The Two-Handed Flare

[Larry Dighera]

The article below is printed (in its entirety) in the current issue of
AOPA Pilot magazine. In it, Rod Machado mentions the controls being
"mechanically sticky."

It has been my experience, that the bar attached to the control yoke
which goes through a bushing in the control panel often binds as it
moves fore and aft through its entire range of travel as it might
during a landing flare. This stickiness can cause an unexpected
balloon leading to pilot induced oscillations.

As part of the Piper PA28 annual inspection lubricating the bar
attached to the control yoke with engine oils is mentioned. I have
found that this lubrication is often overlooked, and most rental
aircraft suffer to a greater of lesser extent from sticky elevator
controls as a result.

Has anyone else experienced this?


--------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.aopa.org/members/files/pilot/2005/ltol0509.html

License to Learn
Arms control: A case for the two-handed flare
BY ROD MACHADO (From AOPA Pilot, September 2005.)

....

The truth is that humans, like cats, find it harder to hold onto
things as they age. A hood, however, isn't one of those things.
Instead, we often struggle to sustain a grip on the ideas we once held
in our youth. For me, this involved believing that it was never proper
to flare an airplane with both hands on the yoke. Unlike my cat, I
hope, you will at least consider the following discourse without
stomping off in a huff and refusing to speak to me for days, or
longer.

Why would anyone want to flare an airplane with two hands on a typical
"wheel type" yoke instead of keeping one hand on the throttle? Ask a
handyman and often he'll profess that it gives him better control of
the landing flare, allowing a much smoother touchdown. There's a good
reason for this, too.

Let's call it the Big Bang theory. In Westerns, you always see the
hero shooting from the hip, with one hand. In reality, police officers
are taught to fire a gun with two hands on the weapon. Why? It
provides improved control and precision, and enhances the chances of
hitting what they're aiming at. These are all things I think most
pilots would be happy to have on their side when shooting for
smoother, more controlled contact with the runway.

Biomechanically, it's simply easier to apply precise changes in
elevator control pressure when you dedicate additional strength and
more nerve endings to manipulating the control yoke. Two hands also
provide better leverage. This is why many pilots opt to place both
hands on the yoke during steep turns. Using two hands also can help
overcome any binds or crimps in the yoke's gearing mechanism, a common
issue in older airplanes.

It's very important to understand that I'm speaking of using two hands
only in the flare (not the roundout), and only when the engine is at
flight idle and certainly not when the airplane is more than a foot or
so above the runway.

The fact is that some folks like to flare with two hands. Fine. Given
this preference, is there any risk that might outweigh the benefit of
more precise elevator control when one hand is moved to the throttle
and power applied during the flare? Let's see.

As a young CFI, I was adamant about my primary students keeping one
hand on the yoke and the other on the throttle during the landing
flare. I still am. This is simply good practice, given that students
may not have enough practical experience to locate the throttle by
feel or spatial memory.

On the other hand, I also insisted (long ago) that my advanced
students do the same. Most willingly complied, but a few seemed quite
insistent about using two hands to flare. When I recall the wholesome
and playful discussions inspired by my request, the phrase "over my
dead body" vaguely comes to mind (a response that, at the time, seemed
more prescient than playful).

It turned out that many of the people preferring a two-handed flare
flew larger single-engine airplanes such as the Cessna 210 and Piper
Cherokee Six. The handy use of two hands for the flare helped these
pilots manipulate elevators (yokes) with greater precision in pitch
control for any number of good reasons. Most likely, the controls were
aerodynamically heavy, mechanically sticky, or the pilot's seating
position provided for insufficient leverage on the yoke.

Unfortunately, as a young instructor I was sure that the only way to
fly an airplane was to do it the way I was taught, which didn't
involve having two hands on the wheel. For those students refusing
assimilation, I often swung the unforgiving blade of knowledge to
untether them from the notion that a two-handed flare was a safe
practice.

"What would happen during the flare if you encountered a gust, or
heaven forbid, wingtip vortices, and had to apply power immediately?"
I asked, rattling my mighty saber. ...

[Chris]

"Larry Dighera" > wrote in message
...
>
>
> The article below is printed (in its entirety) in the current issue of
> AOPA Pilot magazine. In it, Rod Machado mentions the controls being
> "mechanically sticky."
>
> It has been my experience, that the bar attached to the control yoke
> which goes through a bushing in the control panel often binds as it
> moves fore and aft through its entire range of travel as it might
> during a landing flare. This stickiness can cause an unexpected
> balloon leading to pilot induced oscillations.
>
> As part of the Piper PA28 annual inspection lubricating the bar
> attached to the control yoke with engine oils is mentioned. I have
> found that this lubrication is often overlooked, and most rental
> aircraft suffer to a greater of lesser extent from sticky elevator
> controls as a result.
>
> Has anyone else experienced this?
>

Me too. I have used the two handed flare for as long as I can remember and
had a number of arguments with instructors about it.

My other problem is that my body proportions are a bit out.

When I buy a suit, the pants need to be just a tad short of "regular", but
the jacket has to be "long". This means my legs need the seat forward for
the feet on the pedals but my arms need the seat back as I have plenty of
reach.

So what we do is for take off and landing the seat is forward and for
cruising its well back.

When it comes to landing, I just don't get the right leverage from my left
arm alone for the round out and flare so I use a combination of both hands
and a bit of up trim just to lighten the load and make the it more
comfortable.

This is especially important with a sticky Pa 28 column and there are not
many Pa28s which don't get a bit sticky at some time or other.

cb

[Jonathan Goodish]

In article >,
Larry Dighera > wrote:

> The article below is printed (in its entirety) in the current issue of
> AOPA Pilot magazine. In it, Rod Machado mentions the controls being
> "mechanically sticky."

I read this article also, and couldn't believe that he would recommend a
two-handed flare. My experience is that folks tend to over-control with
two hands on the yoke, and if the airplane is properly trimmed, two
hands shouldn't be required in most cases. Two hands on the yoke also
means zero hands on the throttle, and if you need power in a hurry you
will not be properly positioned.



> As part of the Piper PA28 annual inspection lubricating the bar
> attached to the control yoke with engine oils is mentioned. I have
> found that this lubrication is often overlooked, and most rental
> aircraft suffer to a greater of lesser extent from sticky elevator
> controls as a result.


I believe that Piper used different types of bushings depending on model
year, but I have never heard of "engine oil" being recommended as a
lubricant on the tubes. Maybe on the control chain, but not on the
tubes.

I use silicone spray on the tubes, and have occasionally used DC4. My
yokes do not stick. However, it's obvious that someone in the past has
used a petrol-based lube, because it's all over the bushings and I can't
get rid of it, and it makes a mess of the tubes in short order. I would
not recommend a petrol-based lube on the tubes. I believe that Piper
recommends Parker O-Ring lube in most cases.



JKG

[Jay Honeck]

> I use silicone spray on the tubes, and have occasionally used DC4. My
> yokes do not stick. However, it's obvious that someone in the past has
> used a petrol-based lube, because it's all over the bushings and I can't
> get rid of it, and it makes a mess of the tubes in short order. I would
> not recommend a petrol-based lube on the tubes. I believe that Piper
> recommends Parker O-Ring lube in most cases.

Me, too. Silicone spray is the way to go. We apply it at least monthly,
for that oh-so-smooth flare at the end...

:-)

And don't feel bad about someone using engine oil on your yoke shafts -- at
least it wasn't graphite. That's what some genius used on ours, and --
three years after buying the plane -- we're STILL getting that awful black
crap on a rag every time we lube the shafts with silicone spray.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

[Blanche]

I used the teflon-based stuff that I also use on my bicycle chain.
Works beautifully.

[[email protected]]

This topic has come up before. Bottom line is that it is important to
keep one's
control mechanisms well lubed. I use teflon-bearing lube on my yoke
shafts
also.

David Johnson

[Jonathan Goodish]

In article <ZAFZe.367234$_o.200869@attbi_s71>,
"Jay Honeck" > wrote:
> And don't feel bad about someone using engine oil on your yoke shafts -- at
> least it wasn't graphite. That's what some genius used on ours, and --
> three years after buying the plane -- we're STILL getting that awful black
> crap on a rag every time we lube the shafts with silicone spray.

Others have suggested Teflon spray, and that may work better--last
longer--but DC4 works better than silicone spray, though it is "more
messy." In any case, any of this stuff should prevent the yokes from
sticking. I'm always amazed at how often I hear the "sticky yoke"
complaint, and how the solution seems to be to modify your flying
behavior to work around it--doesn't seem logical to me.

I'm not sure what the previous owner(s) of our airplane used, but I also
have a nice collection of black gunk accumulate on the tubes. I suspect
that the tubes have been hit with just about everything over the years.
I suppose the only way to "fix" the problem is to pull the tubes and
bushings and clean them out.



JKG

[George Patterson]

Larry Dighera wrote:

> As part of the Piper PA28 annual inspection lubricating the bar
> attached to the control yoke with engine oils is mentioned.

Beeswax works very well and does not run off. There's also a liquid Teflon
coating available at Lowes. Apply it and let it dry. Even a light coat of wheel
bearing grease works better than oil. Less likely to leave a mess.

> Has anyone else experienced this?

The shafts on the Maule had to be lubricated every few hundred hours.

George Patterson
Give a person a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a person to
use the Internet and he won't bother you for weeks.

[Don Tuite]

Molybdenum disulfide used to be touted as the acme of lubricants. I
don';t hear it mentioned here. What happened to it?

Don

[George Patterson]

Don Tuite wrote:
> Molybdenum disulfide used to be touted as the acme of lubricants. I
> don';t hear it mentioned here. What happened to it?

IIRC, that's one variant of wheel bearing grease.

George Patterson
Give a person a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a person to
use the Internet and he won't bother you for weeks.

[Matt Barrow]

"George Patterson" > wrote in message
news:umJZe.17350$lW3.15242@trndny09...
> Larry Dighera wrote:
>
>> As part of the Piper PA28 annual inspection lubricating the bar
>> attached to the control yoke with engine oils is mentioned.
>
> Beeswax works very well and does not run off. There's also a liquid Teflon
> coating available at Lowes. Apply it and let it dry.

Tri-Flow?...spray can, work great

[Matt Barrow]

Don Tuite wrote:
> Molybdenum disulfide used to be touted as the acme of lubricants. I
> don';t hear it mentioned here.

Probably because no one can pronounce it.

[RV9]

"Blanche" > wrote in message
...
> I used the teflon-based stuff that I also use on my bicycle chain.
> Works beautifully.
>

Seeing several replies promoting Teflon as a lubricant, I just had to pipe
in. There is no way that Teflon (or any PTFE) will make its way anywhere
near my car or plane. Of course, you'll manage to track it to the plane's
exterior. You just about cannot remove it completely from the surface, and
when it comes to your next paint job, you'll be glad (and your paint shop)
that you did not use Teflon.

[George Patterson]

Matt Barrow wrote:

> Tri-Flow?...spray can, work great

Actually, I bought it in a plastic bottle. No change of overspray messing
something up.

George Patterson
Give a person a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a person to
use the Internet and he won't bother you for weeks.

[tom418]

The M/M for my Seneca, interestingly enough, says (verbatim): "Caution. Do
Not lubricate control wheel shaft or bushing. Clean only using alcohol or
other suitable solvent." Gee. I never thought of Silicone spray as a
solvent, but, like several other posters here said, it does help with the
landing flare... :)
"Larry Dighera" > wrote in message
...
>
>
> The article below is printed (in its entirety) in the current issue of
> AOPA Pilot magazine. In it, Rod Machado mentions the controls being
> "mechanically sticky."
>
> It has been my experience, that the bar attached to the control yoke
> which goes through a bushing in the control panel often binds as it
> moves fore and aft through its entire range of travel as it might
> during a landing flare. This stickiness can cause an unexpected
> balloon leading to pilot induced oscillations.
>
> As part of the Piper PA28 annual inspection lubricating the bar
> attached to the control yoke with engine oils is mentioned. I have
> found that this lubrication is often overlooked, and most rental
> aircraft suffer to a greater of lesser extent from sticky elevator
> controls as a result.
>
> Has anyone else experienced this?
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> http://www.aopa.org/members/files/pilot/2005/ltol0509.html
>
> License to Learn
> Arms control: A case for the two-handed flare
> BY ROD MACHADO (From AOPA Pilot, September 2005.)
>
> ...
>
> The truth is that humans, like cats, find it harder to hold onto
> things as they age. A hood, however, isn't one of those things.
> Instead, we often struggle to sustain a grip on the ideas we once held
> in our youth. For me, this involved believing that it was never proper
> to flare an airplane with both hands on the yoke. Unlike my cat, I
> hope, you will at least consider the following discourse without
> stomping off in a huff and refusing to speak to me for days, or
> longer.
>
> Why would anyone want to flare an airplane with two hands on a typical
> "wheel type" yoke instead of keeping one hand on the throttle? Ask a
> handyman and often he'll profess that it gives him better control of
> the landing flare, allowing a much smoother touchdown. There's a good
> reason for this, too.
>
> Let's call it the Big Bang theory. In Westerns, you always see the
> hero shooting from the hip, with one hand. In reality, police officers
> are taught to fire a gun with two hands on the weapon. Why? It
> provides improved control and precision, and enhances the chances of
> hitting what they're aiming at. These are all things I think most
> pilots would be happy to have on their side when shooting for
> smoother, more controlled contact with the runway.
>
> Biomechanically, it's simply easier to apply precise changes in
> elevator control pressure when you dedicate additional strength and
> more nerve endings to manipulating the control yoke. Two hands also
> provide better leverage. This is why many pilots opt to place both
> hands on the yoke during steep turns. Using two hands also can help
> overcome any binds or crimps in the yoke's gearing mechanism, a common
> issue in older airplanes.
>
> It's very important to understand that I'm speaking of using two hands
> only in the flare (not the roundout), and only when the engine is at
> flight idle and certainly not when the airplane is more than a foot or
> so above the runway.
>
> The fact is that some folks like to flare with two hands. Fine. Given
> this preference, is there any risk that might outweigh the benefit of
> more precise elevator control when one hand is moved to the throttle
> and power applied during the flare? Let's see.
>
> As a young CFI, I was adamant about my primary students keeping one
> hand on the yoke and the other on the throttle during the landing
> flare. I still am. This is simply good practice, given that students
> may not have enough practical experience to locate the throttle by
> feel or spatial memory.
>
> On the other hand, I also insisted (long ago) that my advanced
> students do the same. Most willingly complied, but a few seemed quite
> insistent about using two hands to flare. When I recall the wholesome
> and playful discussions inspired by my request, the phrase "over my
> dead body" vaguely comes to mind (a response that, at the time, seemed
> more prescient than playful).
>
> It turned out that many of the people preferring a two-handed flare
> flew larger single-engine airplanes such as the Cessna 210 and Piper
> Cherokee Six. The handy use of two hands for the flare helped these
> pilots manipulate elevators (yokes) with greater precision in pitch
> control for any number of good reasons. Most likely, the controls were
> aerodynamically heavy, mechanically sticky, or the pilot's seating
> position provided for insufficient leverage on the yoke.
>
> Unfortunately, as a young instructor I was sure that the only way to
> fly an airplane was to do it the way I was taught, which didn't
> involve having two hands on the wheel. For those students refusing
> assimilation, I often swung the unforgiving blade of knowledge to
> untether them from the notion that a two-handed flare was a safe
> practice.
>
> "What would happen during the flare if you encountered a gust, or
> heaven forbid, wingtip vortices, and had to apply power immediately?"
> I asked, rattling my mighty saber. ...
>

[Jonathan Goodish]

In article <gG%Ze.69086$Cc5.40690@lakeread06>,
"tom418" > wrote:
> The M/M for my Seneca, interestingly enough, says (verbatim): "Caution. Do
> Not lubricate control wheel shaft or bushing. Clean only using alcohol or
> other suitable solvent." Gee. I never thought of Silicone spray as a
> solvent, but, like several other posters here said, it does help with the
> landing flare... :)

I have seen this caution also, but not on my 1977 Cherokee. I believe
that Piper used different bushings throughout production runs of some
models, and some were to be lubed, and some not.

My maintenance manual recommends Parker O-Ring lube, which I haven't
tried. The problem with silicone spray is that it doesn't last that
long. DC4 last much longer, but it is a grease.



JKG

[[email protected]]

On Mon, 26 Sep 2005 20:57:40 -0400, Jonathan Goodish
> wrote:

snip

>I have seen this caution also, but not on my 1977 Cherokee. I believe
>that Piper used different bushings throughout production runs of some
>models, and some were to be lubed, and some not.
>
>My maintenance manual recommends Parker O-Ring lube, which I haven't
>tried. The problem with silicone spray is that it doesn't last that
>long. DC4 last much longer, but it is a grease.

Parker O-ring lube is sticky-tacky-stringy nasty stuff-I've got a tube
of it in my toolbox. Another "official" Piper application is on the
pneumatic emergency gear actuators installed on the Cheyenne II XL.

I suppose it is possible that it's chemical composition (and
suitability for lubing control shafts) has changed since the
maintenance manuals were written. But I do know that in it's current
form, it would make the "two-handed flare" the only option.

TC

[Larry Dighera]

On Sun, 25 Sep 2005 16:39:01 -0400, Jonathan Goodish
> wrote in
>::

>In article >,
> Larry Dighera > wrote:
>
>> As part of the Piper PA28 annual inspection lubricating the bar
>> attached to the control yoke with engine oil is mentioned. I have
>> found that this lubrication is often overlooked, and most rental
>> aircraft suffer to a greater of lesser extent from sticky elevator
>> controls as a result.
>
>
>I believe that Piper used different types of bushings depending on model
>year, but I have never heard of "engine oil" being recommended as a
>lubricant on the tubes. Maybe on the control chain, but not on the
>tubes.

My source is the original documentation provided by Piper for a 1964
PA28-235.

>I use silicone spray on the tubes, and have occasionally used DC4. My
>yokes do not stick. However, it's obvious that someone in the past has
>used a petrol-based lube, because it's all over the bushings and I can't
>get rid of it, and it makes a mess of the tubes in short order. I would
>not recommend a petrol-based lube on the tubes. I believe that Piper
>recommends Parker O-Ring lube in most cases.

I doubt silicone existed in 1964. Dow Corning DC4 silicon "grease"
would probably be preferable to silicone spray, because it not need to
be refreshed so often.

[Don Hammer]

Rent Warriors all the time. I carry a small bottle of teflon lube and
a rag in my flight bag. Ends up being part of my pe-flight and makes
my landings sorta better.

[George Patterson]

Don Hammer wrote:

> Ends up being part of my pe-flight and makes
> my landings sorta better.

It would take more than teflon to make *my* landings better. :-)

George Patterson
Give a person a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a person to
use the Internet and he won't bother you for weeks.

[Matt Whiting]

George Patterson wrote:

> Don Hammer wrote:
>
>> Ends up being part of my pe-flight and makes
>> my landings sorta better.
>
>
> It would take more than teflon to make *my* landings better. :-)

Well, maybe if you applied the teflon to the runway. :-)

Matt