Tue May 10, 2016 10:43 pm
#1454483
Hi guys. I've just joined as a way of therapy. It's genuinely keeping me awake!
So a couple of days ago I took a mate flying with his 2 kids. Aircraft was a warrior and landing on grass. I took of with winds 10 degrees off at 13 kts. When we came back to the airfield the wind had changed to 90 degrees at 14 kts. Still within aircraft limits and well within my own.
I was shocked at the wind change and I believe this is why I became distracted. I had carried out my pre landing checks and turned final. I selected drag flap and came over the threshold notably crabbing into wind. I kicked left rudder and right aileron to balance, and then we floated....then floated....then floated, the bloody thing would literally not descend. I was covering the throttle and can remember on 2 occasions actively pulling the throttle back to ensure I was actually at idle. Just as we got to the point I was going around it decided to touch down.
We still had a lot of speed on, i braked and just didn't feel like we were going to stop, the left wheel locked up and we yawed right, I let off the brake and countered the yaw, we eventually came to a halt 40m from the end of the runway...which is also the fence. I vacated the runway and my mate was full of praise to what probably seemed to him like a smooth controlled landing.
To me though it was too close. What had gone wrong?
So I drop my pax off, go and do all the paperwork and I decide to go up again on my own, I wanted to do some circuits and analyse myself. So I turn final on my first circuit and as I select drag flap I instantly realise from muscle memory that I hadn't pulled the flap lever that far on the last trip. So the reason I landed so long was I had zero headwind (90 degrees off) and I also was landing on 2 stages of flap.
Needless to say I vacated the runway before the halfway point this time and swearing at myself into my headset I've set about ripping myself apart. What had made me completely miss that I was landing on the wrong flap setting? I will never make that mistake again that's for sure, but equally its shaken me a little and certainly brought me back from complacency.
Has any one else had experience of making a silly mistake but got away with it? How did you calm your mind down? Why the hell didn't I go around!?!? That's what I'm so annoyed about. Lesson learnt I suppose. But I'd like to actually sleep tonight.
Any words of wisdom appreciated.
Hackett
So a couple of days ago I took a mate flying with his 2 kids. Aircraft was a warrior and landing on grass. I took of with winds 10 degrees off at 13 kts. When we came back to the airfield the wind had changed to 90 degrees at 14 kts. Still within aircraft limits and well within my own.
I was shocked at the wind change and I believe this is why I became distracted. I had carried out my pre landing checks and turned final. I selected drag flap and came over the threshold notably crabbing into wind. I kicked left rudder and right aileron to balance, and then we floated....then floated....then floated, the bloody thing would literally not descend. I was covering the throttle and can remember on 2 occasions actively pulling the throttle back to ensure I was actually at idle. Just as we got to the point I was going around it decided to touch down.
We still had a lot of speed on, i braked and just didn't feel like we were going to stop, the left wheel locked up and we yawed right, I let off the brake and countered the yaw, we eventually came to a halt 40m from the end of the runway...which is also the fence. I vacated the runway and my mate was full of praise to what probably seemed to him like a smooth controlled landing.
To me though it was too close. What had gone wrong?
So I drop my pax off, go and do all the paperwork and I decide to go up again on my own, I wanted to do some circuits and analyse myself. So I turn final on my first circuit and as I select drag flap I instantly realise from muscle memory that I hadn't pulled the flap lever that far on the last trip. So the reason I landed so long was I had zero headwind (90 degrees off) and I also was landing on 2 stages of flap.
Needless to say I vacated the runway before the halfway point this time and swearing at myself into my headset I've set about ripping myself apart. What had made me completely miss that I was landing on the wrong flap setting? I will never make that mistake again that's for sure, but equally its shaken me a little and certainly brought me back from complacency.
Has any one else had experience of making a silly mistake but got away with it? How did you calm your mind down? Why the hell didn't I go around!?!? That's what I'm so annoyed about. Lesson learnt I suppose. But I'd like to actually sleep tonight.
Any words of wisdom appreciated.
Hackett
Last edited by Hackett on Sun May 29, 2016 11:45 am, edited 1 time in total.
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