Flight Training - March 2019 - 35

SIGHT PICTURE: THIS IS PARALLEL

Although instructors stress the importance of being
aligned with the centerline for touchdown, some students have a difficult time recognizing what parallel
looks like. Engine cowlings are curved. The front
control panel is often curved. Windshields are curved
and can create parallax.
The best place to learn what sight picture is
parallel is on the taxiway. If you start on the taxiway
centerline, roll forward, and remain on the centerline, you must be parallel. Use the time to check out
physical cues on your airplane that can help you.
Cowling rivets, defrost vents, marks on the dashboard, anything can help be a reference for seeing
what parallel looks like. It's a lot easier to learn these
cues while taxiing than in a landing flare without the
wheels rolling on the ground.
Last, notice how much better you are at staying
on the centerline if your eyes look far ahead down the
taxiway. Keeping your eyes focused farther down the
runway or taxiway lets you detect subtle changes in
heading far more easily than if you are looking very
closely in front of the nose. It's true for taxiing. It's
especially true for landing.
RUDDER IS ACTIVE

Nosewheel steering is an active process. It never
ends. At our flight school, we tell students, "There is
no way to win at taxiing," which means there is no
way to get the rudder just right and leave it there.
There is no way to stop playing with the rudder
pedals. Sometimes new students think that moving
their feet a lot means they are not good pilots, and
that their feet will stabilize as they get more experience. Nope. Every gust of wind, every rise or drop in
taxiway slope, every centerline light or reflector, and
even the texture of the painted centerline can catch
the nosewheel and take the airplane off center. Your
feet and nosewheel steering must account for and
correct every one of these. Get used to it.
The next time you are in the taxiway laboratory,
focus on the movement of your feet. Notice how
active your feet have to be while taxiing. This is
exactly how active your feet should be while landing.
Every gust, every movement of the aileron, and every
power adjustment can yaw the nose off parallel. Only
your feet can correct for this. Stay as light and playful
on the rudder during roundout, flare, and touchdown
as you are while taxiing. If you use your taxiway time
and practice being aware of how active and automatically your feet are while taxiing, you'll be more likely
to give them permission to operate the same playful
way on landing. Active feet will get you parallel, and
keep you parallel, even during the ground roll.
ALWAYS USE CROSSWIND TAXI TECHNIQUE

Crosswind landings are always a concern for pilots,
and there is something you should do every time you
taxi that will make your crosswind landings better:
crosswind taxi technique. Bank into a headwind. Dive
away from a tailwind. Those memory aids guide you
to make the correct elevator and aileron inputs when
taxiing in strong winds.
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Flight Training - March 2019

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