"William W. Plummer" wrote in
message news:57Mud.555936$D%.476618@attbi_s51...
This thread might expand to include "Glassy Water" landings in seaplanes
because it is a very precise approach and landing without looking down.

Not exactly. It's "precise" in the sense that it's important to maintain
just the right airspeed and power setting, achieving the proper vertical
descent rate (100fpm or so, max 200fpm), so that you touch down on the water
gently and with the correct pitch attitude.

But it's nothing like a spot landing. A glassy water landing pretty much
guarantees that you will NOT land at a precise point on the water. That's
kind of the point...you can't really tell where you'll touch down, so you
make sure you're ready to touch down at any moment.

There are, of course, additional "precision" elements such as making a
normal approach as low over visible terrain as possible, to minimize the
time spent in the "instrument" phase of the glassy water landing. But even
so, there's absolutely no element to glassy water landings that have
anything to do with placing the airplane on the landing surface at a
particular spot.

Glassy water landings are "precision" the way flight maneuvers like turns
about a point, chandelles, etc. are "precision". If that's what you meant,
I can wholeheartedly agree with that.

Also, commercial glider pilots must be able to drop the plane between
two lines 100' appart. (200' for non-commercial). Think about that --
you can land across the runway at a normal airport and without power!

You mean "can touch down across the runway", right? Even in a sailplane,
one might have trouble actually coming to a stop before reaching the other
side of the runway (without a decent headwind, anyway).

Pete