On 4/17/2019 2:51 PM, Ramy wrote:
Overshoots are more likely in small field landouts. Undershoots are more
likely in airports due to low patterns.


Likely generally true, IMO, and to anecdotally expand a bit...

Home-field anecdotes - I know of (did not see) exactly one OVERshoot (defined
as 'overshooting the runway' and NOT merely the intended aiming point) on my
home field post-'1977: L-13; pilot ended up with a strand of barbed wire taut
across his throat after heaving mightily on the flaps handle (thinking it was
the spoiler handle) until stopped by the fence. OTOH I've seen multiple (as
in, WAY too numerous to count) low-patterns, including one that ended in the
small lake off the west end of the most-commonly-used runway, another that
('safely') clipped a tree on final, and one (mine, I'm embarrassed to note)
that *almost* ended in the lake due to slightly misjudging a short-field,
full-HP-14-flaps, practice-approach to the actual runway threshold located
perhaps 200' beyond the end of the lake. At least I stopped ON the runway (by
about a fuselage length)...and thereafter never-again practiced short-field
landings with a zero-margin aiming point. (Duh!)

Off-field opinionating - It's - again, IMO - 'fairly common' for newbies and
those lacking 'much' off-field landing experience to fly in-too-tight downwind
legs (evidently 'feels safer'?) to ultimately end up high on final...which has
'the usual expected results' if the field they're aiming for is (in their
estimation) a short one. A buddy totaled his PIK-20B by overshooting a
shortish field in the mountains. Per his recounting, he made 3 fundamental
errors: 1) downwind final (!); 2) high/tight downwind (no surprise to me); 3)
5+ knots of 'safety speed' throughout the pattern (for the wife and
kiddies...but inappropriate under the circumstances). He was fortunate to not
be injured. His post-mortem concluded the field was of sufficient length for a
properly flown/executed approach/pattern/flare to a reasonable aiming
point...IOW it definitely did NOT require 'all-out pilot-proficiency' as a
chosen field.

I'll bet Real Money 'foolishly low approaches' are wincingly common at the
vast majority of USA gliderports, based on decades of critiquing 'em at many a
field as an interested, bystanding, soaring nut.

Bob W.

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