Landing Streaks

Jay Honeck wrote:

Weight?

If Jay's flying Atlas alone, about anything he can throw in tha aircraft
by
himself won't change the weight enough to make a difference. That plane's
a
hauler.

Actually, having two 200 pounders in the back seat *does* make the plane a
smidge easier to flare...

You can throw 400 pounds in the back by yourself? I know you've been working
out, but that's impressive!

George Patterson
I prefer Heaven for climate but Hell for company.

Montblack wrote:


Landing Streaks? I thought this was a scary-landings-underwear thread.

Ya, I was wondering where this thread was going when I saw the title.
First thought was wondering what the heck Jay was doing to leave streaks
on the runway. :-)

Montblack
Remember to add a touch of power ...equivilant to 3 Mary's in right seat

Easy now...not sure Jay could handle that...heck, I don't know if
anybody could :-)



Note to self: Turn off yoke mounted GPS upon exiting craft. Doh!

Let's not forget the ANR headset (that lacks an auto power off feature).



--
Jack Allison
PP-ASEL-IA Student-Arrow Shopping Student

"When once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the Earth
with your eyes turned skyward, for there you have been, and there
you will always long to return"
- Leonardo Da Vinci

(Remove the obvious from address to reply via e-mail)

A good AG pilot friend always has told me throughout my training, "don't
worry about the landings being perfect, just get it down safely. Just act
like no one is ever watching, because you're bound to bounce a few in every
month." And landing on a 1,700 ft. runway with trees on one end makes me a
little nervous everytime I come in. Now give me a glider and I'll show you
10 perfect landings in a row. You gotta love the spoilers in a sailplane,
come in with full spoilers at the approach speed and slowly bleed them off
when you're at 6 inches off the ground. Gently pulling back on the stick
while bleeding the brakes you feel like you're drive a car, then u hear the
wheel spin up a few times as you pass the few lumps in the runway but you're
just high enough to graze the rubber. Finally, the brakes are in, the speed
is below stall and you're on the ground without any bumps along the way.
"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:RF%Td.1853$Ze3.1281@attbi_s51...
I've noticed something about my landings over the last few years, and
wondered if you folks have had the same experience?

After my first 100 hours or so, my landings were pretty consistently okay.
A nice one every now and then, adequate ones the rest of the time. Every
now and then a crosswind landing might stress the gear a bit, but nothing
too horrible.

Around 500 hours, I seemed to master the art of the greaser -- if I
really,
really worked at it. Most of the time, my landings would be good,
sometimes
great.

Now, some 400 hours later, flying about the same frequency throughout (1 -
2
times per week. Around 100 hours per year), my landings seem to run in
streaks where I will be almost perfect, separated by periods where my
landings are good, but not greasers.

What *is* that?

I don't feel any different. The plane is no different. I'm flying just
as
often. Weather conditions are similar. I feel like I'm working the
approach
just as hard, and in the same way. Yet, *something* is different.

For example, right now I'm in a streak of near-perfection. I had
passengers on Wednesday that told me they had never landed so smoothly,
ever. Hell, *I* have never landed so smoothly, ever, as a passenger or a
pilot. I've just been rolling them on, in any wind condition. Yet I know
that two months ago, I had a couple of real clunkers that probably had my
passengers wondering if I was really a pilot.

So, what is this phenomenon? Karma? The stars? Blood pressure? Phase
of
the moon? It's frustrating to not be able to break down cause and effect
here -- does anyone else notice this?
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"





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("Jack Allison" wrote)
Remember to add a touch of power ...equivilant to 3 Mary's in right seat

Easy now...not sure Jay could handle that...heck, I don't know if anybody
could :-)


Jay flew me over to Muscatine, IA last fall. I was in the front, Mary was in
the back. Jay thought he'd carry a little extra power for landing. It came
down to, how much more would he need with "3" Marys in the right seat?
Whatever he did worked, it was a nice landing.

The return trip had Mary as PIC and me in the back. That girl can flare an
airplane! g


Montblack

On Sun, 27 Feb 2005 03:29:29 GMT, "Jay Honeck"
wrote in
t8bUd.61071$tl3.27936@attbi_s02::

I read an article about the importance of keeeping your
control mechanisms lubricated

That's part of the 100 hour maintenance for PA28s.

For sure. I keep the yoke shafts lubricated (with spray-on silicone spray)
every few flights.

Silicone seems like a more appropriate lubricant than engine oil, but
that is what is specified by Piper.

It makes an amazing difference.

I've found that keeping the shafts lubricated reduces PIOs and
ballooning. It's often overlooked; I've never had an instructor
mention it.

Jay flew me over to Muscatine, IA last fall. I was in the front, Mary was
in the back. Jay thought he'd carry a little extra power for landing. It
came down to, how much more would he need with "3" Marys in the right
seat? Whatever he did worked, it was a nice landing.

Well, I'm not sure I'd call that one of my better landings.

That was my first experience with a very forward CG, and we *could* still
use the plane afterwards -- so I suppose it was okay!

:-)
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

("Jay Honeck" wrote)
Well, I'm not sure I'd call that one of my better landings.

That was my first experience with a very forward CG, and we *could* still
use the plane afterwards -- so I suppose it was okay!


There *were* some looks exchanged between you and Mary, after which you both
went out and ran your hands over the prop tips, and then I was bannished to
the back seat, but other than that I thought it was a great landing! g

Meal was good too.


Montblack

Jose wrote:
Just as tornadoes are caused by mobile homes, any landing other than a
perfect squeaker is caused by the hideous heavy gravity transient.


I thought they were caused by observers.

Jose

You've got it right Jose.

John's third law of flight: "The probablility of a great landing is
inversely proportional to the square of the number of observers. A
rated pilot in the right seat is equal to a dozen people watching, a CFI
is equal to a hundred observers."

There are occasional exceptions. I once nailed three great landings in
a row during a BFR -- the kind where I flared just before I reach the
numbers, the stall horn sounded, the mains gently kissed the runway, I
gently lowered the nose and I made the first turnoff (850 feet) without
braking. After the third the instructor said "Good landings" so I asked
him "Would you believe all my landings are like that?" He then asked me
to do a short field landing over an obstacle. I paid for my smart-assed
comment with one of those 'arrivals' where I flared and stalled at what
felt like ten feet above the runway.

So I recommend (1) pretending that nobody is watching, and (2) not being
overconfident.

- J.O.-