My landing got so much better as a student once I accepted the fact that the plane literally wants to keep flying in ground effect and there is nothing to be scared of… just keep it off the ground until it’s ready.
Also watching 2 million AOPA accident videos as a student didn’t help me tbh because I kept thinking “it’s safer to be high on approach if engine fails “ lol. Which led to higher airspeed on final since I had to lose altitude. Led to a lot of work on short field before for the checkride.
But man…landing is my favorite part of flying. That satisfaction of returning to earth smoothly is peak existence

Another tip I’d love to offer is, when you’re in ground effect and you start to balloon and you decide to try and land and you find the airplane falling, add a touch of power to slow the descent rate.

A third guy should do a video of you, doing a video about the guy in the original video. When in actuality we won’t learn anything more than if we just watched the original video 😂

Great analysis. Thank you so much for the kind words. Your students are very lucky to have a CFI that cares the way you do. Keep it up man.

Learning to land was very frustrating for me. I flat landed and balooned and even pasted it down once. I've learned that a stable approach is vital. The other  important factor was learning where to look to detect the distance from pavement to wheels. For me, the place to look is the lower left corner of the windshield at the edge of the runway. I have to tip my head for this view, and my focus is ahead of the plane. Maybe only 2 to 3 plane lengths ahead. I've tried looking further down as some have suggested, but that just didn't work for me. I have around 55 hours at this point with my PPL flight test around the corner. My landings are great, and i love it. It took many hours of practice, and now im able to land in cross winds too. In the beginning, i thought i would never get it.

I’m currently a student pilot and watching these types of videos really helps me learn what I should and shouldn’t do to keep learning and improving 🙏🙏

pitch for speed and pwr for altitude is symbiotic thing. It's not OR OR. If you're too fast and pitch up to reduce speed, you will probably also want to reduce pwr in order to keep descending. (and vice versa)
On approach it's best to first focus on getting speed trimmed for final, then you will only have to use pwr to control approach path. Speed will not change anymore.
Landing itself is like a game: Pilot wants to stay just above the runway, Aircraft listens, but will get bored and land itself. Ideally your stick will move in a very slow backward motion. If nose comes up a little, just keep your stick "frozen". Don't push. Nose will come down again. Moving stick back and forth is a recipe for bouncing.  Main takeaway. Don't force an aircraft to land, it should decide for itself.

A good technique for runway alignment in whatever aircraft is to keep the centerline between our legs.  Yes, it will appear to be between the instructors legs as well.  If you walk the rudder pedals dynamically and proactively you will never have alignment problems or ground loop because you are constantly moving to stay ahead of the aircraft.

For me, practicing slow flights improved my landings considerably. I can now easily glide 1 foot over the runway with the stall horn going off and not touching down until I slowly reduce the power. It's been a game changer.

Currently working on my IRA at a 141. I had a tough time with private, I felt as if I could not figure out my landings. My first instructor was rough, she told me a hundred different things about perfecting the landing and I just could not do it. I requested an instructor change and the first lesson my new instructor explained to me the importance of airspeed control. Immediately got it, landings were not perfect and still are not, but he completely changed my confidence and now I follow these airspeed principles.

4:30 - You don't fly the final approach in the region of reverse command, though. The region of reverse command happens at a much slower speed, where induced drag is so great that there is more power required to fly at that slower speed than you would need at a higher speed. 65 knots is not that slow. Region of reverse command also implies that pitching up increases rate of descent, while pushing the nose forward reduces the rate of descent. that may happen in the final flare stages, but not on final approach if you are flying at 65 knots.

I have 300 hours in mostly C-172.  I got my ticket in C-150  in 1967 at Honolulu International.  I took a break for about 20 years and got back into aviation, bought a C-172 and went back to ground school to catch up with the changes.  I joined CAP in 1967 and got back in  CAP when I moved to California in 1985.  I found a really great instructor, he taught the ground school I mentioned.  His name is Richard and I imagine he is retired now.  He taught me how to land better than anyone I flew with.  He frlew by the numbers and it worked every time.  When I turned into the downwind I set the airspeed to 90 Knots and 10 degrees of plaps. Van Nuys was a very busy airport and the tower likes to keep the speed up as much as possible. When I turned on to base I slowed to 72 and put in another 10 degrees of flaps. I kept my air speed by trim and controled the descent with throttle. I had 30 degrees of flaps on final. I upgraded my plane by installing a 180 hp engine and to do that I had to restrict the flap travel to 30 degrees. I picked a spot on the windshield and kept my touchdown  on that  spot with throttle if it rises I put in power a little at a time. If it drops I pull power.  when i was at the rotation point the ground seemed to jump up. It is an optical illusion but it is there. That is when I go to idle power and hold it off untill I touch down. In CAP I flew C-182s and I only had to adjust by approach to 75 knots insteat of 72. C-182 tend to be nose heavy and are a bit harder to land. I did my insreument traing in the C-172 and I think that made a better pilot out of me. I also when possible I would ask for a VFR practice ILS approach at VNY.  There is also a VFR special flyway over LAX.

"Energy is a currency and you need to know when to spend it."

- Munden CFI

Yo bro good analogy!

Btw... I'm no longer a fast skipping stone skipping on a river. I'm a pelican gliding to a smooth skim landing on calm ocean skim.

My CFI taught me to aim the nose at the piano keys and round out slowly until you pass the 3rd mark before 1k.  In my opinion, aiming for the piano keys is a much better visual target than some point down the runway, and if you keep your airspeed at the optimum for landing and round out a bit higher as you pass the threshold, it works perfectly.   If you are level in ground effect, you can go idle and wait for the plane to sink without touching the elevator, wait about 2 or 3 seconds and flare. You don't need to be 1 ft off the ground for this technique to work. You can flare the plane at about chest high and nothing bad will happen, and you will never ballon if you wait for the plane to land itself.

Demonstrating back pressure: iii, doiinnqq up 🤣🤣🤣 i love it🤣

An aiming point I believe is very important on the approach as any movement of this point up or down the windscreen tells you a power adjustment is needed. The aiming point is an aid in controlling your rate of descent. It's also important to have a stabilized approach speed. I break the round out or flair into three steeps. At one wing span (approximately 30 ft.) bring the nose up to where it is just below the horizon, at half a wing span (approximately 15ft.) establish a level flight attitude. when the plane is approximately a foot or two above the runway, and slowly bring the nose to the landing attitude (nose above the horizon). Hold the plane off for as long as possible.

Good stuff. Thanks for the tips, and for the occasional laughs during your presentation.  

-Darren

Grateful for opinionated CFIs that genuinely care and know their craft. Thanks for the breakdown and further detail!

The Airplane doesn’t care or know which ‘Control Technique’ the pilot is using, but Pitching for Altitude with the elevator and using Power for Airspeed is the most efficient and accurate way to control an aircraft under these two conditions: when Power is Variable (not fixed) and within the Region of Normal Command. When approaching to land: Use the Elevator to guide the aircraft to your Aim Point and use the Throttle /Power for Airspeed. It’s that simple! Works ALL of the time.

Regarding the "over control" during round out, I'd like to think of it as flying formation with the runway. I try to maintain that 3-5 feet altitude until that energy bleeds and the plane cannot sustain the lift/ground effect any longer and "settles"

The controls are going to be mushy, so lots of movement in the control will be required, but not so much that the airplane rises or descents quickly. My key is quick, purposeful movements to maintain that 3-5 feet.

Another great exercise for students and licensed pilots alike is to fly a LOW approach at that 5 ft level down the runway with just enough power to maintain altitude but not touch down. This exercise will provide a good reference for that feel during the round out phase and how the controls, power input and airplane feel together near the ground. Once you get a hang of flying low approaches like that, it just a matter of taking out the power and the airplane will settle to a smooth landing. This method is also a great way to learn how to control the plane laterally for center-line alignment during the final leg and landing.

Enjoyed the vid and your comments. Thanks for sharing.