Comments on: Pitch vs. Power: Landing Better

By: Avnish

Avnish — Wed, 12 May 2010 11:03:50 +0000

Nice post this is what i encountered in the very beginning but as hours went by the mystery unfolded — energy management/..

By: Sylvia

Sylvia — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 10:09:07 +0000

Thank you for the compliment. I’ve never flown to Jerez but I’d like to. Are they training in English?

By: Mike Beaton

Mike Beaton — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 23:15:57 +0000

Now this is something we all learn at some point – A great little article.

As an aside, I’m learning to fly with Flight Training Europe in Jerez. They teach the ‘nail the speed’ method, and teach it very well, but then they are training us to (hopefully, and job-market dependant) become airline pilots.

I flew into Malaga just the other day on an IFR land-away. Grand fun and your picture brought back the whole experience wonderfully :D

Keep up the great writing!

Mike

By: Bill

Bill — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 17:45:07 +0000

The same rules of physics apply to your car. Go down a steep hill and you'll see that the position of the gas pedal isn't the only thing that controls speed. It's the combination of the steepness of the hill (up,down,or lack thereof) AND the gas pedal position. I don't know why it's so hard for instructors to convey that simple analogy, and opt for a power =altitude philosophy which is only partially true. Interestingly enough, speaking of an "energy system" some gliders have a pitot/static tube design called a "total energy probe." This design attempts to compensate for the tradeoff between altitude and airspeed in short term maneuvering (and it does a pretty good job at it). The probe affects the indications on the variometer (a sensitive vertical speed indicator) so as not to display rates of climb or descent that are simply tradeoffs between altitude and airspeed. Total_Energy_Compensation

By: Sylvia

Sylvia — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 17:14:36 +0000

Yes, I think understanding that system is what’s taken me a long time (and I’m not sure my initial instructor would have done anything but confuse me if he’d tried to make this clearer). I am definitely finding it easier now that I’m predominantly using pitch for vertical control/power for speed.

But I think learning it the other way around helps to understand the secondary effects (as it’s not intuitive?).

By: Bill

Bill — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 16:26:28 +0000

Any instructor who told you to use ONLY power to control the vertical and pitch for speed (or vice versa) was giving you bad advice.
The two are intertwined (as you discovered on your own). You must look at it as an energy equation. You can add energy to the system by adding power or decreasing altitude.
Adjust the pitch and it will affect your flight path AND speed (duh!).
For any flight path and speed there is a pitch and power combination that works. Make adjustments to that as necessary.
For example, if you are on the glideslope and you know it takes 1800 rpm to maintain it at the desired approach speed; if you get low, you probably also gain a little speed. pull up to get back the glideslope and the speed will correct itself(if not, then perhaps you had a headwind and the pitch/power formula needs a tweak). If you aren’t also fast, and the correction isn’t just a minor tweak, you’ll need to add power. Might as well do it with the pitch change (you are changing your flight path, afterall)or you WILL end up slow. When you regain the glideslope, reestablish the pitch power combo that works, adjusted for the new reality.
I think you’ll find that using pitch for vertical control power for speed control is more responsive. But you have to realize that each input affects both outcomes. It’s a SYSTEM, not to individual separate things.

(the author is a wide body captian/instructor/checkpilot, glider pilot, and long time light airplane pilot and instructor)

By: Sylvia

Sylvia — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 15:01:53 +0000

Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment. As you can see, it takes a long time to get confidence up, especially when you can’t fly regularly. Stick to it and look into sharing flights with other people, so that you can look out for each other. This helped me a lot, both in terms of feeling more secure flying with a second pair of eyes and building confidence in my own abilities.

By: Kevin

Kevin — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 16:55:48 +0000

Sylvia,
I really enjoyed readinf this post. I recently obtained my PPL and have expenses to fly regularly. As time goes by I find myself developing an anxiety towards flying. Right now my biggest concerns are winds. I don’t enjoy flying in anything greater than about 6kts. At the sametime, I find my self wanting to get out there and improve in those conditions. This has lead to an internal struggle between knowlege of my own limits and the need to continuously improve. Anyway, thanks for the post. If you have time check out my blog.