Landing Advice...

are you always drifting left?
is it always the same airplane?
is the gear straight? someone else may have twisted the gear in a landing
and the alignment is off
is the nose wheel canted to one side?

more back pressure will not put more weight on the wheels to stop the
skidding with brake application
aileron into the wind, not aggressive may help, get to aggressive and
depending on the winds/aircraft you could raise one main back off the ground

It would not be the best advice to say.. raise the flaps to get more braking
effect, but that is the placard in the Beech Sport/Sundowner/Sierra series.
Two many people with electric flaps and hydroelectric gear have raised the
gear on rollout and not the flaps. Raising Manual Flaps does help to "unload
the wing" and get more weight (braking action) on the mains. Always, never
touch gear/flap switches until clear of the runway and you can look at what
you touch.

BT

"Dan" wrote in message
ups.com...
All,

Occasionally, I find myself in the following situation when landing. I
am trying to figure out what I am doing wrong.

I fly over the numbers at the proper airspeed, and on the (VASI)
glideslope. I flare by putting the cowling to the horizon and holding
off unitl touchdown. After touchdown, I find the plane drifting to the
left, while the nose is pointing to the right. Applying further right
rudder seems to result in a squirrley/sliding feeling (not sure if I am
acutally sliding though, just afraid to push it any further). Applying
brakes at anything more than very slight pressure results in skidding.
At this point, I find myself rolling down the runway, unable to slow
down fast enough and trying to control the drift.

This could happen in little to no wind conditions. What am I doing
wrong? I'm not a beginner, but occasionally this happens and I can't
seem to figure it out.

Do I need to....

A. Crank in aggressive alieron to the right.
B. Apply lots of back-pressure to get more weight on the mains to allow
breaking.
C. Something else....?

Dan

It doesn't happen that often, but it did last night. I am trying to
remember if it is always left, and actually I think it is. It is NOT
the same airplane. Had the problem in an Archer, Arrow, and Comanche.
- probably my technique.

Could I be unintentionally doing something with the rudder on
touchdown?

Dan

BTIZ wrote:
are you always drifting left?
is it always the same airplane?
is the gear straight? someone else may have twisted the gear in a landing
and the alignment is off
is the nose wheel canted to one side?

more back pressure will not put more weight on the wheels to stop the
skidding with brake application
aileron into the wind, not aggressive may help, get to aggressive and
depending on the winds/aircraft you could raise one main back off the ground

It would not be the best advice to say.. raise the flaps to get more braking
effect, but that is the placard in the Beech Sport/Sundowner/Sierra series.
Two many people with electric flaps and hydroelectric gear have raised the
gear on rollout and not the flaps. Raising Manual Flaps does help to "unload
the wing" and get more weight (braking action) on the mains. Always, never
touch gear/flap switches until clear of the runway and you can look at what
you touch.

BT

"Dan" wrote in message
ups.com...
All,

Occasionally, I find myself in the following situation when landing. I
am trying to figure out what I am doing wrong.

I fly over the numbers at the proper airspeed, and on the (VASI)
glideslope. I flare by putting the cowling to the horizon and holding
off unitl touchdown. After touchdown, I find the plane drifting to the
left, while the nose is pointing to the right. Applying further right
rudder seems to result in a squirrley/sliding feeling (not sure if I am
acutally sliding though, just afraid to push it any further). Applying
brakes at anything more than very slight pressure results in skidding.
At this point, I find myself rolling down the runway, unable to slow
down fast enough and trying to control the drift.

This could happen in little to no wind conditions. What am I doing
wrong? I'm not a beginner, but occasionally this happens and I can't
seem to figure it out.

Do I need to....

A. Crank in aggressive alieron to the right.
B. Apply lots of back-pressure to get more weight on the mains to allow
breaking.
C. Something else....?

Dan

"Dan" wrote in message
oups.com...
It doesn't happen that often, but it did last night. I am trying to
remember if it is always left, and actually I think it is. It is NOT
the same airplane. Had the problem in an Archer, Arrow, and Comanche.
- probably my technique.

Could I be unintentionally doing something with the rudder on
touchdown?

My guess is that it is your sight picture that is the problem.

You have ruled out wind. You have ruled out the equipment, since it happens
on different planes.

I think you must really have the nose pointed to the left, because that is
the direction the airplane is really going. That means what you think you
are seeing with the direction of the nose is wrong.

If while sitting in the left seat, and you are rolling straight down the
runway, if you look at the nose and observe where the spinner is, it looks
like it is off to the right. Bingo. There is your problem.

You have to look down the offset parallel line of the cowling. If the
eyeball in your head is18 inches off to the left of the center of the
airplane, you need to be looking at a spot on the cowl that is 18 inches to
the left of the crankshaft, and lining that point up with the end of the
runway. Remember to look far down the runway, of course.

Try it; I think it will help.
--
Jim in NC