Landing Streaks

Jose writes:
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.

It takes a heck of a lot of observers to cause a gravity transient.

Chris
--
Chris Colohan Email: PGP: finger
Web: www.colohan.com Phone: (412)268-4751

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.-

wrote in message
ups.com...
Jay,

You've hit one of those little known areas of science and physics.
Just as tornadoes are caused by mobile homes, any landing other than a
perfect squeaker is caused by the hideous heavy gravity transient.

Nothing you can do about it. Just have to accept it.

All the best,
Rick

Similiar to the gravity storms that tend to hit when I am in the gym?

Mike
MU-2

("Jay Honeck" wrote)
snips
I've noticed something about my landings over the last few years, and
wondered if you folks have had the same experience?

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.


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

Nevermind.


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

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

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)

("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

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

My landings in the Mooney had been pretty good considering I only have
40 or so hours in it. I seriously thing that low wingers are easier to
land ten high wingers. Maybe because of ground effect or something I'm
not sure but...

we went to a fly-in lunch last Saturday. It was only Kellie's 2nd time
in the Mooney so I wanted everything to go just right. Of course that
was not to be... We were coming in about 20 mph fast which in a Mooney
is a bad thing... I tried to force the situation and the plane to land
before she was ready.. The result was 3 bounces where each one was
successively higher then the rest... I'm thinking "Now this really
sucks!!". I finally gave it a shot of power to even it out and got her
to stick to the runway... I was embarrassed but Kellie didn't say
anything. I just said "now that was interesting"..

We taxied to parking and I kept waiting for the tower to come on and ask
"you are going to log that as 3 landings aren't you" but they didn't say
anything.. We went in to the restaurant and of course there is a row of
windows looking out over the runway with several people looking out at
the runway..

I made up for it on the landing back home though... A nice crosswind
greaser...

Jon Kraus
PP-ASEL-IA
Mooney 201 4443H



Jay Honeck wrote:

snip

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?

I believe that like everything else it runs in cycles. Make a few good
ones and you begin to get a little complacent and start slipping. I am
much more attentive after not flying for a couple weeks. No wind
landing have become nearly automatic for me, but add any crosswind and
I'm instantly alert. Sometimes being alert helps and sometimes it
doesn't. And of course anything unusual on the approach can affect the
results.
--
Gene Seibel
Gene & Sue's Aeroplanes - http://pad39a.com/gene/planes.html
Because I fly, I envy no one.