Advanced Piloting Techniques: High Flare attitude, Bounce, and Floating.

     Some pilots argue that experiencing a high flare attitude, bounce, and float should not happen to advanced, experienced pilots—it must not occur. They contend that it is the domain of untrained pilots and beginners. What is your perspective?

     Allow me to disagree and refine these statements based on my own experience. I can demonstrate this practically in a video that awaits you below. Experiencing a high flare attitude, bounce, and floating can happen even to experienced pilots with tens of thousands of hours of flight time, and it has occurred many times. It's not solely due to fatigue; various factors can easily contribute. Handling such situations depends on the pilot's skills.

High Flare attitude:

     I've encountered situations several times where, on a snow-covered surface without distinctive landmarks, trees, bushes, rocks, or branches— even with good visibility—I initiated a flare with too high an attitude and had to correct it promptly. Failure to correct could lead to a potential fall from a greater height. Pilots flying on snow between different surfaces, particularly when lighting conditions worsen, could share similar experiences.

     A high flare tends to happen more frequently, especially when landing downhill. It requires skimming the surface in ground effect as low as possible. Occasionally, it can also occur when landing uphill, especially if the pilot is uneasy about landing uphill, lacks familiarity, or hasn't done it for a long time, resulting in uncertainty about the aircraft's inertia and the authority of the elevator. Such a mistake in high flare always extends the landing distance and deceleration when the pilot subsequently has to correct the high flare at full throttle.

Bounce:

     Sometimes, even with a correct flare attitude, there are terrain waves on the landing surface or frozen snowdrifts that I hit at a speed higher than the stall speed when I didn't see them or realized too late. The aircraft then bounces. In the case of a landing strip or a surface near obstacles such as hangars, industrial buildings, tall buildings, or even just a forest and its edge or a rocky formation—when specific wind directions and strengths are present—turbulence occurs in the upwash behind the obstacle. Rotors form, creating a strong vertical component both upwards and downwards. Eddies with different freezing structures can also exist. I might encounter a microburst during landing, which is not visible in clear, dry air. The aircraft can suddenly drop by several tens of meters. In a better scenario, it's just a bounce if I've done everything possible, setting the maximum takeoff power and maximum climb angle during the landing phase when I felt the change in descent and turbulence.

    Where the aircraft ascends during landing, I anticipate in a seconds an immediate, powerful descent of at least twice the force. Sometimes, even with a correctly performed correction before the actual bounce, it can occur because of the high momentum of the aircraft and low speed within the correction range and the authority of the elevator, even with maximum takeoff power added. Immediate correction before the bounce is necessary, the pilot relying on feeling the aircraft and the environment. Only then can I minimize or eliminate the bounce. The subsequent correction of the bounce is straightforward, something everyone learns in basic training. These situations can also occur if a heavier engine than the original one for the type of aircraft is installed, and the test pilot could no longer increase the elevator deflection because the aircraft manufacturer did not anticipate this scenario, and it is structurally no longer feasible. In such cases, temporarily increasing the angle of attack and blowing off the aircraft with a significant, short-term engine thrust just before the bounce is essential.

Floating:

     A tailwind exceeding the aircraft limits can catch me off guard, especially on one-way takeoff and landing surfaces, where there is no option but to land with a tailwind. Diverting is not always possible. Even if an alternate airport is available, the weather for flying to it may not be suitable.

      This situation occurs even where the wind divides near the edge of a forest or a rocky massif, and during landing, it has a headwind component to have a significant tailwind in the transitional arc and duration.

Average pilots tend to avoid such phenomena and surfaces because they can, and usually are, beyond the operational manual limits of their aircraft and their piloting skills.

Advanced pilots, when facing such conditions, opt for different types of aircraft or modify them appropriately for enhanced performance and increased maneuverability. They also possess a significantly higher sensitivity to the aircraft and the environment. They have a repertoire of advanced piloting techniques that they can immediately apply to the situation, combining them to achieve the highest possible effect and safety for the crew, cargo, and the aircraft itself.

In the video below, you will see an unsuccessful landing with a bounce on the landing surface near the edge of the forest.

The bounce occurred due to combined influences:

On the terrain wave of the surface

As a consequence of the aircraft's inertia and lower forward speed

Due to the less effective elevator for very short landings, combined with the installation of a heavier engine, causing a greater pitching moment.

The downwash behind the forest, from the left as seen by the pilot, also played a role. The upwash reduced lift to the aircraft at a critical moment before flattening and bouncing.

The pilot didn't manage it... After a long time, he was flying this type in more challenging conditions on a short surface.

The video also shows the correction of the bounce:

Bringing the aircraft to level flight – no yoke pumping!

Short-term addition of power to blow off the tail surfaces to gain more authority in turbulent areas - the downwash behind the forest.

Bringing the aircraft to a floating.

For the ROKOAERO NG or Bristell type, the most effective method is bringing the aircraft to three wheels and then intensive braking to shorten the landing distance.

    In the second attached video , under the same conditions, you can see the proper prevention of the bounce and floating on a short surface in a simulation without the possibility of repetition. In this case, advanced piloting techniques were used, closing the flaps to negative and again landing on three points for the shortest possible landing. This landing is shorter compared to the previous video.

    The mentioned aircraft types are less controllable in turbulence at speeds below 95 km/h (they have short ailerons) than other aircraft, such as the Tecnam P2002 Sierra, but they have a greater lift reserve thanks to longer flaps.

To improve the correction of high flare attitude, bounce, and floating, the following can be done:

Thorough Training on the Type:

     This is one reason not to underestimate thorough training on a specific aircraft type, preferably in weather conditions that would keep even a dog indoors. In adverse and windy weather, everything becomes apparent, including your capabilities and the potential to improve them.

Aircraft Modifications:

     My aircraft are modified in various ways. Sometimes they have an adjustable propeller in flight, converted from another one and equipped with meter long blades. These propellers have a 1 square meter larger diameter of the accelerated propeller disk than standard propellers on other aircraft of the same category. Along with a powerful 140HP engine and 400Nm, also converted from an automotive engine, this propeller can transfer much more accelerated air to the tail surfaces, increasing their authority, especially when the maximum torque moment is available from very low RPM, and the engine has a diesel-like torque characteristic.

     Sometimes, even in emergency landings, I won't blow off the tail surfaces because there is engine failure. That's why I increased the elevator deflection and enlarged the area of the rudder, equipping it with a horn balance. I converted the electrically controlled flaps to manual with a deflection from minus 3 to plus 55 degrees. This allows precise control of lift as needed, and on the other hand, I can completely eliminate the lift supplied by the flaps within a tenth of a second! I can use the flaps for braking in the air. I can fly faster than these serially manufactured aircraft typically fly. There are many possibilities; see my older article - Flaps for Advanced Pilots.

      Thanks to these modifications, I have turned a STOL (Short Takeoff and Landing) aircraft from a standard production model that can take off and land on almost any slightly reinforced patch into a fast aircraft that travels at a constant cruising speed of 220 km/h.

Knowledge of Advanced Piloting Techniques and Their Training:

     I learned and perfected advanced piloting techniques on various challenging fields and meadows since 2003. It has been 20 years since I started practicing them. If you are interested in how you could further improve and what else you could do for your safety, or if you want to enhance your aircraft, I can help you.

Filip Zejda