Flying after a Pause

I finally was able to plan and go fly again after my first XC trip that I took in April. Shortly thereafter, I went on a trip to Thailand for two weeks, and after coming back from that it’s been quite hectic at work. Enough of the excuses however, I should have been flying more because the skill of my landings seems to have deteriorated.

The weather was reasonable – 10SM visibility, clear skies under 18,000 feet with QNH2993, winds CALM / VAR / 200/05. Information was Tango as I called up DPA Ground on 120.8 for taxi clearance to remain in the pattern – I was given a LH pattern for 20L after my departure from 20R. The take-off was uneventful, rotation at 55 KIAS, and a strong climb out to pattern altitude at 1,590. My first landing was awful however and resulted in a go around after I seem to have bounced and landed on an angle. As the plane came in for the approach, I was properly configured at FULL flaps and 65 KIAS. I pulled power at the numbers but it seems like I still had a ton of energy to dispose of – and the landing gear ended up taking the blunt of the impact and forced me back into the air. My instincts to initiate a go around shortly thereafter were great however. I applied full power, carb heat COLD, flew at level altitude for about 20 seconds to build up airspeed, and began to retract the flaps. I’ve got my go around technique solidified.

I came in for my second approach on 20L with the same issue as before. The aircraft didn’t seem to be level when I touched down, and the nose wheel came down too quickly. I felt like the aircraft was in a sense hydroplaning and I was not in control.

After a few more approaches and go-arounds, I have lost my faith in landing in calm wind conditions. What the heck is going on? I sat down with my instructor to talk about it. When you think about it, during a calm wind day, the aircraft is travelling faster than when you are flying into a head wind. All this excess speed means that the flare needs to come at a later point, since you will have a lot of excess speed to shed before you are ready to touch down.

I need to do some more research and more importantly – go up with my instructor to solidify my confidence in my skills once again. I’m going to be monitoring the weather this week and hopefully get up again sooner rather than later.