How to Land a Cessna
Cessna, you’re cute but you drive me crazy.
The Cessna 172 is the life of the party in a flight school, the one that everyone knows about and everyone wants to fly in. I have stayed in the same Cessna 172 plane for many moons now, and have grown quite attached to it. When I earn my license, there might be some separation anxiety. I just really love my little airplane, it’s so cute. The hummingbird of airplanes.
I’ll be solo’ing soon, or so my instructor promises… and at this stage in my training I’ve been getting so many pieces of wisdom regarding that very elusive solution to landing an airplane (no big deal just over here landing an actual airplane guys). Landing is so scary but so so so satisfying once you figure things out and the “click” happens.
For a long time, my landings had been inconsistent. One day they were fantastically amazing, but if you asked me why the next day my landings gave me whiplash and looked like a porpoise bouncing down the runway, I couldn’t offer an explanation. I didn’t have an intellectual understanding or even a practical understanding of how I could improve my landings and make them smooth each and every time. I broke down into tears one day because I didn’t understand what I was doing wrong, and nobody could articulate it to me. Why am I even here? I kept thinking… only to be hushed the next day as my landings were effortless again somehow. I attributed it to magic for a while, and then asked around to see if this was normal. Turns out, yes it was and is. Landing is trial and error, and in order to understand something so weird like flying you HAVE to make a ton of mistakes. And cry a lot. Check and check. Lots of phone calls to friends and my mother to seek clarify and comfort, seeking answers from people who didn’t understand what an aileron does… but when learning something so foreign and crazy as flight, any kind of support is welcomed and embraced.
What is a smooth landing you might be wondering?
One that is perfectly in the middle of on the runway’s centerline, the plane approaching final with a speed of 65 (or whatever your plane’s speed should be), bleeding out the energy on the runway until the plane gently touches down back wheels first with the nose falling into place like a graceful ballerina if she were 2300 pounds and made of metal. After speaking to many, many people about how to perfect these landings, I have the following tricks and tips that have helped me FINALLY feel prepared for that solo flight looming over my head like a dark cloud in the shape of a menacing runway lurking in the near distance. Soon, it’s coming, so soon…
Landing a Cessna 172:
Perfect the Pattern — I hadn’t been turning in a very pretty rectangle but rather an oblong stretchy oval that resembled a teardrop or something else more freeform. An abstract drawing of my plane trailed in the sky. I had to correct those angles, otherwise I’d be spending most of my energy readjusting my alignment on final. It’s much easier if you plan ahead, watching in front of you and visualizing the point you need to start banking to eventually create a 90 degree angle. Master this skill and your approaches will at least be manageable.
Get on the Centerline ASAP after turning onto final! — this one took me a little while to get the hang of because of perception - ask your instructor to be very specific about when you are on the centerline and when you are not. I would say “I don’t know, am I on it?” more time than I care to admit, with his face just like… staring at me in disbelief slash awe. “You are definitely. Absolutely. Not,” he repeated before the ol’ click click of things coming together occurred in my brain. What my instructor actually did to help me was take me to another airport with a much narrower runway that forced me to stay on that doggone centerline. It helped a trillion fold.
Perspective of Too High and Too Low — I don’t understand when I’m too high sometimes. Coming into the runway, I would instinctively stay high because I saw houses underneath me and didn’t want to crash into them, grazing their rooftops and hurdling over trees. I was terrified to get lower than 1,500 feet from the ground, which A good instructor should help you visualize when you are too low and help you figure out what “too high” would look like in general, not specifically for your airport. It is a tempting crutch to rely on known landmarks around your school’s airport to figure out your location and distance away from your intended point; it is much more beneficial to figure out the reason why you think you’re too low/high so that you can use that skill at any airport.
Minor Adjustments versus Jerky Reactions — the trick during the pattern is to make small, itty bitty adjustments with the pitch and the roll. I had no idea that my movements were so drastic until it was pointed out to me, and I imagine that is a very common mistake to make at first. When I told myself to continuously make tiny adjustments when I’m too high, too low, too fast or to slow, I eventually learned to just do this on instinct and not have to think about it. The plane is pretty sensitive and responds to a slight push on the yoke that you’ll see a delay registering on the instruments. The relief from having my actions pointed out to me was stunning and changed my entire mindset when I fly.
Try Not To Land — this is the most useful piece of advice that I got that helps me control my jerky movements and land softly. When approaching the runway numbers, rather than pull back so suddenly on the yoke to flare for landing, instead try to bleed all the energy out of the plane so that it has no choice but to land. Just try not to land but fly as low to the ground as possible, and the plane will skim the surface a few feet above the runway until the wheels just fall onto the ground naturally.
Just Breathe — the times when I fly the best is when I’m relaxed. Thinking too much interferes with that. I find the best approaches come when I’m breathing, focusing on only that, and just… flying the plane. This can only happen, of course, after I’ve thought about every detail enough to become actual memory. Just breathe, relax, and fly!
