There is nothing more thrilling and satisfying as a pilot than making a perfect landing. The one where the plane smoothly touches down exactly where you want. For me, this has been one of the most complicated skills to get a handle on.
What makes it so complicated? Well, you have to be on top of just so many things...
You are descending in order to reach the ground– so it’s important that this should happen at a rate that is not too fast or too slow.
When you have the airport in sight, you have to approach it at just the right altitude to make it comfortably to the runway but not to overshoot.
You have to watch for any other aircraft either close by or on the runway which could affect you.
You have to steadily reduce the airspeed to be able to stop after landing on the runway.
And yet, you have to constantly monitor the speed to make sure you don’t stall and dive nose down and out of control so close to the ground.
You have to line up with and hold the plane with the centre of the runway with enough room on the sides and in front to roll on and come to a stop.
All the skills needed to control a plane throughout the flight have to be at the sharpest level during landing – because the price you pay for an error is too high.
During this whole process there is one important moment just before the final approach ,the moment when I ask myself: "Am I high or low? Am I fast or slow?" The answer will dictate what corrective action I can immediately take to be on the final glidepath.
With wings held level in a stabilised approach and a constant check for the right airspeed I slowdown the aircraft and transition into a slight nose up position to smoothly touchdown for that perfect landing.
With so much happening and just so many things to take in, there is one most important lesson to keep in mind: to remember that there is always a go-around. A go-around is a pilot's option to decide not to land but instead climb up again and go around the airport for another chance at the landing. As a pilot in command, the primary responsibility is to safely fly the aircraft.
You can make a go around decision for any reason you see fit.
At any point in the landing process if you’re high or low, fast or slow, or if you don’t have sufficient height to clear the airport boundary ,get a gust of wind that blows you off and makes you fight to keep a stabilised approach you have to remember that there is absolutely no compulsion whatsoever to try and land the plane. The decision to go around is yours to make as a pilot. No one else can do it for you. Every good pilot has made countless go around decisions in order to be safe.
In life, it’s often easy to lose sight of a situation and rush full throttle ahead without even stopping to think whether that goal is worth risking everything that you worked so hard to achieve. We see this at play ever so often whether it’s runners who lose your lives pushing ahead to finish that marathon or the workaholic blindly sacrifice family time to climb up the success ladder, or even the housewife who is so busy catering to everyone else that she forgets that she is human too.
We need to stop and ask ourselves metaphorically, "Am I am I high, or low, am I fast or slow?" Being aware of the situation can help us make the corrections necessary to get to the right place that we desire. And finally, even when all seems lost, we have to remember that there is always a go-around. We will always have another chance at success if we decide to perform a go-around before it is too late to do so.