Happy landings?

Judging from the recent rash of landing mishaps, many of us should spend some time thinking about what can go wrong during the landing phase, and be better prepared to correct for the unexpected. We should always be prepared to overshoot.

A pilot was attempting to land his Cessna 182 on Runway 22 at Pine Dock, Man., where the winds were from 240 degrees at 20 gusting 25. The stall warning horn was sounding intermittently in the flare when a gust of wind caused the aircraft to balloon. The aircraft then stalled, dropped to the runway and bounced airborne again. The pilot added power, but the aircraft landed hard on the nose gear and the propeller struck the ground.

A PA 28R 201T Arrow pilot was having difficulty with the crosswind in the flare while attempting to land on the Eaglesham, Alta., runway. He decided to overshoot, then changed his mind and forced the aircraft onto the runway, which resulted in a hard landing, nose wheel first. There was damage to the nose gear, the propeller, the engine and both wings.

A student flying a Cessna 172 solo in Oshawa, Ont., was returning to land. His airspeed on his first approach was too high, he bounced on touch down and he conducted a missed approach. On his second try, his approach was too fast again. This time he porpoised on landing, resulting in the nose tire being flattened, the nose strut being forced backward to the firewall and the propeller striking the ground.

The pilot of a Bellanca 8GCBC was attempting to land on a grassy area on the beach of Lesser Slave Lake, Alta., when a gust of wind lifted the left wing. The pilot overcorrected and the right landing gear came off the ground resulting in the left wing hitting the ground and breaking off rearwards.

A Challenger II pilot was on the approach to a private strip near Port Hope, Ont., when just a few feet above the ground a gust of wind from the left caused the aircraft to veer to the right. The right wing hit a tree, spinning the aircraft around to hit another tree with the fuselage. Fortunately, there were no injuries.

The C-182 pilot was not prepared for the gusty wind conditions. It is always recommended that half of the wind gust be added to the airspeed on final to allow for a sudden loss of wind on the approach or in the flare. The aircraft should not be held off the ground in the flare such as is done during a soft field landing. It would appear that this aircraft was either held off the ground for a soft field, or the pilot flared too high and was working it down to the runway. A wind gust will often cause an aircraft to balloon, but in a slow speed, nose high situation such as this pilot was in, the balloon will be significant. If power is not added immediately, the aircraft may stall. If the power is not added immediately and the wind drops off again, the aircraft will stall, as this one did. This pilot did not add power until he bounced, and even then he did not add enough as the aircraft came back down hard on the nose wheel.

An overshoot should always be in the back of our minds. In a situation when we are at a very slow speed (the stall warning horn is a clue), and we balloon, the reaction to overshoot must be instantaneous.

The Piper Arrow pilot changed his mind about an overshoot and tried to force his aircraft onto the ground. This is seldom a good idea, as the nose wheel will almost always contact the runway first. This example resulted in a prop strike. The other scenarios resulting from a nose wheel first landing are wheel barrowing and porpoising.

Wheel barrowing occurs when there is more of the aircraft’s weight on the nose gear than on the main gear. Braking is poor to nil and steering is difficult. Directional control may be lost. The corrective action is to pull full aft on the control column to try to transfer the aircraft weight to the main wheels. If the runway is disappearing fast, add full power and overshoot.

A porpoise is when the aircraft lands nose wheel first, then the mains touch down with the nose in the air, then the nose comes down with the mains in the air. This cycle continues until the nose gear fails, usually about the third time the nose wheel contacts the ground. The porpoise is usually aggravated by the pilot trying to stop the oscillation, and always being one step behind. The corrective action for a porpoise is to move the control column fully aft and to add full power and overshoot.

The C-172 pilot tried to land fast and ended up in a porpoise. It doesn’t appear that he tried to initiate an overshoot.

The Ballanca and Challenger pilots were not prepared for gusty crosswinds. The Bellanca pilot was landing on a beach and the Challenger pilot was landing at a private strip that may or may not have had a windsock. Whenever we are landing and we are not absolutely certain of the conditions on or around the landing area, we should perform a precautionary approach to check out the landing surface and to check out the wind conditions. Buildings or trees may shield wind indicators at some small airstrips. The winds encountered on final approach may be significantly different from what the windsocks indicated. We must be ready for anything and be ready to react instantly and correctly. If we are complacent and are not ready for that gusty crosswind, we may overreact like the Bellanca pilot, or we may not react fast enough like the Challenger pilot.

Pride, complacency, inexperience and lack of currency can all result in poor judgment and poor technique, and bent metal.