Great advice.

The other thing I'll do is on longer, empty runways, I'll practice hot
approaches and extended flares - that is, coming over the fence fast
(100+ knots in a PA-28-140) and clean, chopping the power, and then
establishing and holding my flare, deploying flaps, and holding it to
a full-stall touchdown.

With power off landings, flexibility is life. The wider the range of
speeds your comfortable safely getting the plane down on the ground
during approach, the more options you have when it comes time to make
the choice to dive for the runway or do another 360. (assuming a long
enough runway). (yes, this is easier with "dirty" planes like my
piper, but widening your personal envelope of approach speeds in any
aircraft isn't necessarily a bad thing to do if you want options in an
emergency, no matter what the aircraft).




On Oct 14, 7:24 pm, " wrote:
On Oct 14, 7:44 pm, Kirk Ellis



wrote:
After dealing with the doctors and the FAA for the last six months I
finally got my class 3 renewed. It's been a year since I last flew.
and I can't believe how fast that time went by.

So this month I am getting back into the cockpit and in addition to
all of the standard maneuvers, I feel I especially need to work on
emergency off-field landings. I've had my ticket for over 8 years,
but financial concerns always seem to keep me from flying as much as I
would like. So I do not get to practice as much as I should. Which
brings me to the point of this post.

While doing emergency off-field landing practice I am still trying to
get some consistency in planning the descents from different altitudes
to be at 1000' agl heading downwind and abeam the touchdown point.
Seems like most of the time I was doing them last year, it was hit or
miss. (perhaps a poor choice of words).

Trying to put all the variables together to put the aircraft in the
right place at the right time on a consistent basis is still an
elusive endeaveor.

Do you experienced pilots just have a sixth sense about how to get the
aircraft exactly where it needs to be? Is it something you consciously
analyze throughout the descent or just instinctlvely do?

Kirk
PPL-ASEL

It just takes years of flight time and alot of practice. When flying
you need to consciously analyze everything from the time you untie the
plane till it's tied back down again. Best practice I have found for
spot landings is to visit an out of the way small airport and pick a
spot on the runway and fly the plane right to that spotseveral times,
using both directions if the wind is not too strong will help you
compansate for any drift/ tailwind componant, gusts,etc. The fact that
you asked the question shows your sincere desire for getting it right.
That's a good trait for a pilot.... :-)

Ben