Landing Streaks

I've noticed something about my landings over the last few years, and
wondered if you folks have had the same experience?

After my first 100 hours or so, my landings were pretty consistently okay.
A nice one every now and then, adequate ones the rest of the time. Every
now and then a crosswind landing might stress the gear a bit, but nothing
too horrible.

Around 500 hours, I seemed to master the art of the greaser -- if I really,
really worked at it. Most of the time, my landings would be good, sometimes
great.

Now, some 400 hours later, flying about the same frequency throughout (1 - 2
times per week. Around 100 hours per year), my landings seem to run in
streaks where I will be almost perfect, separated by periods where my
landings are good, but not greasers.

What *is* that?

I don't feel any different. The plane is no different. I'm flying just as
often. Weather conditions are similar. I feel like I'm working the approach
just as hard, and in the same way. Yet, *something* is different.

For example, right now I'm in a streak of near-perfection. I had
passengers on Wednesday that told me they had never landed so smoothly,
ever. Hell, *I* have never landed so smoothly, ever, as a passenger or a
pilot. I've just been rolling them on, in any wind condition. Yet I know
that two months ago, I had a couple of real clunkers that probably had my
passengers wondering if I was really a pilot.

So, what is this phenomenon? Karma? The stars? Blood pressure? Phase of
the moon? It's frustrating to not be able to break down cause and effect
here -- does anyone else notice this?
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

On Sat, 26 Feb 2005 14:25:53 GMT, "Jay Honeck"
wrote in RF%Td.1853$Ze3.1281@attbi_s51::

So, what is this phenomenon?

It's my guess that it's a matter of mental alertness. It's difficult
for a person to accurately assess his own mental state at any given
time. For example, we've all seen the inebriated fellow who
erroneously believes he's just fine to drive home. Our mental and
physical state varies to some degree; call it biorhythm ...

"Larry Dighera" wrote in message ...
On Sat, 26 Feb 2005 14:25:53 GMT, "Jay Honeck"
wrote in RF%Td.1853$Ze3.1281@attbi_s51::

So, what is this phenomenon?

call it biorhythm ...

Predict your landing performance he
http://www.facade.com/biorhythm/

;-)

--
Dan DeVillers.
http://www.ameritech.net/users/ddevillers/start.html


..

On Sat, 26 Feb 2005 14:25:53 GMT, "Jay Honeck"
wrote:

I've noticed something about my landings over the last few years, and
wondered if you folks have had the same experience?

snip
So, what is this phenomenon? Karma? The stars? Blood pressure? Phase of
the moon? It's frustrating to not be able to break down cause and effect
here -- does anyone else notice this?

if you concentrate too hard your muscles tense up and your reflexes go
to pot. relax by just the right amount and it comes so much easier.

I landed in the twilight the other day. landing into the sun I couldnt
see the runway or gauge the height I was above the surface. I had no
idea whether I was 1 foot or 15 feet above the runway so I poled
forward gently in the hopes that I'd hit a shadow change and be able
to see something. The wheels touched and I thought bounced me back in
the air so I just eased the stick back and back until eventually the
tailwheel made contact. still couldnt gauge my height so I just waited
with the stick full back until the mains touched again.
eventually I realised that I couldnt possibly be flying at the low
rollout speed.
unknown to me back in the clubhouse 2 guys are watching my landing.
unknown to me the mains kissed the bitumen without so much of a skip
stayed glued and rolled along the bitumen.
I'm told the conversation was like this.
"gees I wish I could land like that"
"yeah he does that all the time"
"I've never seen him bounce it"
"yeah he's one of our most proficient pilots, he lands it like that
all the time"
....which is absolute horse hockey! occasionally I hit a rotor or a
gust at touchdown and really work the wittman springs for all they are
worth. ...evidently that goes unobserved.
anyway I explained what actually happened to one guy, that it was an
absolute arsy fluke and I could just as easily have broken the
aircraft. to no avail it seems. the legend has begun to circulate the
tea pots and coffee cups on the airfield and is unstoppable.
I only hope that one day I'm as good a pilot as they have convinced
themselves I am.
good grief. the things you observe on an airfield. :-)

Stealth Pilot

Jay,

You've hit one of those little known areas of science and physics.
Just as tornadoes are caused by mobile homes, any landing other than a
perfect squeaker is caused by the hideous heavy gravity transient.

Nothing you can do about it. Just have to accept it.

All the best,
Rick


Jay Honeck wrote:
I've noticed something about my landings over the last few years, and

wondered if you folks have had the same experience?

After my first 100 hours or so, my landings were pretty consistently
okay.
A nice one every now and then, adequate ones the rest of the time.
Every
now and then a crosswind landing might stress the gear a bit, but
nothing
too horrible.

Around 500 hours, I seemed to master the art of the greaser -- if I
really,
really worked at it. Most of the time, my landings would be good,
sometimes
great.

Now, some 400 hours later, flying about the same frequency throughout
(1 - 2
times per week. Around 100 hours per year), my landings seem to run
in
streaks where I will be almost perfect, separated by periods where my

landings are good, but not greasers.

What *is* that?

I don't feel any different. The plane is no different. I'm flying
just as
often. Weather conditions are similar. I feel like I'm working the
approach
just as hard, and in the same way. Yet, *something* is different.

For example, right now I'm in a streak of near-perfection. I had
passengers on Wednesday that told me they had never landed so
smoothly,
ever. Hell, *I* have never landed so smoothly, ever, as a passenger
or a
pilot. I've just been rolling them on, in any wind condition. Yet I
know
that two months ago, I had a couple of real clunkers that probably
had my
passengers wondering if I was really a pilot.

So, what is this phenomenon? Karma? The stars? Blood pressure?
Phase of
the moon? It's frustrating to not be able to break down cause and
effect
here -- does anyone else notice this?
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

My landings in the Mooney had been pretty good considering I only have
40 or so hours in it. I seriously thing that low wingers are easier to
land ten high wingers. Maybe because of ground effect or something I'm
not sure but...

we went to a fly-in lunch last Saturday. It was only Kellie's 2nd time
in the Mooney so I wanted everything to go just right. Of course that
was not to be... We were coming in about 20 mph fast which in a Mooney
is a bad thing... I tried to force the situation and the plane to land
before she was ready.. The result was 3 bounces where each one was
successively higher then the rest... I'm thinking "Now this really
sucks!!". I finally gave it a shot of power to even it out and got her
to stick to the runway... I was embarrassed but Kellie didn't say
anything. I just said "now that was interesting"..

We taxied to parking and I kept waiting for the tower to come on and ask
"you are going to log that as 3 landings aren't you" but they didn't say
anything.. We went in to the restaurant and of course there is a row of
windows looking out over the runway with several people looking out at
the runway..

I made up for it on the landing back home though... A nice crosswind
greaser...

Jon Kraus
PP-ASEL-IA
Mooney 201 4443H



Jay Honeck wrote:

snip

So, what is this phenomenon? Karma? The stars? Blood pressure? Phase of
the moon? It's frustrating to not be able to break down cause and effect
here -- does anyone else notice this?

("Jay Honeck" wrote)
snips
I've noticed something about my landings over the last few years, and
wondered if you folks have had the same experience?

For example, right now I'm in a streak of near-perfection. I had
passengers on Wednesday that told me they had never landed so smoothly,
ever. Hell, *I* have never landed so smoothly, ever, as a passenger or a
pilot. I've just been rolling them on, in any wind condition.


Landing Streaks? I thought this was a scary-landings-underwear thread.

Nevermind.


Montblack
Remember to add a touch of power ...equivilant to 3 Mary's in right seat
g.

Note to self: Turn off yoke mounted GPS upon exiting craft. Doh!

I believe that like everything else it runs in cycles. Make a few good
ones and you begin to get a little complacent and start slipping. I am
much more attentive after not flying for a couple weeks. No wind
landing have become nearly automatic for me, but add any crosswind and
I'm instantly alert. Sometimes being alert helps and sometimes it
doesn't. And of course anything unusual on the approach can affect the
results.
--
Gene Seibel
Gene & Sue's Aeroplanes - http://pad39a.com/gene/planes.html
Because I fly, I envy no one.

Hi Jay;

We have a well known phenomenon in low altitude display work that sounds
like it might just fit your observation. We call it the rote to rote loop.
In our scenario it can be a killer. In yours, probably just something you
want to become aware of as you move through your flying career.
What happens is that a pilot doing the same thing time and time again goes
through different stages of alertness. It isn't necessarily a constant, and
the levels will vary from pilot to pilot.
What happens is that in doing the same thing repeatedly, you begin as a rote
action, then you develop through various stages of improvement and mental
alertness until you peak at some point. At that point you begin what in our
business can be a real killer; a slide into a form of complacency where what
you are doing is so familiar to you that you begin performing again as a
rote function. Slowly....and insidiously....the "outside the box" cues begin
to dissipate. In effect, you're missing things that during the development
process, you were picking up through more focused and intensive
concentration.
In short, when you reach this stage.....and most pilots who fly fairly
consistently will reach this stage.......your performance follows a sine
curve as you react to something and save it......pick up a bit on your
concentration....up your performance level a bit......then slide back into
that complacency again.
Most of the time a pilot can get away with this, as the natural tendency is
to catch these errors before they become catastrophic. The cycle continues
this way through the pilot's career.
Air display pilots are forced to be aware of this and we take steps to avoid
it by constantly keeping our edge through extremely low error allowance
parameter practice sessions.
Even pilots with this extremely high proficiency factor screw up and get
caught in the performance sine curve lower end....i.e...the Thunderbird
Mountain Home Viper crash just recently. Brain fart.....happens to the best
of us. The trick is to keep it down to a low roar. That's why I keep telling
pilots to make EVERY flight...no matter how insignificant and local......a
PRACTICE SESSION!!!!!
Dudley


"Jay Honeck" wrote in message
news:RF%Td.1853$Ze3.1281@attbi_s51...
I've noticed something about my landings over the last few years, and
wondered if you folks have had the same experience?

After my first 100 hours or so, my landings were pretty consistently okay.
A nice one every now and then, adequate ones the rest of the time. Every
now and then a crosswind landing might stress the gear a bit, but nothing
too horrible.

Around 500 hours, I seemed to master the art of the greaser -- if I
really, really worked at it. Most of the time, my landings would be good,
sometimes great.

Now, some 400 hours later, flying about the same frequency throughout (1 -
2 times per week. Around 100 hours per year), my landings seem to run in
streaks where I will be almost perfect, separated by periods where my
landings are good, but not greasers.

What *is* that?

I don't feel any different. The plane is no different. I'm flying just
as often. Weather conditions are similar. I feel like I'm working the
approach just as hard, and in the same way. Yet, *something* is
different.

For example, right now I'm in a streak of near-perfection. I had
passengers on Wednesday that told me they had never landed so smoothly,
ever. Hell, *I* have never landed so smoothly, ever, as a passenger or a
pilot. I've just been rolling them on, in any wind condition. Yet I know
that two months ago, I had a couple of real clunkers that probably had my
passengers wondering if I was really a pilot.

So, what is this phenomenon? Karma? The stars? Blood pressure? Phase
of the moon? It's frustrating to not be able to break down cause and
effect here -- does anyone else notice this?
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

Flying a taildragger you use your peripheral vision to determine height
above the runway. Over the nose is used to gauge pitch attitude.

Stealth Pilot wrote:
I landed in the twilight the other day. landing into the sun I couldnt
see the runway or gauge the height I was above the surface. I had no
idea whether I was 1 foot or 15 feet above the runway so I poled
forward gently in the hopes that I'd hit a shadow change and be able
to see something. The wheels touched and I thought bounced me back in
the air so I just eased the stick back and back until eventually the
tailwheel made contact. still couldnt gauge my height so I just waited
with the stick full back until the mains touched again.