Touch and Goes versus Full Stop Taxi Backs

A CFI I had lunch with last week suggested I should always do full stop taxi
backs instead of touch and goes when practicing landings. I've frequently
done touch and goes for about an hour when I wanted to do some quick flying,
but I tried his suggestion. I also ran into an old AOPA Flight Training
magazine that had an article suggesting full stop taxi backs instead of
touch and goes. I generally keep the pattern in tight and can do ten touch
and goes in about .8 or .9 Hobbs depending on the amount of other traffic. I
prefer towered airports for this practice, because there is another set of
eyes looking for aircraft.

Should I force myself to always do full stop taxi backs, even thought other
pilots and tower personnel seem to prefer that I do touch and goes? Kevin
Dunlevy

I always have my students do full stop. Things can happen very, very
fast and any problem with the aircraft or enviroment (winds, etc) are
just a bit harder to manage during a touch and go. I teach at one
airport with a 4K foot runway and I require my students to taxi back. I
teach at another with a 12,000 foot runway and I allow them to stop and
go on the runway.

BTW: I could pretty much guarantee you that the tower couldn't care
less.
-Robert, CFI

Hi Kevin

The ideal scenario would be to fly to a runway that is long enough for
you to do stop and go's, provided that it isn't too far away.

You don't say whether you are flying dual or solo.

Dual, a stop and go allows your instructor much more time to critique
your landing.

Solo, the landing isn't complete and safe until the plane stops. You get
to practice full landings, plus - what a great chance to practice
shortfield and softfield takeoffs - obstacle - crosswind etc.

I was reading a couple of months ago that some schools don't even allow
touch and go's anymore.

HTH

Tony
--

Tony Roberts
PP-ASEL
VFR OTT
Night
Cessna 172H C-GICE



In article ,
"Kevin Dunlevy" wrote:

A CFI I had lunch with last week suggested I should always do full stop taxi
backs instead of touch and goes when practicing landings. I've frequently
done touch and goes for about an hour when I wanted to do some quick flying,
but I tried his suggestion. I also ran into an old AOPA Flight Training
magazine that had an article suggesting full stop taxi backs instead of
touch and goes. I generally keep the pattern in tight and can do ten touch
and goes in about .8 or .9 Hobbs depending on the amount of other traffic. I
prefer towered airports for this practice, because there is another set of
eyes looking for aircraft.

Should I force myself to always do full stop taxi backs, even thought other
pilots and tower personnel seem to prefer that I do touch and goes? Kevin
Dunlevy

On 2005-09-12, Kevin Dunlevy wrote:

Should I force myself to always do full stop taxi backs, even thought other
pilots and tower personnel seem to prefer that I do touch and goes? Kevin
Dunlevy

Depends on how bad you need taxi practice

More seriously, if you feel rushed by the touch & go's then the taxi
back can give you time to settle down.

In the Pitts I do touch & go's but I make sure to slow down enough to
brush up on slow speed control before powering back up.

In a training context, I would rather taxi back myself while discussing the
just-completed landing with the student. After certification, I have nothing
against T&Gs except for the concerns about trying to do too many things at
once. That is a personal decision that has to be made by each individual
based on his or her assessment of proficiency.

Number of landings per hour is a meaningless figure.

Bob Gardner

"Kevin Dunlevy" wrote in message
...
A CFI I had lunch with last week suggested I should always do full stop
taxi
backs instead of touch and goes when practicing landings. I've frequently
done touch and goes for about an hour when I wanted to do some quick
flying,
but I tried his suggestion. I also ran into an old AOPA Flight Training
magazine that had an article suggesting full stop taxi backs instead of
touch and goes. I generally keep the pattern in tight and can do ten touch
and goes in about .8 or .9 Hobbs depending on the amount of other traffic.
I
prefer towered airports for this practice, because there is another set of
eyes looking for aircraft.

Should I force myself to always do full stop taxi backs, even thought
other
pilots and tower personnel seem to prefer that I do touch and goes? Kevin
Dunlevy

Kevin Dunlevy wrote:
A CFI I had lunch with last week suggested I should always do full stop taxi
backs instead of touch and goes when practicing landings. I've frequently
done touch and goes for about an hour when I wanted to do some quick flying,
but I tried his suggestion. I also ran into an old AOPA Flight Training
magazine that had an article suggesting full stop taxi backs instead of
touch and goes. I generally keep the pattern in tight and can do ten touch
and goes in about .8 or .9 Hobbs depending on the amount of other traffic. I
prefer towered airports for this practice, because there is another set of
eyes looking for aircraft.

Should I force myself to always do full stop taxi backs, even thought other
pilots and tower personnel seem to prefer that I do touch and goes? Kevin
Dunlevy

No. I'm curious though, what is the rationale given for avoiding T&Gs?

Matt

Depends upon how long the runway is.

A surprisingly large number of landing accidents are loss of control
after the airplane slows to about 30knots or so (often lower), which
makes a lot of sense when you think about it.

Your land based airplane has two basic modes of operation: tricycle
(forwards or backwards) and airplane. When you're flying, it's 100%
airplane, and when you're stopped, it's 100% tricycle. In between, you
get varying ratios between the two.

Because of this, as the airplane slows down (well below stall speed)
you'll get into areas where aircraft control is a little different.
Doing a full stop landing allows you to practice in this arena, but
during most T&G's, the airplane never get's that slow.

The other side is the safety related to reconfiguring the airplane on
the roll. If you're taking your eyes and concentration away from what
you're doing (flying/rolling out) bad things can happen quickly.

Just my two cents.

-Rob
www.scarylittleairplanes.org

No. I'm curious though, what is the rationale given for avoiding T&Gs?

They are more dangerous than full stops - some flying schools have had
to stop them as a condition of insurance.

They don't give the instructor undivided attention while he critiques
the landing.

They don't allow the student to practice different types of takeoff.

What do they actually achieve other than more landings per hour?

And what does that mean if you are not practicing takeoffs?

OK - my 2c

Tony

--

Tony Roberts
PP-ASEL
VFR OTT
Night
Cessna 172H C-GICE

If I'm in a bonanza, I'll do full stop, as there are a lot of things
you have to do (gear, etc), plus the hobbs only runs when weight is not
on the gear. So taxi time is free, so why not? You get to log that
time.

If I'm in a Charokee, I'll do mainly T&G unless traffic or runway
legnth becomes a factor. In a simple airplane, all you need to do is
pretty much retract flaps.