Takeoffs and landing demonstrations

There is a moment early in the takeoff roll when you push the stick forward and the tail comes off the ground, and for the length of about one breath the airplane is faster than it was, blinder than it was, and standing on two wheels instead of three, while the propeller in front of you goes on trying to turn the whole machine to the left with four separate arguments. You will meet all four today. They arrive in a particular order. Your right foot is the answer to every one of them.

Read:

• FAA-H-8083-3C, Airplane Flying Handbook, chapter 5, Takeoffs and Departure Climbs. The crosswind sections too, though we are not flying them yet.
• FAA-H-8083-25C, Pilot's Handbook of Aeronautical Knowledge, the left-turning tendencies discussion. Four causes, and you should be able to name which dominates when.

Bring: your own answer to this question, written down. As the tail comes up on takeoff, which of the four left-turning tendencies has just changed the most, and why?

1. You maintain the centreline through the takeoff roll, including through the tail-lifting transition, with rudder rather than brakes.
2. You lift the tail smoothly to the correct attitude and hold it there, without over-rotating into a wheelbarrow or letting it settle back.
3. You name the four causes of yaw and say which one changed as the tail came up.
4. You fly a stabilized approach to final and state the wind from the sock, your crab angle, and any drift you can see.
5. You go around, immediately and without prompting, on any bounce, and you say the words as you do it.
6. You describe the difference between a three-point and a wheel landing after seeing both, in terms of attitude and energy rather than in terms of how they looked.
7. You execute the transfer of control procedure correctly, in both directions, every time.

Standard 1 carries the lesson. The takeoff roll is where directional control stops being a taxi exercise and starts happening at speed.

• Right foot arriving late. The yaw is predictable, which means the correction can be too. Most pilots wait to see it.
• Lifting the tail too high. The airplane is on its main wheels with the propeller close to the ground, and there is nothing to gain from another inch.
• Lifting the tail too slowly, then being surprised when it comes up all at once.
• Going quiet on final. Say the wind out loud. If you can name it you are looking at it.
• Wanting to land. You will watch two good landings today and want to try one. That is Lesson 3. Wanting it is a good sign and it is still Lesson 3.
• Treating the go-around rule as advice. It is not. A bounce is a go-around, today and for the rest of the course.

I will say "my airplane," and I will take it, without discussion, if:

• Directional control on the takeoff roll diverges beyond what your correction is arresting.
• The tail comes up higher or faster than the airplane wants.
• We touch down with lateral drift.
• A bounce occurs and the go-around does not start immediately.
• Anything happens that I want the controls for.

VS-2-1

Type: Exemplar | Element: Normal takeoff, tail-lift transition | Status: empty What it should show: a takeoff from the cockpit, with the tail coming up smoothly to the correct attitude and the centreline held through the transition. Audio of the instructor naming the yaw as it arrives would carry most of the teaching. Reference Critique: not applicable for an Exemplar Clip.

VS-2-2

Type: Exemplar | Element: Three-point landing | Status: empty What it should show: a three-point landing in calm wind, stick coming fully back, all three wheels arriving together. Reference Critique: not applicable for an Exemplar Clip.

VS-2-3

Type: Exemplar | Element: Wheel landing | Status: empty What it should show: a wheel landing in calm wind, with the forward stick movement at touchdown visible or called out. Reference Critique: not applicable for an Exemplar Clip.

VS-2-4

Type: Error | Element: Directional control on the takeoff roll | Status: empty What it should show: a takeoff roll where the correction starts after the yaw rather than with it, and the resulting wander off the centreline. Reference Critique: to be written from the Instructor Debrief of that flight.

VS-2-5

Type: Error | Element: Tail attitude on takeoff | Status: empty What it should show: the tail lifted too high, too fast, or both, and what the recovery looks like. Reference Critique: to be written from the Instructor Debrief of that flight.

Not addressed to the student.

Teach the four causes as a sequence, not a list. The student has met them all in ground school and can recite them. What they have not done is feel gyroscopic precession arrive on its own, two seconds after the others, at the moment the tail comes up. Name it out loud in the airplane as it happens. That single callout is worth more than the ground lesson.

Demonstrate the three-point first and the wheel landing second, with enough separation that they do not blur. Say what is different before each one, and ask afterwards rather than telling.

Directed performance means hands on, not hands off. The student flies the approach and you take the last part. Say where the handover is before you fly it, so the transfer is planned rather than a surprise.

Hold the go-around rule absolutely, including when you would not have. A student who sees the instructor accept a small bounce has learned that the rule has exceptions, and they will find their own. There are two lessons left before they are landing this airplane in a crosswind.

Watch the tail-lift attitude closely. This is the first lesson where a control input can put the propeller near the pavement, and a student who over-rotates once tends to under-rotate for the rest of the flight.

• The airframe speeds and the take-off and landing figures are sourced and live in ../AIRCRAFT.md. Not reproduced here and not to be written from memory.
• The take-off run and landing roll in that file were computed for the original 85 horsepower engine. With the O-200 installed they are conservative, and they are recorded as read rather than adjusted, because an adjusted figure is an invented one. Brief them as the book figures they are.
• The engine limitations are still open. See ../AIRCRAFT.md, which marks every engine figure as read from a related airplane rather than from the STC for this one.