Landings

A

Avi8er10

New Member
Question for you all...

I am starting to do right seat flying for my CFI rating. I am pretty comfortable with doing all of the manuevers and such from the right seat. My biggest problem though is landings. They are S$#T! I always have too much right rudder in and I feel like the nose is yawed too far to the left. It's hard to believe that the visual difference from the left seat to the right seat is that different. Does anyone have any remedies for this? Is this natural? Has anyone had this problem too? I don't know what to do and I am beyond frustrated.

Thanks for any help.

-Andy
 
happened to me, and i got pretty frustrated with it. you get used to it. it took me about 15 hours to get really comfortable doing everything from the right side. now i don't liike flying from the right anymore /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
I'd echo what roundout said.

My landings were crap when I first got into the right seat and my instructor even had to offer some control input the first few times I tried it /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif

After a dozen or so touch and goes with the instructor and 2 or 3 flights on my own, I finally started to get it down. I can't really pin down why so many of us have trouble switching seats. It should be more or less the same, but perhaps the muscles in your right arm aren't coordinated and trained enough to give proper control inputs during the flare. It just takes practice, really.

Just think of all the other activities where switching hands can make a big difference....writting, throwing a ball, swinging a baseball bat, unmentionable acts, etc.
 
Whenever you're on the ground taxing, or on the departure or landing roll, concentrate on the visual picture for going straight.

Then when you're landing, you really have to concentrate on that previous picture (focus on using less right rudder/ more left rudder).

I think everyone has had this problem; you'll get over it soon enough /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
 
It's a mirror image of the same difficulty that you had as a student pilot, and probably for the same reason. We try to use the nose of the airplane to line it up for touchdown. When we're students, the angle of out view over the nose makes the nose look too far to the right and angled to the right when it's perfect, so we use too much left rudder and crab the airplane left, not realizing what the effect is until we touch down.

Sounds like you're doing the same thing. From the left seat, the nose looks too far left and as though it's turned too far to the left. In addition to landing a bit crooked you're probably landing a bit further to the right of centerline than you want to.

The answer to stop using the airplane's nose to line up the airplane. Use your nose or your body or the yoke (some people do well with their bodies and some with other things).

On final line up so that your chest is absolutely square with the centerline and the centerline is right between your feet and use aileron and rudder to keep it that way.

Don't like that one? On final line up so that the yoke absolutely square with the centerline and the centerline is an extension of the yoke's shaft. Use aileron and rudder to keep it that way.

It not only works, it has an added benefit - in re-teaching yourself, you just learned how how to teach your students to land!
 
Seems like the break point is usually around 10 hours from the right seat...It'll come. Then you won't WANT to fly from the left seat!
_lostcomm
 
Learning to land from the right can definitely be a pain. What I did was have my instructor do a couple landings so I could get the sight picture down, then I played copy-cat. I forced myself to do some landings with what I felt was a screwed up sight picture... but they were ok. After two hours from the right I could force myself to land decently... after about ten hours, it was all second nature. I'd recommend giving your flight instructor a landing or two every time you go up... they probably won't complain about actually getting to fly... and you'll have something to go from.
 
Hey everyone,

Thanks for the info. Seems like it will just come with time. Practice, Practice, Practice! I just have to get used to the nose looking like it is too left and it will probably be just perfect. Thanks again!
 
Some people take 2 hours, some people take 20.

I probably had about 10 landings from the right side before I felt comfy.
 
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