Soft-field landing in C172

Magnus wrote:

Just curious how you guys perform this maneuver. From what I've been
taught you should flare with a little power still in to soften the
touchdown, and then keep rolling to avoid digging yourself into the
runway surface.

That's the way to do it.

I just think that it should be possible to land anyway, without any
power like you normally land. Just keep the plane airborne as long as
possible and keep the nosewheel up as long as you can. Keeping power in
just eats up a lot of runway it seems.

Keeping the plane airborne as long as possible will almost certainly result
in a hard landing when the plane stalls. You want to get the main gear down
while you still have control authority. You will not be able to keep the nose
wheel up without airflow over the elevator, so you'll need to get a bit of
power in just before touchdown.

I mean, how often do you happen to find a rough and long field.
Ususally if a soft-field landing is required, it's a pretty short field
too out in the bush somewhere.

Book ground roll for a 160hp 172 is 890' for takeoff and 540' for landing.
You'll need at least twice that for a muddy takeoff. If you're trying to
get into a soft field and don't have enough room to carry some power during
the landing, you're going to have to cart the plane out with a truck.

Approach like a short-field and flare as long as possible to soften the
touchdown would be my way of doing it.

That's one way to start the process of turning the plane into a Texas Taildragger,
I guess. I'd prefer to *cut* the nosegear off, myself.

George Patterson
Battle, n; A method of untying with the teeth a political knot that would
not yield to the tongue.