How to Land an Airplane

Some Advice on Flying a Good Approach and Landing

Sep 1, 2008

Learning to fly an aeroplane is not that difficult, but most students struggle initially when learning to land. Here are some hints and tips.

How does one land an aircraft? The answer is to find a good instructor and learn from them. This article will not take the place of flying instruction, but will hopefully give the interested reader some useful advice.

A Good Landing Comes from a Good Approach

The student should not attempt the landing until he or she is flying the circuit (pattern) at the correct height and speed. He should be comfortable doing that, be able to do the pre-landing checks, and be fairly relaxed with most aspects of the flying. A good landing comes from a well-executed circuit and a stable approach.

Turning on to the Final Approach

The turn on to final is started at a point when a 20 degree angle of bank turn will bring the aircraft on to the extended runway centre line. The landing flap (intermediate to full flap) is lowered, and the aircraft is pitched nose-down to maintain the approach airspeed. The student should then trim the aircraft to stabilise the approach.

The final approach is flown at a speed fast enough to give the pilot adequate control of the aircraft, but slow enough to stop on the runway within a reasonable distance. The recommended approach airspeed is usually 1.3 times the stall speed in the approach configuration, i.e. with flaps down.

Controlling the Descent Angle

The pilot’s task during the final approach is to maintain a constant descent angle in relation to the runway, so as to touch down at a pre-determined point. He or she does this by keeping the aiming point at the same position on the windscreen of the aircraft, and adjusting the power if the aiming point moves up or down the windscreen.

The pilot continues doing this until the aircraft reaches a height of 40-50 feet above the runway.

The Flare and Landing

At around 40 feet the pilot looks well ahead, then at about 20 feet above the runway he brings up the nose of the aircraft and starts a gentle flare, and closes the throttle completely. The aircraft should now be in a level attitude, flying a couple of feet above the runway.

The pilot then gradually pitches the nose up as the aircraft slows. He should not attempt to land, but instead ‘hold off’, i.e. try to prevent the aircraft from actually landing. Eventually the aircraft will touch down with the main wheels, at a speed slightly above the stall. At this point the brakes can be used to slow the aircraft down.

Learning exactly where to begin the flare and the rate of pitching up needed requires practice, and this is why it can take some time for the student to learn to land the aircraft. The correct landing technique will come in time, but it relies to a large extent on developing a feel for the aircraft. That kind of judgement takes a while, and the student should not worry if he feels that landing is impossible – every pilot has felt this way in the beginning!

Reference

The copyright of the article How to Land an Airplane in Aviation is owned by Helen Krasner. Permission to republish How to Land an Airplane in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.