Airplanes are in an increased state of vulnerability from the beginning of landing flare to the end of rollout. Transitioning an airplane from a flying machine to a ground machine exposes it to a magnified level of vulnerability, during which the best response to unexpected events can be difficult to determine, especially in a split second.
And make no mistake, while landing can become routine for experienced pilots (even in envelope-stretching scenarios), uncommon and unpredicted situations occasionally occur. Let’s consider some things that could happen and how you can best prepare yourself to make a safe outcome more likely.
Wind gusts
Gusty conditions put the amount and stability of the lift your wings produce in play. Gusty winds, especially down the longitudinal axis, will affect the amount of lift produced by your wings because the wind speed experienced by the wings could suddenly increase or decrease, possibly just for a second or two.
If you experience a headwind gust, more lift is generated, so you may float down the runway farther than desired. If you reduce power or pitch to compensate, you risk dropping like a rock when the gust ends or changes direction. The best course of action is to go around unless some other factor makes that the more dangerous option.
If you experience a tailwind gust, the lift you’re counting on might vanish while you’re near stall speed. Regardless of what your nose does (which is likely to drop), the entire aircraft will likely begin a precipitous descent while close to the ground. Your task is to get the airplane safely on the ground, which, depending on your altitude and other factors, may require you to fight your instincts and push the yoke forward to regain the airspeed needed to produce lift and recover.
Mechanical failures
The chances are good that at some point during your primary training (in a tricycle gear plane) you landed a little hot and discovered that the nose gear would let you know with a strong shake. That’s a minor occurrence that can get a pilot’s attention but larger mechanical issues, both pilot-induced and otherwise, can present real risks, and some of the biggest ones involve the landing gears.
In a retractable-gear airplane, the dreaded bellyflop is such an issue. It’s even worse if the stowed landing gears are due to pilot forgetfulness rather than mechanical failure because the pilot’s not expecting it, adding surprise and reduced reaction time.
In either case, the pilot must try to guide a plane that has no controllability through the wheels. Aerodynamic control surfaces are the only things the pilot can use to influence the plane’s direction during rollout, or rather, skid-out. As the plane’s airspeed lowers, so does the pilot’s influence over the airplane’s direction. A well-stabilized approach and continuous control inputs until the airplane has stopped are key elements that can increase the odds of a safe outcome. If the pilot knows the gears have failed, finding a runway with as little crosswind as possible will make it easier to keep the airplane on a safer path on the ground.
A more complex version of this scenario is if only one gear has failed, especially a main. Even with prior warning of the condition, the asymmetrical friction experienced upon contact with the ground will bear the most influence over the airplane’s direction.
Other failure modes include total brake failure, single-gear brake failure, blown tires, and unexpected or single-gear hydroplaning on slick tires (think rental plane). The best cure for these is prevention by conducting a thorough preflight inspection.
But when something like this happens, even after giving your airplane a thorough going over, thinking about the best courses of action beforehand can increase the odds of a safe conclusion. Be sure to consider these scenarios with your specific airplane in mind.
Obstacles
In addition to wind and mechanical issues, pilots should be vigilant about external factors such as wildlife or foreign object debris (FOD) on the runway. These can appear suddenly and require immediate action, ranging from going around, landing and stopping quickly, or having to dodge an obstacle once the gears are already on the runway.
In addition to the usual vigilance a pilot exercises in remaining aware of runway conditions, deciding ahead of time what you will do in response to sudden obstacles at different landing phases (perhaps as part of your written personal minimums) potentially reduces your reaction time. That saved time could mean the difference between a safe landing and an insurance claim.
What was that?
Myriad conditions and events could occur between flare and the end of rollout; the examples above are just a few. But what about situations when you simply don’t know what’s happening just as you’ve settled into your sink during flare or as the airplane is transitioning from aerodynamic surface control to ground friction control? The answer is the same for these situations and all the other examples above.
Once upon a time, a pilot who typically flew Skyhawks took off in a rented Piper Cherokee. He had been checked out but was less familiar with the airplane than his Cessna. Within 20 feet of the ground and a few knots above stall speed, a loud, repetitive banging began that was powerful enough to be felt through the pilot’s seat. While assuming the plane had some sort of structural failure, he remained calm and flew the airplane to a safe and otherwise uneventful landing.
His unfamiliarity with the airplane inadvertently caused him to leave a part of the right-seat seatbelt and its metal buckle outside the airplane when he shut the door on the ground. For some reason, it didn’t begin banging against the fuselage until he was in ground effect.
Not until he was on the ground did he discover the nature of the anxiety-inducing noise. He tried to think of what it could be when it began, but when he couldn’t, he assumed it was so bad that it was never covered in flight training because one doesn’t waste time learning how to handle unrecoverable failures.
The takeaway from this, which applies to all the scenarios above, is that he flew the plane first. Flying the plane means maintaining positive control to the greatest extent possible, despite the conditions, failures, or unknown bangs. This should remain your mindset from the moment you remove the first tie-down during preflight to the moment you cinch the last tie-down post-flight.