Aero-Tips!

A good pilot is always learning -- how many times have you heard this old standard throughout your flying career? There is no truer statement in all of flying (well, with the possible exception of "there are no old, bold pilots.")

Aero-News has called upon the expertise of Thomas P. Turner, master CFI and all-around-good-guy, to bring our readers -- and us -- daily tips to improve our skills as aviators. Some of them, you may have heard before... but for each of us, there will also be something we might never have considered before, or something that didn't "stick" the way it should have the first time we memorized it for the practical test.

Look for our daily Aero-Tips segments, coming each day to you through the Aero-News Network.

Aero-Tips 07.06.06

We've been discussing what you can do to ensure a safe AirVenture arrival. Another task to master before your trip: short-field spot landings. 

Call the ball, er, dot

Getting so many airplanes into the same airport in such a short time calls for unusual procedures. One is that there are multiple touchdown zones-the normal end of the runway, and the "white," "orange", "pink" and "green" dots farther on down (the specific color depends on the runway in use-they're painted on beforehand). You will likely be directed to land at a specific dot in your landing clearance.

Here then is another lesson: be well-practiced at "spot" landings before flying to Oshkosh. Hit your spot in a short-field technique, too, to avoid rolling into the touchdown zone of an airplane aiming for the dot ahead of yours. Use a high angle obstacle clearing technique (not the Practical Test Standards' incorrect method of driving level over an obstacle then chopping power for the last 50 feet) because you may be overflying another airplane aiming at a spot closer to the arrival threshold.

Make your approach as tight as safely possible... nothing throws a wrench in the arrival works like an airplane that extends for a three-mile final. Practice with a short-field, steep angle of descent technique will help here also.

As the NOTAM describes, you'll need to land, stop, and taxi clear of the runway (usually into the well-rolled grass between runway lights) to minimize your time on the runway, and maximize the number of AirVenture arrivals.

Maybe this is why we have spot-landing contests at local fly-ins all spring and summer-to get us ready for the Big Show at Oshkosh.

Aero-tip of the day: Practice short-field landings to a designated spot plus or minus 100 feet (Commercial Pilot standards) so you can pull one off without a hitch at Oshkosh. For more tips on flying to EAA AirVenture read tomorrow's Aero-Tips, and listen to the Aero-Cast podcast on flying to AirVenture.

FMI: Aero-Tips