Why can't I land?

At some point, I’ve heard this lament from most of my student pilots, and quite a few honest private-pilot rated ones as well, and I always do my best to offer creative suggestions. Their frustration has as many cures as the flaws in their technique. In general, whether you’re just learning to land or have gotten rusty at your previously perfected airmanship, it’s important to go back to the basic requirements for transitioning from flying to taxiing.

First, forget about “making” the airplane land. You cannot physically convince an airplane to quit flying and roll to a stop. You can only bring the aircraft into a close relationship to the surface and “allow” it to land, simply because it can’t do anything else. It will land properly when it is ready, and only when it has no other choice. Forcing it to land leads to bad outcomes. To paraphrase the old wine commercial, “We will land no airplane before its time.”

Next, to make better landings, improve your approach. You must preface the actual landing by consistently flying a stabilized approach to the desired touchdown zone on the runway, with airspeed held on target, glidepath kept steady, and runway alignment unchanging. Imagine an open window at the end of the runway, about 100 feet tall and as wide as the pavement; your job is to fly through the middle of this window on speed, lined up, ready to land.

Fixing a bad approach

But what do you do if your approach is flawed, perhaps 20 knots off the target speed or aimed at the mid-point of the runway, or coming up short, skimming the trees under the approach corridor? In those cases, you have a decision to make, and that is, after all, the true measure of piloting. Determining and following a course of action to maintain safe flight is our purpose in the cockpit. So, can the incorrect approach be salvaged to make a successful landing, or do you go around?

Gross errors require decisive action; to handle them, make an immediate go-around. Bring in full power, adjust pitch attitude, and reconfigure for climbout. There’s no shame in going around, so long as you don’t repeat the exact same sequence of events that made the wave-off necessary. Once the go-around is underway, consider what you did wrong and adjust accordingly for the next attempt.

But what if you’re only five knots off the recommended approach speed, or you’re just slightly above or below the proper glidepath but still aimed at the first third of the runway? In those cases, you might be justified in attempting to regain the upper hand over the approach and landing; going around is still an option if your corrections aren’t effective. Let’s examine some restorative measures for common errors.

Managing the amount of energy stored in the aircraft is a vital part of landing consistently. This energy can exist in the form of airspeed or altitude, as surpluses or deficiencies of those factors. If you’re coming in “high and hot” with excessive speed and altitude, the airplane’s energy state is fat with extra knots and height that must be dissipated, hopefully not with heavy braking after touchdown, but while still in the air. A common mistake is just to point the nose at the runway numbers, which only compounds the problem. Instead, close the throttle and add any remaining flap extension, taking care to adjust pitch attitude to bleed off airspeed toward the desired over-the-fence value. Avoid entering a high sink rate at the end of your approach, which makes the flare and touchdown much harder to control. Hopefully, an early power reduction and added drag will allow you to hit the target window opening at the threshold and touch down as intended.

On the other hand, if the approach has gone slightly low and/or slow, you’ve probably allowed the airplane’s energy state to decay. Take action with a generous application of throttle, as you attempt to climb or accelerate by using that additional energy as necessary to get back on track. Don’t let the trim change from added power affect pitch attitude; be ready to adjust yoke pressure to convert the thrust into added airspeed and regain the proper approach path.

While management of airspeed and approach angle is critical, it’s just as important to maintain alignment with the runway. Any crosswind drift must be countered with use of crab or sideslip. If you’ve simply wound up off-center as you entered the final approach leg, use shallow-bank turns to re-establish the extended centerline before reaching the final stages of the approach.

Transitioning to level flight

As you approach the runway threshold, consider the airplane’s energy state one last time. If airspeed is slow, keep a touch of power on as you enter the leveling-off portion of the landing, in order to maintain enough energy to avoid running out of lift early in the roundout. Conversely, if you have extra airspeed over the threshold, bring the throttle to idle early and start dissipating speed before leveling off. If speed is on target, simply close the throttle just as you break the glide.

At this point, shift your gaze from looking over the nose of the aircraft, which is now rising into your field of vision as you flare, to a point along the runway edge a hundred feet or so ahead. This gives better depth perception to avoid “ballooning” with an aggressive flare. Do not attempt to land with one continuous pulling-back of the stick or yoke. Instead, break the glide into level flight and then stop pulling any more for a second or so; let the airplane slow and start to lose lift, then arrest the beginning sink with a little more added back-pressure on the yoke. Stop and hold the back-pressure again, then raise the nose a bit more as the airplane nears the stall at touchdown. Three applications of back-pressure while flaring and holding off gives better results than trying to make the landing in one fell swoop.

Do not neglect keeping the tires lined up on the runway centerline during landing. Your arm’s backward movement of the control stick or yoke often induces unwanted aileron input, producing misalignment. Anticipate and avoid this. And don’t land with lazy feet; the rudder control needs to be used to correct a cocked touchdown, continuing through the rollout.

Our objective is to get as slow as we can, while flying as low as we can, with the airplane’s flight path in alignment with the runway centerline. Touching down too fast translates into a rough arrival from excess kinetic energy; remove that energy by preventing the landing, staying off the ground as long as possible. There’s a “sweet spot” of nose attitude that brushes the tires onto the runway without dropping in fully stalled or sinking on with excess energy. When you find it, use it every time, and your passengers will applaud you.

If you should pull the yoke back too aggressively and cause the airplane to balloon up, risking a stall several feet above the runway, it’s once again decision time; go around or fly the airplane back down to the runway. Ballooning can also result from touching down with extra speed and bouncing off the pavement. In either case, do not shove the yoke forward aggressively to bring the aircraft down. That builds up a high sink rate and can put the nosewheel into unwanted contact during the hard landing. It’s better to release back-pressure as soon as you detect the balloon, but not push forward, and wait for the airplane to level off, then reapply back-pressure to enter a proper landing attitude, perhaps with a touch of throttle added to lessen the sink rate. In case of a severe ballooning situation, don’t hesitate to make a full-power go-around.

Again, the secrets of a pleasing landing are to fly a stabilized approach, reduce energy at touchdown as much as possible, stay close to the runway while flaring so there’s no chance of building up sink rate, and avoid misalignment or side-drift at touchdown. Gentle, progressive flaring and holding off produces the best results.

LeRoy Cook is an airline transport pilot and CFI based in Missouri.