Airplane myths debunked part 1: Is a firm landing bad?
One of the bigger misconceptions of what constitutes a good landing by the general public is that it should be soft. What pilots tend to call a "greaser".
Although sometimes a soft landing feels good from a pilots point of view there are quite a few factors involved in terms of whether the soft landing was actually a good one. (even pilots may feel proud of a greaser just for the sake of a greaser!)
A soft landing often (not always) coincides with flaring a bit earlier which has the negative side effect of using more landing distance.
Generally using up runway for the sake of a slightly softer landing is not standard procedure and I personally think should not be aimed for in terms of landing a plane.
A firm landing in the touchdown zone is a good landing, a soft landing outside of the touchdownzone is a bad one.
The factors that make it even more important to land firmly are for instance:
Wet/ icy/ snowy runway (wheel brakes become more effective when the full weight of the aircraft is supported on the gear)
Landing lightly delays the above.
Cross winds (the longer you flare in a crosswind the larger the chance that the wind blows you off the centre line)
Short runway (speaks for itself)
Certain runways are longer then others.
Downslope runways require effort not to flare to much/ early as floating will waste considerable amount of runway.
Upslope runways are more likely to be firm for obvious reasons.
I personally think the main aim should always be to land near the touchdown zone markers in all conditions as making a perfect landing in terms of smoothness is often luck. Getting it exactly right is possible but training yourself to be good at soft landing might put you in risk of getting bad at firm landings which clearly are a lot more demanding if you need to do them when encountering bad weather.
For the travelers that are reading this post, a firm landing is not a hard landing. A hard landing feels very uncomfortable and generally has the side effect(not always) of the rubber jungle (oxygen masks) deploying.
The aircraft landing gear is designed to endure incredible loads and although uncomfortable it is very unlikely that a hard landing presents an immediate danger to you.
To conclude, next time you have a firm landing it might well have to do with the weather conditions so go gentle on the pilot!
I'm English. So rest assured I blame everything on the weather, from a hard landing to a lousy cup of tea. All the pilot has to do to please me is give permission for someone to press the button that opens the door that allows my escape from his mobile prison. There have been times when I'd have thanked him for doing that before he'd landed at all...
P.S. I love the spectacular photo's you're finding.
thank you :) I should probably take them myself though and probably will do in the near future.
Maybe an interesting note for you:
Dr. Arnold Barnett, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, has done extensive research in the field of commercial flight safety. He found that over the fifteen years between 1975 and 1994, the death risk per flight was one in seven million. This statistic is the probability that someone who randomly selected one of the airline's flights over the 19-year study period would be killed in route. That means that any time you board a flight on a major carrier in this country, your chance of being in a fatal accident is one in seven million. It doesn't matter whether you fly once every three years or every day of the year.
In fact, based on this incredible safety record, if you did fly every day of your life, probability indicates that it would take you nineteen thousand years before you would succumb to a fatal accident. Nineteen thousand years!
Now check out what your chances are hopping on a train or car..... people should be more worried about that!
And for those very reassuring calculations you get a 100% upvote :-)
I just hope your maths can be trusted, lol!
haha thx.... all responsibillity goes to Dr. Arnold Barnett I am just the messenger 😄
Thx :) I just made a new posts about fear of flying, some of the statistics about health and safety are quite interesting.
be intersted to hear what you think, also I noticed you don't post much atm?
I also posted an "easy" explanation how steem power ups work and vests.
Something I struggled understanding but I think I am starting to get there now :).
Thanks. Ive got some written in word. But I get home really late and my dog is sick so I find Im too tired to fo more than read other peoples! Will make an effort though...
haha well only if you are interested, Otherwise don't do it 😄
I joined to write. Love writing but seem to be too tired to concentrate enough to do it well just now. Maybe I just wore out my brain trying to get my head around steemit , bitcoin and various alts.
Not to mention The Fork that nearly gave me a nervous breakdown lol.
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STOPThese days I measure the quality of the landing by how the final bounce goes ;p