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.

On Wed, 24 Mar 2004 23:11:07 -0500, Magnus
wrote:

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

Go right ahead. The goal of the maneuver (as opposed to anything that
might happen in the real world) is to


Touches down softly with no drift, and with the airplane's
longitudinal axis aligned with the runway/landing path.

Maintains proper position of the flight controls and sufficient speed
to taxi on the soft surface.

Some find the application of power helpful for the touchdown part;
most find it helpful for the second.

When I teach it, since we're on a hard paved runway, I treat it as a
game: how long can you keep the nose up? I do a demonstration in which
I do a touch and go in which the nose never hits the ground I tell
them that's what they can do with finesse but they don't have to. So
far, they want to.

Magnus wrote in message ...
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.

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.

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.

Approach like a short-field and flare as long as possible to soften the
touchdown would be my way of doing it.
Hi
Well, I can think of quite a few landing areas that are long and soft
as well as some strips that can be "soft field" with heavy rain, or
fresh snow. Have you ever landed on a beach? Hmmm...a beach with fresh
snow..but even that is possibleg
A precision spot landing (which I think EVERY landing should be) with
power to literally slow fly the aircraft to touchdown and decreasing
power as the surface dictates. If its grass, sometimes you have no way
of knowing how tall the grass is until you settle in it. Same with
mud, snow, water. Sand can have soft and hard spots within inches.
Numerous times I have landed on soft or unknown surfaces at remote
strips and will always opt for the "slow fly touchdown" before I
commit myself. On at least one occasion in Mozambique I had to use
additional power to keep from gong on my nose in standing water on the
only strip available to me way out in the bush. I was crop dusting
with a Piper Pawnee at the time. The water coming off the wheels bent
both flaps in a shallow V. If I had not used power to stay right side
up, I'd have ended up on my nose for sure or at the very least got the
prop.
Could go on and on describing similar landings with a variety of
aircraft including helicopters. That reminds me of the time when I was
taking off over a rice paddy and the power sagged a little........but
thats for another time!! gggg
Ol Shy & Bashful

Magnus wrote in message ...
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.

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.

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.

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


That's part of the problem with the PTS, a lot of it is not realistic.
Yes, most soft fiels are also short (in my experience). I've taken my
Mooney into a soft fields and its usually the length that I'm most
worried about. Also, a lot of soft fields don't have any go around
possible. Most of the soft fields I used in the Aeronca were "one-way"
fields because some giant trees or soemthing prevent you from going
around. In some planes you can't hold power in the flare (like a
Mooney) so you have to get used to planning the approach right. In
some fields you don't want to have to hold power becaues losing the
engine on short final could mean you're going to hit the trees short
of the runway. You can get just a soft a touch down w/o power. In a
real (i.e. not PTS) soft field landing you should consider...
1) "Drag the field", i.e. do a low pass and decide where you want to
touch the mains and where you want to touch the nose down.
2) Once the mains touch add power to hold the nose off until you reach
the part of the field you plan to drop the nose on. This can be
further down the field because you don't need as much stopping
distance from the nose touch down as the mains.
3) Don't worry about landing on "center line", land in the best part
of the field. Notice that the soft field landing is the ONLY landing
in the PTS that does not require you to be on center line.

-Robert, CFI