been flying off the aircraft carrier and carrier aircraft and was just to muscling the aircrat and putting it down hard. Granted, not nose first as that could be bad at the boat or anywhere. Landing those light GA aircraft without a meatball!! Not easy for this navy pilot :insane:
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Was at DM in Tucson a number of years back. 13,600 ft-ish usable length on the runway there. EA-6 shows up in the pattern for the break, breaks to the 180, comes around to final and plunks it down on the numbers nearly carrier-style. Was half expecting the standard AF flare to nice touchdown with all that runway, but maybe that's how its always done. Was cool to hear a real, straight-turbojet aircraft in the pattern at least.
 
Sounds like there is some wind in the video...

Looks like he came in pretty fast too....Just using my Mark-1 eyeball.
 
bunk22 said:
Hell, I've tried flying some GA aircraft...Piper Cherokee and a twin engined job and I sucked badly at landing both. At the time I had been flying off the aircraft carrier and carrier aircraft and was just to muscling the aircrat and putting it down hard. Granted, not nose first as that could be bad at the boat or anywhere. Landing those light GA aircraft without a meatball!! Not easy for this navy pilot :insane:
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Ha, my dad was an A-4, F-14, F-4 pilot and my family still tells stories about the time he decided to rent a 172. Apparently on his second or third touch and go my uncle whispered to my mom "If he can just get this thing slow enough I'm going to jump out!" This was before I was born so I can't completely comment. I know that years later when my dad was a 25,000 hour airline pilot and I was a student pilot he told me that he felt more comfortable if I landed every time when we rented a 172.

We've all had some hard landings. I had an absolute perfect approach in the Saab one day in IAD. Bounce bounce and I finally landed the sucker. I still blame that particular plane as the Captain bounced it a few days later, albeit not as bad as I did. Either way it got away from me.

Which brings me to the absolute best piece of advice an amazing pilot (my dad) ever gave me. "Never ever criticize another pilot, learn from their mistakes." Aviation isn't a show off look at my amazing skills industry, it's a survival industry. Wait a couple of years and you'll have a few friends that walked away from crashes, and few that didn't. Don't get cocky kid!
 
A. Looks like everyone would be able to walk away.

B. Looks like (with a little work) someone would be able to use the airplane again.

I'll give the guy a solid 9.0!
 
greaper007 said:
Which brings me to the absolute best piece of advice an amazing pilot (my dad) ever gave me. "Never ever criticize another pilot, learn from their mistakes." Aviation isn't a show off look at my amazing skills industry, it's a survival industry. Wait a couple of years and you'll have a few friends that walked away from crashes, and few that didn't. Don't get cocky kid!
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:yeahthat: Sounds like excellent advice.
 
mojo6911 said:
I call that the "Triple Jump" landing. Usually, when I see it, after the first two "skips" the pilot generally makes the wise decision to go around, rather than pushing the nose into the ground repeatedly.

This is a pretty common mistake for presolo students, but a person at the private level should know enough not to do that.

What happens is that they panic, and see the aircraft is high. The primal, or non-cognitive survival instincts kick in. Their brain says "I am high and floating down the runway, I need to push down." Of course, they aren't thinking that the reason they are high and floating down the runways is because of excessive airspeed and pushing the nose down only intensifies the problem. I try to drive this home to my presolo students, but it doesn't always take. :)
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I remember you driving that into my head, thanks! I can't tell you enough how much the PDF, talk, etc helped me.


Nevertheless, sucks to be the pilot. I'd hate to deal with all the legal crap, let alone the emberassment.
 
JEP said:
It is awfully presumptious of you critiquing this landing from one snippet of video tape, given your experience or lack thereof.
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I just saw Alex Ovechkin whiff on a slap shot.

He must be the worst hockey player in the world.

That's what passes for logic among some people here. It's really sad!

I've been around the block a few more times than some people and I can tell you one thing. The second you start to get cocky and think you might be all that, something happens that smacks a little sense into you.
 
tonyw said:
I just saw Alex Ovechkin whiff on a slap shot.

He must be the worst hockey player in the world.

That's what passes for logic among some people here. It's really sad!
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you obviously don't hang around many bars/basements where completely unathletic middle aged manboys discuss sports they dont play themselves!!
 
TXaviator said:
you obviously don't hang around many bars/basements where completely unathletic middle aged manboys discuss sports they dont play themselves!!
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Yeah, it always amuses me when I see someone who doesn't have as much athletic skill in his entire body as a professional athlete has in his pinkie rip into someone.
 
shdw said:
Doesn't look like it: http://www.valleyflyingclub.com/n32832.html

I agree with others, he looks fast. Porpoising is easy in any aircraft if you fly it like this guy was. Shame on his instructor, full stall landings!
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Got Me:dunno: Remember there were several models of the 235/236 from 1964 until 1980 when the Dakota went out of production. The Pathfinder (your reference) had about a 7" +/- longer Fuselage than my 64. Plus there were different gross weights, different wings, etc.

Maybe I should have said my model (64) was..... I agree as well that he looks fast and had a unique flair, but videos never tell the whole story, and I was just sharing my experience.
 
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