I meant in areas by me, where this technique isn't necessary but only adds unneeded risk to a situation. You are also different than a primary student, or so I hope. I wouldn't be flying into an area with an iced over runway much less a 2000' iced over runway. Leave that to the seasoned veterans like yourself, I stick to long fields in the northeastern USA.
soft field/ short field landing advice
- Thread starter Ngrossman
- Start date
I meant in areas by me, where this technique isn't necessary but only adds unneeded risk to a situation. You are also different than a primary student, or so I hope. I wouldn't be flying into an area with an iced over runway much less a 2000' iced over runway. Leave that to the seasoned veterans like yourself, I stick to long fields in the northeastern USA.
nosehair
Well-Known Member
...back to the "soft" field landing.
All the techniques I have read here, which is what I have lately seen as a "norm" for the checkride, is really a technique for landing on a hard surface, and merely holding the nosewheel off.
If you allow the mains to touch first and then bump in a bit of power to hold the nose off, on a real 'soft', unpaved, wet/mushy, or snow covered surface, you'll never get the power in before the mains dig in and throws the nose over into the dirt.
The best way to develop a feel for how much power is need for a 'real' soft field is to feel it out on starting a soft-field take-off.
Line up on a soft surface and set landing flaps. You're not gonna take off, but just get a feel of how much power it takes to hold the nose up when you are dragging the wheels in mud or snow. You might consider less than full flaps on this. Depends on the airplane and surface situation.
Start easing in just enough power to get the nosewheel up, then accelerate to just below lift-off and reduce power to just enough to skim along just under lift off, and keeping the nose up and straight. This is just plain good practice to get the feel of throttle/elevator control, but you will learn by sound and feel about how much power to carry during the flare and actually 'slow-fly' the airplane onto the soft surface, gradually easing out power as you roll-out on the surface, which will still be a lot of power to keep dragging the wheels through the muck.
It's great training and increases your throttle/elevator skill during the landing, even if you don't really have to be that skilled to pass a soft-field checkride.
...'cept maybe a job checkride where you will be doing a real soft field.
...or you get caught in an emergency situation and have to set 'er down in an open field with sufficient power to keep the nose from nosing over and flippin' you upside down.
All the techniques I have read here, which is what I have lately seen as a "norm" for the checkride, is really a technique for landing on a hard surface, and merely holding the nosewheel off.
If you allow the mains to touch first and then bump in a bit of power to hold the nose off, on a real 'soft', unpaved, wet/mushy, or snow covered surface, you'll never get the power in before the mains dig in and throws the nose over into the dirt.
The best way to develop a feel for how much power is need for a 'real' soft field is to feel it out on starting a soft-field take-off.
Line up on a soft surface and set landing flaps. You're not gonna take off, but just get a feel of how much power it takes to hold the nose up when you are dragging the wheels in mud or snow. You might consider less than full flaps on this. Depends on the airplane and surface situation.
Start easing in just enough power to get the nosewheel up, then accelerate to just below lift-off and reduce power to just enough to skim along just under lift off, and keeping the nose up and straight. This is just plain good practice to get the feel of throttle/elevator control, but you will learn by sound and feel about how much power to carry during the flare and actually 'slow-fly' the airplane onto the soft surface, gradually easing out power as you roll-out on the surface, which will still be a lot of power to keep dragging the wheels through the muck.
It's great training and increases your throttle/elevator skill during the landing, even if you don't really have to be that skilled to pass a soft-field checkride.
...'cept maybe a job checkride where you will be doing a real soft field.
...or you get caught in an emergency situation and have to set 'er down in an open field with sufficient power to keep the nose from nosing over and flippin' you upside down.