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

In article ,
Bob Noel wrote:
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.

For me the experience of landing on narrower runways 'stuck' and cured
my laziness about hitting the centerline of a 150' wide runway.

I think my offcenter landings were mostly due to my tendancy to 'settle'
for configurations that are good enough, if not perfect. So if I got
lined up on the left side of the runway with my perfect slip in I wasn't
going to mess with that just to fly over to the centerline and then have
to get the slip dialed in again.

--
Ben Jackson

http://www.ben.com/

"Ben Jackson" wrote in message news:gvBdc.464

Bob Noel wrote:
......I can when
it matters. I still land left of centerline on wide runways.

For me the experience of landing on narrower runways 'stuck' and cured
my laziness about hitting the centerline of a 150' wide runway.

I think my offcenter landings were mostly due to my tendancy to 'settle'
for configurations that are good enough, if not perfect.

You've got it, Ben. Fact is, you could land a Boeing along one side of the
runway if you wanted to. Lots of people settle for adequacy, but you don't
see much of that among people who have developed a sense of discipline and
professionalism.

"Bob Noel" wrote in message

...He took me to TEWMAC,
which was (iifc) 26' wide.

I remember TewMac.... very narrow, with Rt 38 right over the fence, and the
fried clam place right there beside the runway end. Yum! Used to take a
310 in and out of there sometimes years ago. All gone now, nothing but
condos, but the eatery is still there, I think.

On Fri, 09 Apr 2004 10:58:11 GMT, Bob Noel
wrote:

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.

Correct........ TEWMAC was 26 feet..... or two plow blades wide, if
you prefer...
Don Paquette
PP-ASEL
N9723X

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?

This is from the point of view of a student who is just waiting for his
check ride. I had both problems for a while...

The angled landings occurred early in my training, primarily due to
"information overload." Not enough was happening automatically yet, I had
to think through everything I was doing. As my landings got better in other
respects, I had more time to focus on and fix this problem. I think I was
more concerned about how hard we collided with the ground than at what
particular angle :-)

The alignment problem lasted a lot longer. Our main runway is 75' wide, I
was always to the left of center. It seems that I just didn't have "the
picture" quite right. My instructors reminded me periodically and as my
training progressed my landings migrated to the center. It took most of the
training period to fix that one, and even now I catch myself left of center
on final occasionally.

I am training in a C172. It will be interesting to see what happens when I
transition to my Champ.

Rob