"John Doe" wrote
I'm wondering about how piloting is taught. Getting to the point, why not
use a long runway and have the student take off just enough for the
wheels to leave the ground and then immediately touch down?

This guy is either a kid or a troll, retarded or all of the above. He is in
a few other groups (rec.models.rc.helicopter and air). He is asking stupid
questions like " aren't fast spinning propellers blades dangerous"

"plonk"

Richard

"Jose" wrote in message
m...

This excercise would not teach what you think it would. Much of the
"trick" to landing is the approach, and in order to teach how to approach
the runway, you need to be far enough away from it, and pointing in an
appropriate direction. One then flies a pattern (generally one flies
parallel to the runway, and then makes a squarish u-turn while descending
and adjusting speed, flaps, and other controls. If you do this right, the
next "trick" is learning when to flare and by how much. This requires
learning the "sight picture" of what the runway looks like when close on
approach. This is different from what it would look like just after
takeoff.

One thing sometimes done in training is to approach and then fly a few
feet above the runway. This helps new pilots learn not to overcontrol.

btw, there's no such thing as a "trainer runway". Student pilots use
regular runways, and mix with regular air traffic. They just have an
instructor aboard until they can handle that much on their own.

Jose
(r.a.student retained, though I don't follow that group; I'm on
r.a.piloting)
--
Freedom. It seemed like a good idea at the time.
for Email, make the obvious change in the address.