Cessna 172 & 152 Landing - Flare Approach & Attitude Diagrams

Cessna 152 & 172 Landing Procedure - Flare, Approach & Attitude with Cockpit View

Introduction

One thing that took me a while to get right, & I think takes time for many beginners learning to fly, is flaring the aeroplane correctly for a proper landing & holding it correctly for a good touchdown.

Before we go forward, I will point you to the Golden Rule of Flying that made by landing happen, which is in my short previous post: The Golden Rule of Landing Aeroplanes - for beginners

Got it?? If not, please go back & soak it in. Continuing down this article will be of lesser value unless you have understood the previous post.

Once I understood this, I swear to you I could do buttery smooth touch downs, & just enjoyed myself doing circuits.

My experience here relates specifically to the Cessna 152 & 172, both very similar, with the 172 being just a tad faster, its a very slight difference, & in my opinion the techniques & timings are identical.

Have a read of my previous article to see how similar both these planes really are, & what to do if youre in 172 instead of a 152

The main issue seems to be around knowing when to start pulling back, how much to pull & when to hold & know that the plane will sink & touch the ground smoothly rather than with a hard bump.

Lets use photos to illustrate these landing steps:



Cessna Landing Approach Technique Images

My pics are based on my personal style which is based on the obsessive perfectionist desire of making the final touchdown as smooth as I can. You will find that after a few landings, your personal opinion on what these pictures look like in each phase might be slightly different to mine, or even to that of other pilots. As long as you are staying within the recommended operating guidelines of speed & power settings, you will be ok.

Knowing your horizon position cockpit view at each stage is the key to good landing

So the best way to think of it is knowing your horizon position & the view of how the runway is going to be from the cockpit, its relative placement of the lines in your windscreen, & which point on your windscreen you see them intersect toward the end of the runway, & how that intersection point moves through your windscreen.
Ironically, the above blurp makes it sound more complex than it is, but I hope by the end of this post you have some ideas.

In Fig A, lets look at a simple 2D top view of the runway as you approach it. Remember runway is composed of 3 vertical lines, parallel to each other, the outer 2 lines are the boundaries of the concrete & the centre line you want to be as close to. We'll then have 2 horizontal lines for the start & end of the landing zone.

Initial Landing Profile in Late Final:

Lets start with what you would likely see out at 500ft AGL, 30 flap, 60kts IAS & your instructor has probably given you a bit of coaching to get you here.
It should be similar to Fig 1 (in my humble opinion)

Fig 1 onwards, you want to continue on your same glide slope for some time while making the descend at the same 60kts Air speed. But your altitude needs to be Reducing.
If you simply hold your heading, you might be a tad high too flare.
So at this point, usually a very slight nose down is useful.
Now your cockpit view should be similar to Fig 2

Then, you might need to adjust the power just a little bit to ensure youre not descending too rapidly, but dont be tempted to put too much power, that can ruin the entry & make you float.

Identifying your common landing problem:

So at this point, it helps to know whether you are:
1) Starting the flare too late & your instructor gets a bit white everytime youre going to land
2) Starting flare on time but put excessive back pressure for too long & get into a climb, with potentially the stall warning going off, at which point your instructor starts playing the throttle & you either get another go into the flare or you have to go around if the strip is too short
3) Starting the flare too early & not loosing enough altitude to come close enough to the ground. So the plane just keep floating, and might sometimes eventually touch down if the landing strip was long enough

The solution to all the issues is the same, but knowing the problem helps understand whether your issue is between Fig 2 & 3, or Fig 3 & 4, or between Fig 4 & 5.
I would encourage you to open this blog post up in your debriefing with the instructor & request him to tell you which of the above images the landing profile looks like to him.
He will then be able to 'show you' rather than just tell you where you are going wrong,
Once you see the image, it'll click as to what youre doing wrong & you'll be able to fix it.

Likely posibilities

If your attitude is pointing down but you are too fast, you are pushing the nose down too much & not reducing the throttle.
If attitude high & plane too slow, you have not put the nose down enough & not used enough power earlier on.
Sounds familiar to the golden rule doesnt it haha - thats what will fix it.

Good luck fellow aviators, enjoy yourself out there.

The Golden rule of Landing Aeroplanes Nicely - for students

Land a Cessna 152 & 172 - A fundamental golden rule

One thing that can take some time for many beginners learning to fly is flaring the aeroplane correclty for a proper landing.

Before you go away & read my other detailed article on the Cessna Approach & Flare Techniques including diagrams, please have a thorough read of this post.

Before we discuss landing technique in detail in my next post, I will share the 1 thing that made by landing come right, & was the exact reason that it wasnt happening. Once my instructor clarified this in my mind, my landings became exponentially better.

Understanding the following golden sentence made my landing right, & has improved my overall flying & confidence significantly:

Power Controls Height, Attitude Controls Air Speed, (not vice-versa).

At any time in a standard fan propelled training aircraft:
More power = you will climb. Less power = you will descend back down.
Push Nose down = you will speed up. Pull Up = you will slow down.

Basic Technique (follow this & the humble Cessna will practically land itself)

If you want to go up, DONT PULL UP, GIVE IT A LITTLE MORE THROTTLE
Similarly, if you want to go down, TAKE SOME POWER OFF
If you want to speed up, PUSH THE NOSE DOWN
& if you want to slow down, PULL THE YOKE UP

 

When coming in to land:

For a 152 maintain 60 kts Air Speed (70 kts if 172) by adjusting your nose attitude.
When you feel youre too low, or going down too quickly, put in a little more power.
If youre too high, or climbing too much, take off some throttle. Easy!

If you havnt understood this, or want to know this in detail, it relates to the principles of flight, the 4 forces. If this hasnt been properly explained or understood, please go talk to your instructor & then do some google searching.

Soak this into your head completly, turn it into your instinct & you will find your landing just gets so much better.

Now you can read my other post on the details around the flare entry & hold & touchdown etc.

Do you have any golden rules that made or broke your landing?

So Im keen to know if you had understand this thoroughly before your first landing attempt? Did that help? Let us know.
Got any tips for us other new-comers to our fun flying sport?
Please Do post a comment.


Happy Flying, oh well, rather Happy Landing :)

Cessna 172 vs 152 - Identical planes both easy to fly

Cessna 172 or 152 - The little differences that dont matter

This post is catered mainly towards anyone who wants to learn to fly or is new to flying, & wants to know more specifically about the minute differences between the Cessna 172 & the 152 & how to deal with those differences.

As always these are merely my opinions, no one pays me for it. I welcome you to share your thoughts, please post comments on what you think. If Ive gotten something horribly wrong, please speak up ;)

Maybe you have the option of training in the slightly older (potentially obsolete) 2 seat Cessna 152 planes vs paying more & training in the 4 seat Cessna 172 / 182 etc. & are unsure if doing so will impact them in any negative way when moving on to a 172 or other 4 seat Cessna, or even to other 4 seat air craft.

Short answer, NO it doesnt matter.

I will also cover the few minor differences I did find & how I handled them & what I think about them.

If there is little (or affordable) price difference between training in a 172 vs something else in your flight school, the Cessna 172 is obviously recommended as a 4 seat is what you'll likely fly as a private pilot flying with your freinds & family for day trips.
But that is not the point of this post.

The only fairly noticible difference across the aircrafts is that with the 172 you WILL USE YOUR RUDDER FOR REAL, pressing it quite agressively when needed for all the reasons you were explained in your ground theory, but never had to do so with a 152, it wasnt that important.

Some non technical & non flying literate people out there seem too happy to ditch dirt at training in the humble 152 just because it is now old & outdated & the 172 is probably going to get them more profit.
They may tell you that there are many significant differences betwen the 2, while elaborating on how 152 is 2 seat & 172 is 4 seat over & over again, & youre better off starting with the 4 seat 172 to learn to handle the bigger engine & the inertia & the bigger size etc
Bullshit


Most of my flight training has been on a Cessna 152, 25 odd hours, with compartively only 4 odd hours on a Cessna 172, & Ive flown the mighty Cessna 182 once as well.

I found the Cessna 172 as easy to fly as a 152!
It was slightly different, & Ill expand on how to cater for the differences below in this post.

The 152 is so similar to 172 that most Air speeds & EFATO & turn co-ordination & basic numbers you need to be mindful of are very close.
Just add 5 knots of speed when in a 172 to your 152 numbers & youll pretty much be on the mark for everything including landing approach speeds & best take off climb speeds etc.

The related instruments are all very similar. Your TMFIHC & your BUMFH checks will be just as easy to perform as your EFATO & your flap efficieny at the different angles.

If you close your eyes, get into a 172, & were convinced that this is just a mates newer 152, I promise you it will not be all that different. Even if you fly a 172 exactly like a 152, you wont crash.


You might also hear comments on how the 152 so really easy to fly & the 172 will then be an entirely different ball game.
Bullshit

Firsty, all Cessna 152 & 172 & 182 are basically very easy to fly!
Thats why Cessna are the number 1 training aircraft.

If you want to make your life hard, go fly a tail digger.
So I dont believe in this idea of flying difficult things just because thats the way to learn.
By that measure we should never use calculaters, only paper & pencil.

Some differences that will be apparant & how to deal with them:

1) When on the ground/taxi'ing, the dashboard will seem quite high, & overall youll feel youre into a deep cockpit. The horizon will be at a different point in your windscreen to a 172.
- Just look 50 metres ahead of you when taxing, & also use the side windows more. Take a reference point & taxi to it, works well.
If you are really not tall enough despite setting the seat height, dont hesitate to taxi the plane diagonally left to right every few seconds to get a better view like the old WWII planes need to.

2) When turning on ground, the radius might seem larger.
Its a slightly bigger plane so there is a slight difference, but moreso, use more selective break when turning & you will be fine.

3) When you accelerate for takeoff, the plane will pull a lot more to the left than a 152.
Well big engine more torque no surprises right, just push the rudder in agressively.

4) Turn & slip co-ordination when entering a bank & pulling even rate 1 turns (under 15 degrees bank)
Again, as you know ancillary yaw happens to all aeroplanes, with this one, slightly more noticible so keep a look on your slip indicator ball & push the rudder as needed. With the 152 you'll normally find the push is only needed during entry, but in the 172 youll need in a fair bit into the turns as well.

5) Backpressure in slow turns (ie how much to pull on the yoke)
Thankfully, at cruise speeds, the more powerful 172 will let you manoeuvre the aircraft with easy, especially after a good trim. But on slow speeds, things get a little interesting. Be prepared to give your left hand one hell of a workout. YOU NEED TO PULL THAT YOKE HARDER THAN IN A 152. At slow speeds, its expected in any aircraft, but its probably due to extra weight in the 172 that you notice it.

6) The horizon position is much lower in the windscreen than in a 152, noticible most during straight + level at 2300 - 2400 RPM downwind
Remember when you were on the ground & thought the cockpit was too deep & the dash too high, well, its the opposite now yay! Thanks to the extra engine power, youre Attitude is more horizontal than in a 152. Youll love the beautiful view of things underneath you.
I find straight + level attitude can be mainted easily if you can only just see the end tip of the front engine hood all the way down in a slop. In a 152, its S+L when you cant quite see the tip.

7) Engine power is immediately apparant in rate of climb
Yup, want to climb 1000 feet in a minute. No problem :) But jokes aside, because you have this power, be mindful that you dont get too high before you level. Take PAT & APT action sooner to desired Alt than in a 152.

8) Remember that your recommended landing approach speeds are around 5kts faster than a 152
Your stall speeds are thus also higher, be aware of that. Yes, its likely you wont kill yourself because if you forget, the stall warning will kick in, but be mindful. Anything under 55 bad idea for a beginner. In a 152, its 65 for starters & 60 tad later, & 55 when youre better, so just add 5 & youll be fine.

9) Weight of plane will make its presence felt at flare entry
Pull a tad sooner than a 152 for the smoothness. Dont worry, itll feel different the first few times but as long as you get the numbers right & your basic technique in landing is good, youll be fine.

10) You will have a lower nose attitude & different view of runway before flare.
Well, youve got more power, more flap but still you might notice that just before entering the flare, youre keeping the nose angle pointed a bit more toward the ground then a 152. And then there is the rapid pull up to smooth out the touchdown. This is just timing & practise to smooth out, but you wont crash or feel scared, same as a 152, tad more practise & youll be fine.

Well thats it for now folks.
Have any of you out there been through the experience of learning to fly on either or both, or ever had to switch? What do you folks think. Please share your thoughts.

Happy Flying!