Veering left after touchdown

..During landing it is Very important to keep that ball centered

I just got back from a trip, and read this entire thread. What a CROCK! In
fact almost all good landings are made with the ball NOT in the center.

The ONLY time the ball will be in the center on landing is when the wind is
DIRECTLY down the runway. Since that virtually NEVER happens, the vast
majority of landings will be in a slip or coming out of a crab. Both will
result in an un-coordinated touch down, which is completely normal, desired,
safe, and required of all pilots everywhere, in any airplane (except an
aircoupe, Cessna 180, or B-52 with castering wheels), large or small.

BTW who would ever be looking at the ball?

Karl


"Patrick w. Sencenich" wrote in message
...
as my CFI told me over and over again -
"GET ON THE BALL!"
in reference to the turn coordinator

I ran into the same problem.

now in a right rudder aircraft, when you take all the power out before
touchdown, the prop is still rotating and you still have some
p-factor, torque, etc.

During landing it is Very important to keep that ball centered. When
the CFI is not yelling at you every time the ball gets too close to
the line does not mean that it is any less important.

1. stalling above the runway is scarey enough without the added
troubes caused by being uncoordinated

2. your wheels hate being side loaded and will one day rebel.

you say "Almost Immediatly" which tells me that you are touching down
uncoordinated.

to work on this habit, and this worked for me.....

Go up to 7500 feet and practice stalls. lots and lots of stalls, Power
on and power off. keeping special watch on that turn coordinator.
soon, you will notice that when you are landing, paying attention to
the things other then the Turn Coordinator, if you glance at it, it
will be centered 100% of the time without you even thinking about it.



On Sun, 27 Jun 2004 21:04:19 -0400, "Karl Treier"
spoketh unto us:

OK so 4 or so flight hours after attaining my PPL, I find a problem i
don't
recall experiencing during flight training at all. Hoping for some
insight
or maybe i'll consider a few recurrent hours with my CFI.

Anyway basically the problem is that I land straight (or so I think) and
almost immediately after touchdown I start to veer to the left
(disconcerting for passengers), now on LUK's 150ft wide runway no problem
I
get it back on centerline but i'm concerned about thi.s happening on a
75ft
or narrower runway.



******************************
Patrick W. Sencenich
__|__
*---o--(_)--o---*

"I am NOT 30... i am 24.95 plus shipping and handling."

If you have a crosswind from the right, you are probably banked to the right
and ruddered to the left to hold centerline during the approach. On touchdown,
unless you consciously release rudder pressure, the plane will veer left on
touchdown.

Jose

--
(for Email, make the obvious changes in my address)

If you have a crosswind from the right, you are probably banked to the right
and ruddered to the left to hold centerline during the approach. On
touchdown,
unless you consciously release rudder pressure, the plane will veer left on
touchdown.

Jose

--
(for Email, make the obvious changes in my address)


If it's the same airplane, check tire pressure or if one brake is grabbing.

I have had students with that problem. It invariably results from not
keeping your heels on the floor -- the student is touching the left brake.
It is a subconcious thing. I would recommend practicing on narrow strips,
about 30 feet wide, with an instructor. Barring that, try imagining that the
runway is that narrow and that you don't want the centerline to veer off to
left or right.

I had a student do this yesterday. He landed with some inadvertant
left brake, because he didn't have his foot low enough on the
pedal/heel on the floor.
I think an added problem for some students in that left feet are
generally less trained (coordinated) than the right. In a car you
operate gas and brake with your right foot, and develop a keen sense
of position control/pressure control, while the left foot never gets
any training. In a standard, the left foot operates the clutch. This
is usually a "all the way to the floor" exercise with a regulated
release.

Having said all this, I think it is common for students (and newer
pilots) to experience left rudder problems such as inadvertant
braking, and over control.

Mitch - CFI




"C J Campbell" wrote in message ...
I have had students with that problem. It invariably results from not
keeping your heels on the floor -- the student is touching the left brake.
It is a subconcious thing. I would recommend practicing on narrow strips,
about 30 feet wide, with an instructor. Barring that, try imagining that the
runway is that narrow and that you don't want the centerline to veer off to
left or right.

Are you flying a Cessna? This used to happen to me and I couldn't figure
out what I was doing. The plane also needed a tremendous amount of right
foot while flying. We moved the maintenance to a more knowledgeable shop
which found that the little metal block in the nose gear that centers it in
flight was worn. When the nose gear was extended, the wheel was cocked and
acting like a rudder. As soon as the block was replaced, the swerve when
the nose came down went a way. The wheel was cocked when fully extended.
Until the strut was compressed enough to let the steering become effective
again, the plane was trying to follow the nose wheel.
--
Roger Long

When the nose gear was extended, the wheel was cocked and
acting like a rudder.

Makes you yearn for a taildragger!

all the best -- Dan Ford
email: (put Cubdriver in subject line)

The Warbird's Forum www.warbirdforum.com
The Piper Cub Forum www.pipercubforum.com
Viva Bush! weblog www.vivabush.org

When I went from my Tri-Pacer to my Cherokee, I had the same thing
happening. I am still not sure exactly why, but over time it has gone
away.
--
Gene Seibel
Hangar 131 - http://pad39a.com/gene/plane.html
Because I fly, I envy no one.


"Karl Treier" wrote in message .. .
OK so 4 or so flight hours after attaining my PPL, I find a problem i don't
recall experiencing during flight training at all. Hoping for some insight
or maybe i'll consider a few recurrent hours with my CFI.

Anyway basically the problem is that I land straight (or so I think) and
almost immediately after touchdown I start to veer to the left
(disconcerting for passengers), now on LUK's 150ft wide runway no problem I
get it back on centerline but i'm concerned about thi.s happening on a 75ft
or narrower runway.

So how about this -

you are in the left seat of a cessna.
You think you have the plane lined up , but you are actually lining up
centerline thru the spinner...so the plane is actually cocked a bit to
the left.
Touchdown , veer left.
I had this problem...had to conciously alter my perspective to lineup
a bit left of the spinner (compensate for the left seat displacement)


Pavan Bhatnagar
student pilot.

"Karl Treier" wrote in message .. .
OK so 4 or so flight hours after attaining my PPL, I find a problem i don't
recall experiencing during flight training at all. Hoping for some insight
or maybe i'll consider a few recurrent hours with my CFI.

Anyway basically the problem is that I land straight (or so I think) and
almost immediately after touchdown I start to veer to the left
(disconcerting for passengers), now on LUK's 150ft wide runway no problem I
get it back on centerline but i'm concerned about thi.s happening on a 75ft
or narrower runway.

An excellent observation, and probably what it actually happening.
It only takes a slight mis-alignment (due to perspective) to cause
the aircraft to veer a bit immediately after touchdown. As has been
stated, this usually passes with time.

Pavan Bhatnagar wrote:

So how about this -

you are in the left seat of a cessna.
You think you have the plane lined up , but you are actually lining up
centerline thru the spinner...so the plane is actually cocked a bit to
the left.
Touchdown , veer left.
I had this problem...had to conciously alter my perspective to lineup
a bit left of the spinner (compensate for the left seat displacement)


Pavan Bhatnagar
student pilot.