Ten Tips For Recovering Bad Landings

Its probably a fair bet that every person who has flown an airplane more than about 20 hours has made at least five landings he or she not only considers personally embarrassing but remains convinced to this day could be measured on the Richter scale. So, lets be honest with ourselves from the very beginning: As active pilots, we are going to make ugly landings from time to time. Further, Murphys Law says we will probably make them when a lot of people are watching. Therefore, lets recognize that a little humility (and perhaps humiliation) is the price of acquiring and maintaining the skills necessary to cause a rapidly moving flying machine to return to the planet in a condition to be reused immediately. As a result, once we firmly accept that from time to time were going to make runway arrivals of the sort to make cement contractors rub their hands in financial glee, we are going to be less likely to try to force the airplane onto the ground due to embarrassment after we have bounced telephone pole high, and more likely to think rationally about the attitude, speed and altitude of the airplane and proceed to coolly evaluate whether to try to salvage the landing or go around.

Key Takeaways:

• Pilots will inevitably experience "ugly" landings, often due to factors like lack of aircraft familiarity or excessive approach speed; a go-around is consistently safer and more successful than attempting to salvage a seriously "blown" landing.
• During a bounced or ballooned landing, maintain active control, prioritize directional stability, and manage descent with power rather than abrupt yoke inputs to prevent pilot-induced oscillations.
• Overcome the psychological urge to complete a landing; executing a go-around, especially after multiple bounces or if not touched down in the first third of the runway, demonstrates excellent pilot judgment and enhances safety.

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