Review each step to be performed, including but not limited to:
- Frequencies needed and information required for radio calls (i.e., ATIS information, requests)
- Type of landing to be performed
- Key airspeeds to hit
- Roll-out and runway exit plan
- Taxi plan/request (pending ATC instructions)
- Parking plan
Descent/Flow Checklist:
- Check that the mixture is full rich
- Turn on the fuel pump
- Put on shoulder harnesses
- This should include a quick briefing of the airport (i.e., runway vs. taxiway orientation to avoid a wrong surface landing) where an approach and landing procedure being conducted
Initial Contact:
- Remember, when flying an instrument approach, approach control may clear you for an approach, but the tower clears you to land
- To provide controllers with the information they need to clear you to land, pilots must declare their intentions
- Intentions may be to conduct touch and go's, low approaches, or landing, and to where you will taxi to park
Normal Approach & Landing:
![Margin Of Safety In Flight Phases](https://www.cfinotebook.net/graphics/flight-hazards-and-safety/margin-of-safety.jpg)
- Normal approaches and landings are the building blocks from which all other landings build
- While this procedure is for normal landing, assuming the wind is blowing right down the runway, that will rarely be the case
-
Normal Approach & Landing Procedure:
![Base Leg and Final Approach](https://www.cfinotebook.net/graphics/maneuvers-and-procedures/BaseToFinal.webp)
WARNING:
All procedures are GENERALIZED.
Always fly per Pilot Operating Handbook procedures,
observing any relevant Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs)
- Complete the Descent Flows/Checklists
- This should include a quick briefing of the airport (i.e., runway vs. taxiway orientation to avoid a wrong surface landing) where an approach and landing procedure being conducted
- Gather any documents you may want to have ready during the approach or immediately after landing
- Talk to the tower as appropriate to the airspace you're operating within
- Controlled: " [Tower] , [Callsign] , [Location] , [Information] , [Intentions] "
- Example: " Palms tower, Cessna One Seven Two Seven Victor, fives miles to the west for touch and go's "
- Uncontrolled: " [Facility Name] , [Callsign] , [Location] , [Information] , [Intentions] , [Facility Name] "
- Example: " Palms tower, Cessna one seven two seven victor, five miles to the west for touch and goes, palms tower "
- Abide by the tower's instructions and plan to enter the traffic pattern at Traffic Pattern Altitude (TPA) on a 45° entry to the downwind, maintaining a one-half mile distance from the runway on the downwind leg
- Alternatively, if approved, you may enter the pattern through the overhead approach maneuver
- Set power to establish and maintain traffic pattern speed
- Abeam the point of intended landing, reduce power , lower the landing gear, set the flaps , and begin a gentle descent and call
- Keeping your hand on the landing gear until given the down and locked indication will prevent forgetting
- Controlled: " [Tower] , [Callsign] abeam, gear 3 down and locked, [Landing Type] "
- ATC: " [Callsign] , [Winds] , cleared for [Runway] , [Landing Type] "
- ATC: Cessna 1727V, wind 130 at 5 knots, runway 12, cleared to land
- Uncontrolled: None
- Anticipate the balloon effect when lowering the flaps
- Trim as necessary
- At the 45° point to the intended touchdown point, commence a turn to the base leg
- ICS: " Cleared left, forward, clear right, turning [Left/Right] "
- Controlled: None
- Uncontrolled: " [Facility Name] , [Callsign] , turning base for [Runway] , [Facility Name] "
- The wind is now at your side, so depending on its strength, you will need to compensate for drift with a crab angle
- Set the flaps , then establish and maintain base leg airspeed
- Visually verify that the final approach (including the extended final and the opposite base leg) is clear, and turn final
- ICS: " Cleared left, forward, clear right, turning [Left/Right] "
- Controlled: None
- Uncontrolled: " [Facility Name] , [Callsign] , turning base for [Runway] , [Facility Name] "
- Check your heading indicator against the runway heading to ensure you're lined up with the correct runway
- Be mindful of wake turbulence considerations
- That is look for larger, slower, heavier aircraft and offset your flight path higher & upwind)
- ATC will generally include " caution wake turbulence " before giving winds when clearing an aircraft to land
- When landing is assured, set the flaps for landing and establish approach speed
- Shift your scan to the glideslope indicators, if available, runway alignment, airspeed, and VSI
- By 300' above landing, complete a GUMP check
- GUMP Check:
- Gas: Fuel Selector and Pumps - SET
- Undercarriage: Gear - DOWN AND LOCKED (if applicable)
- Mixture: Mixture - FULL FORWARD
- Prop: Prop - FULL FORWARD (if applicable)
- If the approach is stabilized, call out, " 300 feet, stabilized, continuing "
- If the approach is not stabilized, callout, " 300 feet, not stabilized, going around, " and execute a go-around
- When descending beneath area obstructions like buildings, trees, or otherwise, be prepared for wind shifts
- Approaching the runway threshold, verify the runway number (heading) matches your clearance
- You are checking to verify you are landing on the correct runway as this is your last opportunity to wave off
- As you cross the threshold, begin reducing power as necessary to "roundout" and transitioning to the flare, holding the airplane 1-2 feet off the surface in ground effect, now at idle, as long as possible (to gradually dissipate forward speed)
- When within 10-20 feet, about the height of a hangar, begin the roundout
- Don't focus on the runway, but instead look long (at least a few hundred feet) to flare
- You will see the horizon flatten as if you're sitting on the ground
- Avoid closing the throttle so rapidly that an immediate increase in the rate of descent leads to a hard landing
- Touch down at minimum controllable airspeed with a power-off stall pitch attitude on the main wheels first (minimum float) and with the throttle at the idle (closed) position
- Hold the nose wheel off with back pressure throughout the roll-out; allowing settling gently
- Increase aileron deflection into the wind if present or has shifted from expected
- Maintain directional control throughout the roll-out with the rudder, slowing sufficiently before turning on a taxiway
- Exit the runway without delay at the first available taxiway or on a taxiway as instructed by ATC
- An aircraft is considered clear of the runway when all parts of the aircraft are past the runway edge and there are no restrictions to its continued movement beyond the runway holding position markings
- Proceed with taxi procedures