On 2010-08-06, Dave Doe wrote:
In article ,
says...

On 2010-08-01, anthony wrote:
On Jul 30, 11:24*am, Franklin
wrote:
Stephen! wrote:
a wrote in
news:9bc82c51-ad2d-48c4-bbd8-03eb64291845
@g35g2000yqa.googlegroups.com:

The likely lesson is, learn or relearn to control your energy!

* All good points but I think a better lesson from this crash would
* be how to decide when you've blown the landing and go around.

It take time to know how to land a plane. It takes longer to know when not
to land a plane.

Franklin wrote
It take time to know how to land a plane. It takes longer to know when
not
to land a plane.

Good point. Note to CFIs doing BFIs -- at least once when your client
is deep in the flare, command "Go around". It would be a way of
reminding us the throttle may sometimes have to be advanced when we
are planning to land.

Really good point. I'm currently a student pilot (only had 1st solo on
7/4/10), and before the solo, my CFI did exactly that, whilst right in
the flare, he, in a conversational tone, said, "Go around." Proudly,
I was on it, and smoothly increased throttle, and reduced flaps...

I hope you achieved a positive rate of climb before letting *any* flaps
go. Then smoothly drop 'em away - just as per std. T/O for your
aircraft.

I did. I slowly added throttle - once the climb started, I grabbed the
flap lever and started letting out the flaps. That was proof of the
"muscle memory" concept, and the only the I EVER did to that point
when letting out flaps, was post landing and letting the ALL the way
out - so, it was just automatic - I simply pressed the button, and
slowly lowered to the floor!

Fortunatley, 8 years in the USMC taught me to always keep a level
head, so, even though I made a potentially fatal mistake, I kept
a level head, and 1 click at a time, and two clicks of flap back.
Thank you USMC! ::whew::


PS: in the comment you reply to above, what does BFI mean? - here in New
Zealand we call it a BFR (Bi-annual Flight Review) - and it's just that,
a review. ie it's not a "test". But that's irrelevant, just wondering
what the 'I' means for you folk over there.

I'm still kinda new. I only know it to be called a Bi-annual Flight Review
(BFR) - but I believe that since he was referring to the CFI - he meant the
Biannual Flight Instruction that might occur during the review. Someone
please correct me if I'm wrong.

I got to learn another lesson that day:

When going around, and you need to decrease the flap by 1 "click",
make sure you don't let out ALL the flap. Fortunately, the CFI
calmly said, "You let out all the flap; we're going to lose altitude
if you don't..." I already caught my mistake and put 2 clicks back
in of flaps. Now I'm always aware!

But this is why we train, right? I want to make ALL my mistakes
when the CFI is right there.

The silly/bad ones, yes You'll still make mistakes when you are
fully certified w' your PPL - I'd like think they'll be minor ones.

It sounds like you were onto the flaps thing yourself - so that's good.

Yeah. We strive for perfection, but, I'm sure we're never perfect. I
actually made the same mistake a couple of weeks later on my second
solo T/O landing - one where I chose to Go Around. I was really glad it
happened that first time, b/c the second the lever hit the floor I
realized what I did, and brought the flaps back up again. Important,
b/c on this runway, there were trees pretty close to the end of the
runway.

In my second solo - simply flying the pattern for 3 T/O landings -
I exercised my own judgemnt to Go Around. I came in too fast, and
ground effect was making me float way too far - so, rather than
chance it, I simply "went around".

I almost had the urge to not do it. I was thinking, I know what
I'm doing, so, I can stick this. A split second later, I said
to myself that if I'm trying to convince myself that I can make
this, on a simple landing that is getting close, I better just
go around.

That will stick with me now. I know what to expect of myself and
the signs to look for - at least in this case.

Sound good to me - certainly made the right decision again. Persevering
with a high-speed landing has taken many a front wheel off as the
"forced" landing turns into a nasty bunny-hop.

Thanks. I have much to learn; but I've been enjoying every second!

Cheers!