Within Reach

Yesterday's flight should have probably included a solo, but I just couldn't stick the landings. Another round of pattern work to perfect the flare...another 11 approaches...another hour and a half to get it right...

Frustrating, but not the worst thing in the world. I can take pride that the rest of the flight, pattern, and approach are in good shape. It was even a bit bumpy, and I still kept it together. It's just the last 10 seconds and 30 feet or so that foils the whole endeavor.

The idea is to maintain a constant airspeed, descent rate, and power setting all the way into ground effect. Then, as the nose is brought up and the airspeed begins to drop, the stall horn whistles, and the plane settles to just about level over the runway, the power should be brought back to idle and the wheels should settle gently onto the concrete. Simple enough, right?

Not so fast. Literally. My approaches, while a bit fast (by about 5 knots) weren't bad. The wind was a bit gusty, so it actually was about right. Nevertheless, the extra speed over the numbers seemed to be my downfall, and I would either flare a bit too quickly, a bit too high, or just time the power reduction wrong. And we're talking about really subtle differences between what is merely decent (which I can handle) and a truly smooth landing. It's hard enough when the wind is a bit different on every approach without trying to get those last few motions of hands and feet just right.

So, maybe next time....