How do you land a plane with no forward vis?

. ._ · Post by **. ._** » Thu Mar 16, 2006 8:45 am

I was wondering...

If you're not that tall, when you're in the flare to land, say in a Cessna 172 or any other plane, for that matter- where do you look when you can't see the runway ahead of you?

Just curious. My landings are bad enough when I CAN see ahead of me!

Same goes with climbout. Where are you looking? (I'm talking VFR here.)

-istp

Dust Devil · Post by **Dust Devil** » Thu Mar 16, 2006 9:14 am

I'm lookin down at all the hotties in their swimming pools in their back yards. glancin once in a while at the airspeed.

desksgo · Post by **desksgo** » Thu Mar 16, 2006 10:12 am

Well, in the Chessna, I like to look at the left main wheel, when it starts spinning I flare.

Hedley · Post by **Hedley** » Thu Mar 16, 2006 11:02 am

This is not an academic question. Many older, larger (eg warbird) tailwheel aircraft in the 3-point landing attitude, have no forward visibility in the flare to land. Heck, even the Pitts, which is still in production, is exactly the same. If you can see the runway, you're not going to land on it.

What to do? Some pilots stick their head over to one side as far as they can (eg Gerry Younger). Other pilots (me) keep their head back and centered, and use their peripheral vision to keep the polygons of visible runway on each side the same size. It's sorta like underwear - whatever fits you best may make someone else very uncomfortable.

N.B. A strong, steady crosswind is a godsend for visibility - you can sideslip throughout the flare, which vastly improves forward visibility.

Blue Side Down · Post by **Blue Side Down** » Thu Mar 16, 2006 7:51 pm

I've always been curious as to preferred technique- head back or head out the side. Gerry taught me how to land the Pitts, so I'm in the habit of hanging my head out to one side- but it was really awkward to pick up- and I'm curious to give the peripheral technique a go sometime.

Trying to pickup directional indications and lateral velocities by using a triangular blur of runway and piece of a wing is a ton of fun-

Inverted2 · Post by **Inverted2** » Thu Mar 16, 2006 8:02 pm

Look at a WW2 Corsair, they had no forward vis, and they landed on aircraft carriers. The Spirit of St. Louis had no front windshield at all. He had a periscope or just looked out the side windows!

Justwannafly · Post by **Justwannafly** » Thu Mar 16, 2006 8:17 pm

Dust Devil wrote:I'm lookin down at all the hotties in their swimming pools in their back yards. glancin once in a while at the airspeed.

& when you see them looking at you & screeming you know it's time to pull up

duncn4 · Post by **duncn4** » Thu Mar 16, 2006 9:49 pm

istp wrote:
Same goes with climbout. Where are you looking? (I'm talking VFR here.)

I would highly suggest, if operational circumstances allow, a pitch attitude that provides moderate forward visibilty during VFR climbout. You need to always be watching for other aeroplanes, and the resultant increase in airspeed will also assist in engine cooling.

How do you land a plane with no forward vis?

How do you land a plane with no forward vis?

Re: How do you land a plane with no forward vis?