How to Land an Airplane | Landing a Cessna 172

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I am exactly 8 flight hours into getting my PPL. When I left the classroom and made my first flight with my CFI, I did very well on the take off, cruise and turning, holds, etc. Then I lined up for my landing. Folks, the first landing in your career will never be forgotten. I was in a 1978 Cessna 172 with steam gauges. I botched the approach and had to go around. But the second approach I stayed right on the line. Then I made what is known as a "porpoise landing" I touched down 4 times before I kept rubber on the pavement. My CFI glanced up at me and said "you don't get to put 4 landings in your logbook, so let's just keep it down to one, okay?" lol I thing every new pilot has made a multiple TD landing. But you're 100% correct, airspeed is the most important variable you must control. Once you have airspeed under control, everything else just seems to fit into place.

I struggled with landings until my instructor taught me pretty much the way you describe. He had me repeatedly fly all the down the runway at a height of about six feet. Once I was able to demonstrate that to him he had me set up at six feet, cut the power, and try to hold the plane at six feet. Of course, as you say, the plane slowly sinks and kisses the ground. What a sensation!

I always came in high enough to glide in if I had to. This paid off big time when I had an engine failure while landing at Big Bear California.

Well, that was fun. I learned to fly in the mid-1970s in Cessna 150s at New Orleans' Lakefront Airport (no airliners), and then I flew around south Louisiana and Mississippi for about a year for fun, mostly in 172s but also in the occasional tail-dragger and low-wing Piper. I only made two trips out of that area, one to Laredo, Texas, to visit Mexico and another to Albany, Georgia, to visit family. I was in a flying club, but it got too pricey for me, so I stopped. I've forgotten how to do it almost entirely. What I notice most on this video is the electronics which did not exist in 172s in the early 1970s. Time flies on.

This was a nice video, but a couple of points if you don’t mind. First, it is critical that students understand that they must re-trim every time they change power or flap settings. It is almost impossible to maintain a stable approach if the airplane is out of trim. Also, using a road for a landing reference is fine…but I would never teach a student that it is okay to stall an airplane that low to the ground.

After this YouTube Tutorial, I'm confident that I can land a plane in an emergency situation. Thank you.

Excellent advice! On approach it's airspeed, airspeed, airspeed, and when the pavement gets close, slowly ease back on the yoke all the way to your belly so that the mains touch down with almost no lift remaining. The nose will settle and the airplane becomes a truck, with no bounce being possible. If you get queasy with how the airplane flys at very low airspeed then go out and practice slow flight. Get good at that and you'll automatically be good at controlling the landing, though you will still need to develop your eye for height above the runway. Also, there is no perfect landing. At every point in the pattern you will tweak something-- airspeed, altitude, distance from the runway, something. Nothing is perfect. Fix it.

Just did my first landing, touched down pretty hard because I didn't add enough back pressure, you're totally right about trying to keep the plane up in the air as long as you can so you just descend very smoothly onto the runway, hopefully next time is a lot better

Sometimes on a landing approach the variables will change. Off of centerline or you balloon the aircraft after flaring too hard. Remember you can always go around and try again.

Ah, happy memories! 😁 I got my PPL in a 172 in East Africa when my dad was with the Flying Doctor Service in Kenya in the late 1970s. I'm back in England, now, and my licence lapsed ages ago (I couldn't afford to put in the hours), but I'll never forget sitting alongside the (crazy!) expat Brit pilots demonstrating what genuine bush flying was all about; and I remember on my second solo landing having to go around because about a dozen zebras were grazing on the airstrip... 🦓 👀

I used to fly in a single engine Katana (DA20). I miss those days. When I was learning to fly, my favorite part was just going around the pattern and practice landing. Anyone can takeoff. Each landing is different.

The 1st rule in landing is do not decend below the level of the runway.

Thank you. I maybe watched this video many months, if not years after it was published. Both the content and the presentation were exemplary, and most informative. I have finally been taught how to land by a very informed “pilot”. Once again thanks.

Best online flying advice I have found. You are a natural.

Always good to review the basics. Thanks.

One thing I learned from auto-racing is to look at where you're headed, not where you are - meaning, don't look right in front of you, but look into the distance at your real target. You look at the end of the runway and let your peripheral vision take care of the close-in mental data input. Let that computer between your ears work for you.

As a flight instructor once said - "Don't worry, you will land."

Just had my first solid landing yesterday, may instructor was clapping, I was so happy!! Pitching back so far is a weird sensation, but it totally makes sense to bleed off airspeed. I had a number of porpoise landings, and a whole bunch of flat landings prior to yesterday. I’m sure the guys in the tower have been entertained.

Haven't flown in 8 years, can't wait to go back and get current. You describe things so well. I actually was never tought detailed enough to watch the runway markings and then shift to the end of the runway.