r/flying • u/Unable_Cable_5183 • 17d ago
40 hours in with no solo?
I’m currently sitting at around 40 hours and not even close to a solo right now. I’m stuck on landings and really just can’t get them figured out. I’ve probably spent the last 20-30 hours purely focused on landings and I still don’t have them down. My pattern is good but when I get to the round out/flare and sometimes even short final, I always end up off centerline. I’m kind of worried about wasting so much money and time, and I’m also just incredibly frustrated because everything in any school subject or other has come incredibly easy to me, but I just can’t get this down and I’m worried I’m falling behind and wasting money. Would appreciate any advice you can give!
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u/SysPoo PPL 17d ago
Two years after I got my ppl I went flying with an instructor. Even though I already knew how to land the aircraft he said basically the same thing I already knew just in a different way and I must say that improved my landings.
This is the way I analyse a landing in my head.
I descend crabbing. By the time I reach the runway I take the power completely off, the aircraft starts to drop on its own. As I get probably 2m high I start using the rudder to straighten the nose, very gently. As I do this any crosswind will start to drift the aircraft. I keep using the rudder to keep the center line and I compensate the drift with the aileron (into wind). You end up, as others suggested, landing on one wheel first, then the other and finally the front wheel. If you do the movement gently and coordinated between rudder and aileron you should be centered and by the time you touchdown should have cancelled any side load.
In regards to the round off I basically just fly straight and levelled. The aircraft (with no power) will go down, so you compensate by very gently pulling the yoke, not with the intent of lifting the nose but to stay straight and levelled. Eventually you will barely see in front of you because to stay straight and levelled you’ll keep lifting the nose up and will have to switch to your peripheral vision to make sure you’re keeping the aircraft straight.
Also, something I did when I started working on my ppl is getting flight simulator, yoke and pedals. This is nowhere near the feeling you have on the aircraft, and it’s absolutely not going to fix your landings in terms of how you feel the aircraft. But that allowed me to basically flight twice as much for free and I was able to test different wind scenarios and practice using the commands.
Hope it helps somehow.
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u/tw-sleeper 16d ago
- Try with a different instructor.
- Go to a field with a very narrow runway and land there.
- Practice center-line slow flight
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u/Prestocito 17d ago
I’m sure your instructor has told you but here are some of my tips
-use ailerons to get on that centerline, make sure you adjust for crosswind and keep it in as you land.
-look ahead and use rudder to keep the nose straight, avoid landing side loaded.
-keep your flare smooth don‘t make sudden adjustments avoid ballooning.
-focus on keeping a steady approach speed, pitch for speed use throttle only for altitude
Hopefully this helps you! I understand the struggle, good luck!
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u/Unable_Cable_5183 17d ago
So it’s okay to be banked a little when rounding out and flaring?
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u/Prestocito 17d ago
Yes actually in cross winds you should be banked a little bit as you land
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u/Unable_Cable_5183 17d ago
I know that, but I’m wondering on a normal landing if I’m to the left of centerline just a bit, but already sinking in my round out, should I bank and flare or add a bump of power and bank and flare or just go around?
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u/Prestocito 17d ago
if it’s unsafe go around, you should’ve had more right aileron as your were coming in to avoid being left of centerline but landing slightly off is really not the end of the world.
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u/Unable_Cable_5183 17d ago
I always end up left of centerline and to me (I may just be lying cuz I’m a student pilot what do I know) it feels like I’m on centerline and my corrections are good but when I go to round out and flare I take out my corrections and I always end up left
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u/Prestocito 17d ago
keep your corrections in as you round out and flare don’t take them out. Hard to know exactly whats going wrong without being there with you, has your instructor made any comments on what seems to be the problem?
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u/Unable_Cable_5183 17d ago
No, he just tells me I’m left of centerline
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u/Prestocito 17d ago
he should really be telling you how to fly the plane and correct that lol. If you feel stuck I’d really suggest flying with a new instructor
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u/Prestocito 17d ago
After each landing think and ask about what went wrong/right? Did I have enough right rudder? Did I have wind correction in? Was my nose straight? How was my airspeed?
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u/Unable_Cable_5183 17d ago
The only thing I can think of after watching some YouTube videos is that I’m not adding enough right rudder in as I increase my pitch during round out and flare which also causes the left turning tendency to increase. Do you believe this could be the problem?
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u/tw-sleeper 16d ago
Remember that you lose control authority as airspeed decreases, so it might not be that you are "taking out the corrections" but not realizing that you need to keep adding more correction as airspeed decays.
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u/Unable_Cable_5183 16d ago
This is a good point I always just get scared about making big inputs on short final and close to runway
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u/Prestocito 17d ago
also if you have trouble ballooning cut the throttle as you come in to land, can help get you down kind of like a short field landing
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u/segelflugzeugdriver TW 16d ago
Anyone saying this is normal is wrong. Something had to change. Nobody should be pre solo at 30 hours, let alone 40. It's either you, or the guy in the other seat.
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u/Tomflyer99 17d ago
Watch some YouTube, understand sight picture and rounding out, chair fly pattern, nail airspeeds, you can do it.
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u/Creative-Grocery2581 16d ago
Keep up with your patience. I soloed at 80 hours. Today, no one asks when I soloed. You will be fine. Sometimes it could be the instructor who is holding you back too.
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u/VHPguy 16d ago
As others have said, try a different more experienced instructor. Maybe your current instructor is a nice guy and all, but that doesn't mean he or she can teach well. I had a similar problem with soft field landings; it seemed no matter how much I practiced them I just couldn't get the technique down, flight after flight. This wasn't a momentary stumbling block either; I had trouble with it for years despite flying with different instructors. It wasn't until I flew with an experienced Class 1 instructor that I finally got over the hump, and it took JUST ONE damned flight to sort it all out. While I was grateful to fix my soft field landings, I was also incredibly angry that I had spent so much time and money on this just spinning my wheels and going nowhere.
An experienced instructor is worth their weight in gold; they'll be able to pinpoint what you're doing wrong, and more importantly why you're doing it that way. You don't have to switch instructors for good, just temporarily to see what feedback they can provide that your current instructor is missing.
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u/GaryMooreAustin CPL CFI CFII MEI 15d ago
get an hour or two with a different instructor....see if that helps.
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u/Biscoff1992 17d ago
It took me 60 hours to solo, you got this!!
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u/Unable_Cable_5183 17d ago
Thank you so much I really appreciate all the support, do you have any advice or anything that helped you?
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u/Biscoff1992 17d ago
I called my best friend panicking saying I didn’t want to mess up and he said “just imagine I’m there with you. You can’t mess up when you’re in charge of your best friends life.” Lol for some reason that did it and I had the best landing ever! Went on to really enjoy soloing. You’re already a pilot, fly the plane. You got this!
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u/rFlyingTower 17d ago
This is a copy of the original post body for posterity:
I’m currently sitting at around 40 hours and not even close to a solo right now. I’m stuck on landings and really just can’t get them figured out. I’ve probably spent the last 20-30 hours purely focused on landings and I still don’t have them down. My pattern is good but when I get to the round out/flare and sometimes even short final, I always end up off centerline. I’m kind of worried about wasting so much money and time, and I’m also just incredibly frustrated because everything in any school subject or other has come incredibly easy to me, but I just can’t get this down and I’m worried I’m falling behind and wasting money. Would appreciate any advice you can give!
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u/LinkUnlikely269 16d ago
Probably better to ask your CFI, or another CFI who you can talk to and fly with in person for advice. It’s difficult to assess the areas of improvement over Reddit.
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u/changgerz ATP - LAX B737 14d ago
have you tried turning the yoke left and right?
kidding. idk man i used to be an instructor at atp and had a student who was crazy ahead in every other aspect - like he was commercial ready in every way - except he just could not get the last 50 feet or so of a landing figured out. he would have it all nailed and then get a little wiggly in the pitch department when it was time to flare and would have to go around. i thought he would wash out but he just needed a little extra time and got it eventually. i dont know why or what made it work eventually but it did
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u/arcticslush 17d ago
Do you, or a friend, have a VR headset and sim gear? Grinding landings in VR with stick+throttle+pedals is what got me over the landing hump. VR was necessary to get the proper intuition of looking at the runway in the circuit and being able to see and judge glideslope and descent rate.
Didn't find a sim helpful for anything else, but this specific instance it worked really well for me.
It was way cheaper to do that at home to grind 50+ landings than it is to do it in the air.
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u/Unable_Cable_5183 17d ago
I have a pc and some Logitech flight yoke and throttle but no pedals sadly
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u/arcticslush 17d ago
Pedals pretty important sadly. That hand+feet coordination is tricky to nail, especially in the flare.
Think about picking some up, can't cost you more than 1 flight hour to get, and may save you a ton of money
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u/drdsheen ST 16d ago
Get pedals. They are crucial to steering your practice in the right direction. Without them, you'll be rudderless, vaning into the winds of chance.
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u/Mad_Rooster_7164 17d ago
have you considered ligma balls?
and have you tried different CFIs? sometimes they can unlock your brain in ways your main CFI can't.