Normal Approach and Landing

• Airspeed: the manufacturer's published approach speed, or in its absence not more than 1.3 VSO, held ±5 knots with the gust factor applied (CA.IV.B.S7)
• Touchdown: at a proper pitch attitude, within 200 feet beyond or on the specified point, with no side drift, longitudinal axis aligned with and over the runway centerline (CA.IV.B.S10)

Both tightened from private, which allowed +10/−5 knots and 400 feet. The landing box just got cut in half and the speed window cut by a third.

A constant-angle glide path toward a predetermined point on the runway, flown at a constant final descent airspeed and configuration (AFH ch. 9). The visual test: the aiming point does not move in the windscreen — it neither slides under the nose nor moves forward away from you. Objects in front of and beyond it do appear to move, and in opposite directions; the aiming point alone stays put.

The refinement is measured against the horizon: on a constant-angle path the distance between the horizon and the aiming point stays constant. If your perceived aiming point appears to move down away from the horizon, the true aiming point is farther down the runway; if it appears to move up toward the horizon, the true aiming point is closer than you thought (AFH ch. 9).

Second cue: the runway shape does not change. It stays the same trapezoid, just larger. If the approach goes shallow the runway appears shorter and wider; if it steepens, longer and narrower.

No — and at 200 feet of tolerance that distinction is the task. If you flew the glide path through with no round out, you would strike the ground at the aiming point. Because you arrest the descent in the round out, the airplane touches down farther down the runway (AFH ch. 9). So the aiming point goes short of the specified point by whatever your airplane's round-out-plus-float distance is, and you learn that number by flying it, not by guessing.

The selected landing point is normally beyond the runway approach threshold but within the first 1/3 of the runway (AFH ch. 9). On the checkride the examiner will usually name a point instead — and then the standard is 200 feet beyond it or on it, never short.

Flaps give you four things at once (AFH ch. 9):

• Greater lift: lower approach and landing speeds
• Greater drag: steeper descent angle
• Better forward visibility: from the lower pitch attitude
• Shorter landing roll

Up to about 15° the deflection is primarily lift with minimal drag; beyond 15° the drag increase is large. Because a big single change in flap setting produces a big lift change requiring big pitch and power corrections, incremental extension on downwind, base, and final supports the stabilized approach — and re-trim after every change.

Power-on approach at an airspeed slightly above normal, with partial flaps — the higher resulting pitch attitude means less pitch change to reach the landing attitude and a touchdown at a slightly higher, more controllable speed (AFH ch. 9).

The gust-factor rule: normal approach speed plus one-half of the gust factor. If normal is 70 knots and the gusts are 15 knots, use 77 knots. Carry power to the surface — retard the throttle to idle only after the mains touch, because closing it early in turbulence can produce a sudden sink and a hard landing. Note the ACS applies the ±5 knot tolerance to the gust-corrected number (CA.IV.B.S7).

Either method works down final; what the standard grades is the touchdown. You must arrive with no side drift and the longitudinal axis aligned with and over the centerline (CA.IV.B.S10), which means transitioning to the wing-low (sideslip) method before the wheels touch: bank into the wind to stop drift, opposite rudder to hold the nose straight. Touching down while drifting or crabbed imposes side loads on the gear and is a listed common error (AFH ch. 9).

The rule is always the same — stay at or above the larger aircraft's flight path, because the vortices sink. Applied to the landing cases (PHAK ch. 14):

• Landing behind a larger aircraft, same runway: stay at or above its approach flight path and land beyond its touchdown point
• Parallel runway closer than 2,500 feet: allow for drift, stay at or above its final approach path, and note its touchdown point
• Crossing runway: cross above its flight path
• Landing behind a departing aircraft, same runway: land prior to its rotation point

Two conditions worth naming to the examiner: near the ground (within 100–200 feet) the vortices move laterally at 2–3 knots, and a light quartering tailwind is the worst case — it can hold vortices along a significant portion of the final approach and extended centerline, not just in the touchdown zone. Note the conflict with this Task's 200-foot box: "land beyond its touchdown point" may not fit inside the tolerance, and when it does not, the answer is more spacing or a go-around, not a compromised flight path.

It raises your groundspeed at touchdown, so it lengthens both the float and the landing roll — and the effect is disproportionate, because the energy the brakes have to dissipate goes with the square of that speed. It also flattens the apparent approach path over the ground and makes the runway arrive faster than the picture you trained on.

Accepting one is a performance decision, not a convenience one: run the POH landing chart at the density altitude with the tailwind component, and note that many POH charts publish tailwind data only up to about 10 knots — beyond the chart, you have no number and therefore no answer. Legitimate reasons to accept a tailwind (one-way runway, terrain, noise procedure, traffic flow) still require the arithmetic first. See also Task IV.M, where a tailwind on downwind is the classic setup for overextending the leg.

• As PIC you have the final authority to accept or decline any LAHSO clearance — you do not have to accept it (PHAK ch. 14)
• Know the available landing distance and whether you can comply before accepting
• LAHSO clearances are issued only with a minimum ceiling of 1,000 feet and 3 statute miles visibility
• If you accept, no portion of the aircraft may extend beyond the hold markings
• A plain "cleared to land" authorizes the entire landing length — disregard the LAHSO markings

If you accept and then need a go-around, you are committing to a climb that may conflict with the intersecting-runway traffic the restriction existed for — brief that before you accept.

The skill element is explicit: execute a timely go-around if the approach cannot be made within the tolerances specified, or for any other condition that may result in an unsafe approach or landing. Salvaging a fast, high, or drifting approach into a landing that happens to work is not a pass — the examiner is grading the decision, and the decision is worth more than the spot. See Task IV.N.

The one exception to that instinct is Task IV.M, where a go-around caused by your own inability to meet tolerances is itself unsatisfactory (ACS Appendix 3).

Total mechanical energy is potential energy from altitude plus kinetic energy from airspeed — mgh + ½mV² (AFH ch. 4). The airplane gains energy from thrust and loses it to drag; the difference (T − D) decides whether total energy rises, falls, or holds.

On a stabilized approach you are deliberately running a constant, controlled energy deficit: drag exceeds thrust, so total energy decreases at a steady rate, and you are spending it out of altitude while airspeed stays fixed. Every deviation is either a wrong total energy (high or low on path at the right speed) or a wrong distribution (right path, wrong speed).

Note the frame is airplane-centric — indicated altitude and indicated airspeed, not height above the ground and groundspeed. Wind and terrain move those, and you cannot control them.

Neither in isolation — recognize it as a total energy surplus and get rid of energy, not redistribute it. Trading altitude for airspeed (pushing) or airspeed for altitude (pulling) just moves the surplus around; only drag or reduced thrust removes it. Power to idle, flaps as available, and if the airplane and POH permit, a slip.

Then apply the honest test: if the airplane will not be configured, on speed, on path, and trimmed before short final, it is a go-around. Deviations should be detected and corrected early, so that late corrections stay small (AFH ch. 9).

On a powered approach you have both levers, and the AFH describes them as a coordinated pair (AFH ch. 9):

• Overshooting the desired spot: reduce power and lower pitch to steepen; extend more flaps if available
• Undershooting: increase power and raise pitch to shallow the descent

Careful with the second one at low speed: at high angle of attack and low airspeed, raising pitch increases the rate of descent. That trap is what the low-altitude-maneuvering risk item (CA.IV.B.R5) is pointing at.

A headwind changing to a tailwind decreases airspeed and performance — the classic sink onto the approach lights. A tailwind changing to a headwind does the opposite. Wind shear itself is a sudden, drastic change in wind speed and/or direction over a very small area, commonly associated with passing frontal systems, thunderstorms, temperature inversions, and strong upper-level winds greater than 25 knots (PHAK ch. 12).

The severe case is a microburst: typically 1–2 miles across, about 1,000 feet deep, lasting 5–15 minutes, with downdrafts up to 6,000 fpm. On approach you get increasing headwind, then downdraft, then increasing tailwind — the sequence that forces airplanes onto the ground short of the runway. Visual clue is often an intense rain shaft, or virga with a ring of blowing dust.

A contaminated-runway condition — standing water, slush, or wet snow — that can render an airplane partially or totally uncontrollable during the landing roll. Three types: dynamic, reverted rubber, and viscous (AFH ch. 9).

Dynamic hydroplaning needs a water film at least one-tenth of an inch deep. The minimum dynamic hydroplaning speed is approximately 8.6 times the square root of the tire pressure in psi.