Getting students to line up with the center line

I'm having an issue with 2 students.

One has a hard time lining up/staying lined up with the center line
(no wind and xwind). I keep telling him "toes forward" and "Have the
center line cut through your body"

Still not grasping it.

The other student, likes to be 10-20 degrees angled left / right of
center line before touching down (ie. side loading)

Any tips?

In article ,
BoDEAN wrote:

I'm having an issue with 2 students.

One has a hard time lining up/staying lined up with the center line
(no wind and xwind). I keep telling him "toes forward" and "Have the
center line cut through your body"

Still not grasping it.

The other student, likes to be 10-20 degrees angled left / right of
center line before touching down (ie. side loading)

Any tips?


I was always taught to line up on the side from which the wind is
blowing, in order to take advantage of any runway crown, for crosswind
takeoffs.

On Fri, 09 Apr 2004 00:54:32 -0400, BoDEAN wrote:

I'm having an issue with 2 students.

One has a hard time lining up/staying lined up with the center line
(no wind and xwind). I keep telling him "toes forward" and "Have the
center line cut through your body"

Still not grasping it.

I started flying at 58 and after 43 years of driving in my lane it
took a lot of practice before I could remember to straddle the line.

"BoDEAN" wrote in message
...
I'm having an issue with 2 students.

One has a hard time lining up/staying lined up with the center line
(no wind and xwind). I keep telling him "toes forward" and "Have the
center line cut through your body"

Still not grasping it.

The other student, likes to be 10-20 degrees angled left / right of
center line before touching down (ie. side loading)

Any tips?

I'll tell you what my first instructor did to me after repeated
admonitions about not landing in the middle of the runway. I dunno, maybe I
figured the feet on the Aerobat could fit twenty or thirty times across the
width of the runway -- what's so critical, anyway.
Well, came time for some cross country night flying. Bob M. had me fly
across the valley and over the hills to Trona. I hadn't been there before,
even in the daytime so my tension was up about pucker-factor four when Bob
said to make the approach with a simulated landing light failure. No sweat,
been there and done that once or twice for practice at the home patch.
Downwind, base, final -- the runway lights were lined up pretty good, I was
a little (maybe a wing width or two) from the centerline but the right
margin was way over there to the side. Plenty of room.
I flared, the stall horn beeped, and I touched down... TO THE GOD
AWFULLEST RACKET I'D EVER HEARD!!!. Pucker factor at ten! Shove the carb
heat and throttle full forward! Pull the nose up! The NOISE went away.
"What the hell was that?" I asked when I finally remembered to breathe.
"Turn downwind, now. Shoot another approach and use the landing light
this time," he said.
Remember I said I'd not flown to Trona before? When I turned final, I
saw what the noise was. The paved surface of the runway was a tiny narrow
strip of pavement between rows of lights that were five times wider with
desert between.
Bob's only comment was, "I've told you to use the middle of the runway
enough times. I don't want to tell you again."
To this day, it takes a helluva crosswind to move that white stripe
outside my gear span.

In article , BoDEAN
wrote:

I'm having an issue with 2 students.

One has a hard time lining up/staying lined up with the center line
(no wind and xwind). I keep telling him "toes forward" and "Have the
center line cut through your body"

Still not grasping it.

The other student, likes to be 10-20 degrees angled left / right of
center line before touching down (ie. side loading)

Any tips?

I know this doesn't help you, but...

During my instrument instruction, my CFII was tired of me landing to
the left of centerline on a 150' wide runway. He took me to TEWMAC,
which was (iifc) 26' wide. When I landed on the runway he said "see!,
I knew you could land on the centerline." I replied that I can when
it matters. I still land left of centerline on wide runways.

--
Bob Noel

Bring him/her somewhere with a narrow runway.

I learned at an airport with a 150' wide runway. I usually landed with at
least the centerline between the wingtips.

I moved to a 50' wide runway. After a few month, I flew into the wide
airport and was surprised to see the centerline passing under the prop.


"BoDEAN" wrote in message
...
I'm having an issue with 2 students.

One has a hard time lining up/staying lined up with the center line
(no wind and xwind). I keep telling him "toes forward" and "Have the
center line cut through your body"

Still not grasping it.

The other student, likes to be 10-20 degrees angled left / right of
center line before touching down (ie. side loading)

Any tips?

Ask the students where they are looking.
Probably just over the nose.
Tell them it is like driving a car... look down the road (runway) to
the end or beyond.

The runway should be lined up in front of the pilot, not in front of the
airplane. Many new (and even some experienced) pilots put the runway on the
nose. It will look funny at first, but put the runway in the middle of the
pilot's side of the window.

Jose

--
(for Email, make the obvious changes in my address)

On Fri, 09 Apr 2004 00:54:32 -0400, BoDEAN wrote:

I know someone who also had the problem of being left of centerline.
Eventually we determined that she was concentrating too hard at
watching the centerline stripe and not paying enough attention to the
overall runway picture.

The solution in this case was a simple visit to a grass strip (no
centerline). She did several landings there and all were decent -
proper flare, always in the center, etc...

It finally clicked that she was watching the center stripe too
intently, so on return to the home base, she just started thinking
"grass strip" and stopped staring at the centerline, but looking much
further down the runway - It worked.

I'm having an issue with 2 students.

One has a hard time lining up/staying lined up with the center line
(no wind and xwind). I keep telling him "toes forward" and "Have the
center line cut through your body"

Still not grasping it.

The other student, likes to be 10-20 degrees angled left / right of
center line before touching down (ie. side loading)

Any tips?

BoDEAN wrote

The other student, likes to be 10-20 degrees angled left / right of
center line before touching down (ie. side loading)
Any tips?

I've had a more than a couple of students do this. I solved the problem
by demonstrating to them that they were unconsciously applying rudder
just before touchdown. By controlling the rudder myself and having the
student place his/her feet flat on the floor, it was obvious that they
were causing the change in heading.

This behavior was observed in students who were "bracing" themselves with
their feet and legs to assist in pulling back on the yoke for the landing
flare. A couple of students with leg/knee problems (artificial joints)
were not able to "brace" symmetrically.

I have also been known to require students to fly without shoes in order
to gain a better feel for what they are doing with the rudder pedals.

Bob Moore
ATP CFI