AOPA Pilot Magazine - March 2013 - 81

Flat-spotting
tires is a problem
for experienced
pilots from
Maryland
to California.
!

ow

w

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they were planned, the answer is always
to go around. Making that decision earlier
rather than later can prevent a really ugly
situation.
“I especially want them to recognize
earlier rather than later if they are going
to land short,” she added. “Have in your
mind a good go-around point. ‘Aim point,
airspeed, center line,’ is a mantra that we
teach over and over again,” Menath said.
AIRSPEED, AIRSPEED, AIRSPEED. Bob
Gardner is the former director of ASA
ground schools who wrote, in addition to
the books already mentioned, The Complete
Advanced Pilot and The Complete MultiEngine Pilot. Now in his 80s, he works
constantly to keep his books updated for
new printings. Gardner warns that the
downward transition to a smaller airplane
is more difficult than transitioning up to a
heavier one. Experienced pilots assume if
the plane is smaller, it’s easier to fly. As sport
pilots know, that’s not so.
Maybe if more general aviation pilots
practiced spot landings, all their little
troubles would go away. “I’m a great big
fan of the dirty spot method of landing,”
Gardner said. Using that method, make a
spot in front of you on the window with a
grease pencil, or use a dirty spot already in
the right place, and keep that spot on the
point of intended landing. Pilots who level
off at 20 feet or 100 feet would see that spot
climb above the horizon.

Many pilots have a need for too much
speed when landing. “This has been true
since the days that Adam and Eve were
learning to fly—people are afraid of stalling. I don’t know who makes them afraid
of stalling, whether it’s the instructors
or their buddies or what. My mantra is
that good landings are slow landings—1.3
times the stall speed in the landing configuration. It’s energy management,” he said.
Gardner believes in full flaps—even
in windy, gusty conditions—in order to
land as slowly as possible. He knows
many pilots prefer partial or no flaps in
such conditions, but those are exactly the
times when he wants to land as slowly as
possible. Backing up his opinion is 7,400
total hours of flying, including 4,335
hours of instruction given.
Airspeed is the critical factor for a
good landing, Gardner said. When he
gave flight reviews, he noticed many
pilots flew the final approach at five to
10 knots too fast. “People complain about
floating and ballooning, and both are the
result of too much airspeed. If you can’t
control airspeed to within two or three
knots, you should be ashamed,” he said.
Poughkeepsie instructor Staples said
he has seen students control airspeed
so well that the airspeed needle never
moves. So pilots, ask yourselves—are you
as good as a student pilot?
AOPA
EMAIL alton.marsh@aopa.org

www.aopa.org/pilot AOPA PILOT | 81

The 454 Model integrated with the panel
Garmin GPS receivers, will enable up to
THREE OCCUPANTS to receive aircraft GPS
data via Bluetooth on their portable
devices to monitor their current location.

www.GuardianAvionics.com
or call 800-639-7139
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AOPA Pilot Magazine - March 2013

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - March 2013
