AOPA Pilot Magazine - June 2020 - 85

FINALLY!
I've even noticed the problem on
practical exams for the flight instructor
certificate, during which I often play the
role of student demonstrating a landing
so that the instructor candidate can provide a critique. If the stall warning horn
chirps at all during the flare, I see the
candidate pushing forward on the yoke
so that we land flat. I asked a recent candidate why he advocated landing flat and
he reported learning it from his online
ground school. It didn't take a long internet search to find an instructor who, bless
his heart-an expression I've adopted as
part of my assimilation into the South-
teaches that the word flare shouldn't even
be in our vocabulary. Exactly when did
flare become a bad word?

I asked a recent
candidate why he
advocated landing
flat and he reported
learning it from his
online ground school.
Exactly when did flare
become a bad word?
There are myriad problems with this
technique. First, landing flat means far
more energy to be dissipated on landing,
because that energy is a function of the
square of groundspeed: Touching down
with 10 percent extra speed means, generally, a 21-percent-longer ground roll. While
you may get away with the technique on
long runways, it puts additional wear on
the aircraft, and it fails to prepare you for
short and soft fields-and, more important,
for the day when you might need to perform
an emergency landing in a confined area.
Additionally, in some aircraft-most notably those with conventional gear-seeing
over the nose is impossible in the landing
attitude or when the tailwheel touches the
ground. Learning to transition your gaze to
the side of the aircraft means you can land at
a minimal airspeed while maintaining directional control. And it works in any airplane.

I was fortunate that Bill encouraged me
to earn my tailwheel endorsement early
in my aviation career, and I do the same
with practical exam candidates. With their
center of gravity behind the main landing
gear, conventional-gear aircraft are directionally unstable, so a proper sight picture
and rudder use on takeoff and landing are
important. It's some of the best training
you'll receive and will improve your takeoffs and landings, no matter what airplane
you normally fly.
Even if you're not in a position to earn
your tailwheel endorsement now, improve
your own techniques by consulting an
authority. Bill wrote a series of flight
training manuals, including The Student
Pilot's Flight Manual and The Advanced
Pilot's Flight Manual, that taught generations to fly, and the advice is as timely
as ever. Although he passed away in 2007,
these and his other works are still in print
and updated for the current generation.
In the practical exams I've administered
I have noticed that, other preparation equal,
those who have spent time around airports
benefit from that experience even when
the time didn't directly involve flying. Line
personnel, mechanics, and flight attendants,
for example, absorb practical information in
those positions that proves valuable when
they transition to becoming a pilot. Even
relaxing at the airport can be an educational
experience, as so many of those times were
for me. Perhaps you know a longtime aviator
who might enjoy sharing his or her expertise with you over a glass of tea.
After bidding us adieu, Rosie preflighted the Cessna, and she and Pat
hopped in, taxied out, and departed the
Sewanee airport as we watched and waved
from the porch. Bill smiled and mused, as
he so often did, "When I die, I am going to
be a guardian angel for student pilots." I am
sure he is, and can say he is also a guardian
angel for this flight instructor.
AOPA
CATHERINE CAVAGNARO is an aerobatics

instructor (aceaerobaticschool.com) and
professor of mathematics at Sewanee: The
University of the South. She was recognized as the 2020 National Certificated
Flight Instructor of the Year by the General
Aviation Awards Program.

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AOPA Pilot Magazine - June 2020

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