Author: David Jacobson

The Jacobson Flare Story

A gift for all flight Instructors – anywhere

25.07.2023 , captain-david-jacobson

One of my favourite authors, the American pilot Richard Bach (Gift of Wings, Biplane, Illusions and many more) stated, beautifully:

‘Learning is being reminded that you know something; Doing is demonstrating that you know it; and Teaching is reminding others that they know, also.’

It’s been said, ‘there is nothing more perfect than an idea whose time has come’. However, change in any person or organisation – let alone an industry –can be regarded either as a threat – or as an opportunity.

I would invite you to regard this as a golden opportunity for the industry – and a major gift for you, both personally and professionally. This is a valid toolkit that you can add to your skillset as an instructor, yet one that has benefits for the rest of your own flying careers.

You may be considering the decision to embrace my Jacobson Flare, the world’s first and only universal, quantifiable and unassailable approach and landing training technique.

You may also have never heard of it – until now.

Either way, please, be assured that your experience and qualifications to date are very much respected and valued; your instructing skills and talents are not in any way in question – though you have probably continued to learn and to grow in the role, as many others have done.

Richard Bach also wrote: ‘There is no problem, without a gift for you in its hands.’

Any training organisation and every instructor and teacher must, from time to time, re-evaluate what they teach and how they teach it. I feel certain that somewhere, sometime, you must all have wondered if anyone else felt, as I did in 1965 and then knew by 1985, that the landing manoeuvre was the most neglected and non-standardised sequence in the whole flight training syllabus.

We’ve all wondered why the landing is sometimes difficult to learn and even more difficult to teach. I believe it is because, for nearly 100 years until 1987, there has been no underlying framework.

My original idea, inspired by the RAF 617 Sqn ‘Dambusters’ of 1943, was simple: apply triangulation to apply a fully visual fix to the landing flare point, instead of a guess of vertical height. Turns out, it worked, but it’s become just a part of something much more than that.

I was seriously encouraged to research and develop an explanation for what I had observed for 20 years. I wrote a paper in 1987, for an aviation conference and, over the intervening years, developed what is now known as the Jacobson Flare. The explanation is still very simple but is now a complete approach and landing system: a defined and visible eye path, from joining final approach, right through to touchdown, easily applied to any fixed-wing aeroplane. It’s predictable, consistent, universal and fully quantifiable.

Somebody once said, ‘There are 3 or 4 things that a pilot must know, to land ANY fixed-wing aeroplane consistently well. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are!!’

Well, I contend that there are actually 5 things and I can share them with you, right now:

  1. Where to aim?
  2. How to aim?
  3. When to flare?
  4. How much to flare? And
  5. How fast to flare? (i.e., the flare rate)

Now, I don’t know of ONE reference book or training manual, (not even from the manufacturers such as Airbus and Boeing, or ANY airline), that answers even ONE of those questions, let alone all five. Remember, I’m speaking of ANY fixed-wing aircraft, sailplane to the A380! The Jacobson Flare answers every one of these questions, simply, factually and accurately. The mathematically based arguments are unassailable.

Much more information can be found on www.jacobsonflare.com and it would be great if you would be prepared to do a little research, after reading this. I commend the About and Testimonials tabs, the JF App Preview video and the Jacobson Flare LITE. This is all about sharing information, finessing landing instruction and providing cost-effective training for your students, while minimising wear and tear on aircraft and greatly increasing competency and safety levels.

With respect to competency levels, we even have a means of measuring your students’ levels of competency – not only in the approach and landing, but for all sequences.

Finally, for any further information, you are most welcome to contact me, via these contact details.

 

Wishing you many safe landings

 

Captain David M Jacobson FRAeS MAP

 

Would you care to experience that unsurpassed sense of accomplishment, derived from executing consistently beautiful landings, more often?

For starters, Download the FREE Jacobson Flare LITE, our no fuss/no frills introduction. Here we demonstrate, step by step, the application of the Jacobson Flare on a typical grass airstrip at Porepunkah, YPOK.

 

We invite you to browse the consistently positive comments on our Testimonials page. Many pilots, of all levels of experience, have downloaded our Apps. Read about their own experiences with the Jacobson Flare technique and the App.

Then download the COMPLETE Jacobson Flare app – for iOS. You’re already possibly paying $300+/hour to hire an aeroplane: You’ll recover the cost of the app, in just ONE LESS-NEEDED CIRCUIT. Moreover, you’ll have an invaluable reference tool, throughout your entire life in aviation.

Download the COMPLETE Jacobson Flare App for iOS devices now.

 

We invite you, also, to review our new, FREE companion app,

offering a convenient way of staying abreast of our latest blogs.

 

Download the Jacobson Flare NEWS App for iOS devices now.

For all pilots who have questions about their landings…

02.07.2023 , simple-safe-logical-affordable

Wishing you many safe landings

 

Captain David M Jacobson FRAeS MAP

 

Would you care to experience that unsurpassed sense of accomplishment, derived from executing consistently beautiful landings, more often?

For starters, Download the FREE Jacobson Flare LITE, our no fuss/no frills introduction. Here we demonstrate, step by step, the application of the Jacobson Flare on a typical grass airstrip at Porepunkah, YPOK.

 

We invite you to browse the consistently positive comments on our Testimonials page. Many pilots, of all levels of experience, have downloaded our Apps. Read about their own experiences with the Jacobson Flare technique and the App.

Then download the COMPLETE Jacobson Flare app – for iOS. You’re already possibly paying $300+/hour to hire an aeroplane: You’ll recover the cost of the app, in just ONE LESS-NEEDED CIRCUIT. Moreover, you’ll have an invaluable reference tool, throughout your entire life in aviation.

Download the COMPLETE Jacobson Flare App for iOS devices now.

 

We invite you, also, to review our new, FREE companion app,

offering a convenient way of staying abreast of our latest blogs.

 

Download the Jacobson Flare NEWS App for iOS devices now.

You will appreciate the Jacobson Flare … when the penny drops

17.06.2023 , captain-david-jacobson

After more than 100 years, pilots are still being taught to land by guesswork. Triangles have been around a lot longer and work much better.

Since flight instruction started to become more formalised during and following World War One, pilots have pursued the consistently perfect landing. ‘What’ to do is generally understood; the ‘where’, ‘when’ and ‘how’ involved in landing an airplane has been far more elusive.

The conventional wisdom on landings has been that it just takes indefinite hours of practice to finally ‘get the hang of it‘. And many of us did get the hang of it – some faster than others. Many others didn’t and gave up, or were ‘scrubbed’ off a flying course.

Sadly, many have died in the process – and still do, to this day.

For those who did get to first solo and beyond: What then? How did you go on your next airplane type conversion? Or in a decent crosswind? Or at a different airfield? Or at night? The only conventional and honest answer is … ‘by trial and error and with difficulty’.

The Jacobson Flare technique is the quantifiable explanation of what pilots have been trying to achieve by repetition, feel and guesswork, with varying results, for over 100 years.

Apart from the simple and logical solutions to determining where to aim and how to aim (at an appropriate initial aim point on the runway), how much to flare and how fast to flare (i.e., the flare rate), the unique key to the Jacobson Flare is the eclipsing of a longitudinal flare point, short of the initial aim point by the airplane’s windscreen lower visual cut-off angle.

This flare cut-off point is easily derived for any fixed-wing airplane that flares for landing; it can even be applied to the autorotation manoeuvre in helicopters. The essential thing to understand is that while the flare is still commenced at the optimum flare height, that height is visually recognised by the flare cut-off point ahead, on the ground, which corresponds to that height.

Triangles have had 3 sides for a very long time and to this day and, historically, we only ever used 2 of them: the hypotenuse (slanting)  side represents the pilot’s eye path and the opposite(vertical) side represents the flare height.

The adjacent (horizontal) side was simply ignored. If the flight path angle had been drawn more accurately at around 3º, instead of the typical 25-30º, it would have been recognised that the adjacent side is approximately 20 times larger than the opposite side. This means that any vertical error, made in guessing flare height, compounds 20 times longitudinally along the runway, greatly increasing the landing footprint. Moreover, the vertical side is invisible to the pilot.


In contrast, using a longitudinal flare cut-off point in determining a visual fix means that any error made in assessing the flare cut-off point position, in relation the the initial aim point, is reflected by only 1/20th of that error, vertically, making the flare initiation point much more accurate.  Moreover, the flare point, not to mention the entire landing flare manoeuvre, is fully visible to the pilot and tolerant of error, making the Jacobson Flare eminently suitable for unmarked gravel and grass airstrips.

The flare point calculation is only made once, for each airplane type (or variant) and the technique actually self-compensates (geometrically) for variations in flight (approach) path angle, runway slope and landing flap angle. The vertical height illusions, encountered when landing on an un-familiar narrower or wider runway can be discounted with a consistent and fully visible, longitudinal flare cut-off point, rather than a conventional guess of flare height.

 

So triangles and their structure work much better than antiquated guesswork.

When the penny drops, your ‘aha moment‘ will make you smile and that’s when the value of the Jacobson Flare will be appreciated.

 

Wishing you many safe landings

 

Captain David M Jacobson FRAeS MAP

 

Would you care to experience that unsurpassed sense of accomplishment, derived from executing consistently beautiful landings, more often?

For starters, Download the FREE Jacobson Flare LITE, our no fuss/no frills introduction. Here we demonstrate, step by step, the application of the Jacobson Flare on a typical grass airstrip at Porepunkah, YPOK.

 

We invite you to browse the consistently positive comments on our Testimonials page. Many pilots, of all levels of experience, have downloaded our Apps. Read about their own experiences with the Jacobson Flare technique and the App.

Then download the COMPLETE Jacobson Flare app – for iOS. You’re already possibly paying $300+/hour to hire an aeroplane: You’ll recover the cost of the app, in just ONE LESS-NEEDED CIRCUIT. Moreover, you’ll have an invaluable reference tool, throughout your entire life in aviation.

Download the COMPLETE Jacobson Flare App for iOS devices now.

 

We invite you, also, to review our new, FREE companion app,

offering a convenient way of staying abreast of our latest blogs.

 

Download the Jacobson Flare NEWS App for iOS devices now.

CaptainDavid Jacobson 1999_2015

If thousands of experienced pilots told you that having just one, or even no flight crew member was crazy, why would anyone believe an aviation executive who said it wasn’t?

28.05.2023 , from-our-logbooks

If thousands of experienced pilots with millions of flying hours told you that having just one, or even no flight crew member was crazy, why would anyone believe an aviation executive who said it wasn’t?

Around the turn of the last century (known widely as ‘Y2K’), we used to joke of the flight crew of the future. The suggestion was that it consisted of one pilot and one dog: The ‘theory’ was that the Captain’s job was to feed the dog… And the dog’s job was to bite the Captain if he touched anything!

Many former and current professional pilots around the world are appalled at the recent discussion around someone’s pet idea to take this joke seriously and reduce the crew complement in airline flight decks to just one and inevitably, to zero human pilots.

Around Y2K, many computer-related disasters were anticipated, but they failed to materialise, for the most part.

However, if the aviation industry is stupid enough to consider a semi- or fully-autonomous flight deck, then, in my view, disasters will be commonplace. Why? Because the whole question of automation on the flight deck has been mishandled from the very beginning.

Computers make great monitors, but lousy pilots and humans make great pilots but less reliable monitors; and that is when we have a 2- or greater human crew complement. How will that turn out, with just one or less pilots on the flight deck?

Contributor David Hopkin, in ‘Human Factors in Aviation’, 1988, edited by Wiener and Nagle, wrote:

‘Human ineffectiveness in monitoring tasks must be reconciled with the requirements to keep and enhance high safety standards and to maintain the controller’s skills and active involvement.’

(dj NOTE: While this quote was directed towards automation in Air Traffic Control services, it is no less relevant for pilots.) 

Thomas B Sheridan wrote, in the same reference, above:

‘In assuming this new supervisory role, the pilot undertakes five functions:

  1. planning what to ask the computer to do;
  2. teaching (commanding, programming) the computer;
  3. monitoring its performance and detecting and diagnosing failures if they occur;
  4. intervening take over control directly if and when necessary and maintaining and repairing the semiautomatic systems; and
  5. learning from experience.’

 

David Nagel wrote, again in the same reference, above:

‘Finally, automation, which can have a very positive effect on both efficiency and safety, can also have a very depressing effect on safety. As pilots are removed from an active role in flying the aircraft, more and more that can only be termed “loss of situational awareness” are reported. These reports are particularly prominent when the automatic systems either fail to perform as expected or fail to perform at all.’

Well-known aviation veterans, including Captain Richard Champion De Crespigny and Captain Kevin Sullivan (both formerly with Qantas Airways Ltd) and Captain Chelsea ‘Sully’ Sullenberger have written extensively and authoritatively of their experiences with modern aviation technology in A380, A330 and A320 aircraft, respectively and have all sounded strong warnings following their personal leadership triumphs against very great odds. Their collective message is clear and I strongly endorse it.

Throughout an aviation career spanning 55 years and 24,500 hours (including nearly 5000 hrs as a flight instructor and embracing 40 years flying for Trans-Australia Airlines -TAA, Austalian Airlines Ltd and Qantas Airways Ltd, a pilot is bound to encounter some non-normal situations along the way. Licence renewal checks, conducted in modern and very sophisticated digital flight simulators offer fantastic, accelerated learning experiences for pilots at all levels, with zero safety risk to crews and airplanes.

However, unless a company flight training department – or an individual flight instructor/examiner – has some imagination, most exercises rely heavily on the manufacturer’s Quick Reference Handbook (QRH) and its unique and quite definitive Emergency and Non-Normal checklists for the airplane type.

Non-normal checklists don’t always cover the situation. The non-normal events that I experienced in F27, DC-9, B727 and B737 aircraft over that 40-year airline period, were more often than not either a combination of issues from more than one system, or an issue out of ‘left field’, that did not match, exactly, any non-normal checklist. The ability of pilots to think ‘outside the square’ is a definite advantage when, contrary to the nonsensical claims of the airplane manufacturers, partial, total and series of system failures do occur.

I can recall a pneumatic pressure regulator issue, double alternator failures (with resultant loss of engine and airframe de-icing systems in marginal, cold frontal icing conditions) and a nose-wheel tyre failure on landing, occurring successively in a single F27 night flight which we diverted into YMLT Launceston TAS rather than continue to YMHB Hobart. The second and third of these events were not covered by any published non-normal checklist.

I remember a trailing edge flap abnormality on a B737-400 where the flaps did extend to 5º as selected, BUT the flap gauge information was corrupted by a faulty sender. There was no published non-normal checklist for this event, either, so we had to consider and adopt the most suitable alternative, namely an assumed trailing-edge flaps up procedure with a consequential approach speed of 181 knots IAS into YPAD Adelaide SA.

 

The Automatics

On a B727 flight, the single autopilot ‘ALTITUDE HOLD’ function failed early into a 3-hour PER-MEL flight. Initially, my captain and I took 20-minute turns to hand-fly the heavy aircraft at 31,000ft, before experimenting, successfully, to engage MACH HOLD and then carefully monitoring and adjusting the thrust settings to maintain our assigned level (altitude) within limits!

The two autopilots on the B737-300/-400/ and -800 were, for the most part, quite accurate and reliable in general route flying and when executing precision instrument approaches. However, in 15,000 hrs on the B737, I never once experienced an automatic landing that was as good as the performance of a human pilot – especially if that pilot was applying the Jacobson Flare! These autolands were clumsy, to say the least, with the touchdown point quite haphazard in terms of their consistency of touchdown position and impact. Some even had to be aborted and a manual landing executed to prevent a mis-landing incident or accident.

 

The Human Element

During my 40 years of airline flying, there were many reported instances of flight crew incapacitation – we were trained for it. It happens. One B727 captain suffered a burst stomach ulcer and the first officer and flight engineer assumed command of the aircraft.

I experienced one such event when my first officer suffered a severe bout of food poisoning, half-way through a 4-hour MEL-PER flight. I completed the decent, approach and landing with a highly experienced cabin crew member as an assistant, to read checklists and monitor my responses against the many configuration changes. She also contributed greatly to our successful ground taxy in to the YPPH terminal.

The bottom line for me and for countless numbers of other professionals is that a fully trained, professional flight crew complement of 2- or more human pilots is indispensable.

So, to the decision makers:

If thousands of experienced pilots with millions of flying hours told you that having just ONE, or even NO crew member was crazy, why would anyone believe an aviation executive who said it wasn’t?

Ignoring pre-existing airline risk and threat assessment and management training for a minimal, perceived saving in flight crew costs just doesn’t bear comparison with the very probable loss of an airliner, its human loss and financial aftermath.

So why do it?

 

References:

  • ‘Human Factors in Aviation’, 1988, Edited by Earl L.Wiener and David C. Nagle
  • www.jacobsonflare.com

 

Wishing you many safe landings

 

Captain David M Jacobson FRAeS MAP

 

Would you care to experience that unsurpassed sense of accomplishment, derived from executing consistently beautiful landings, more often?

For starters, Download the FREE Jacobson Flare LITE, our no fuss/no frills introduction. Here we demonstrate, step by step, the application of the Jacobson Flare on a typical grass airstrip at Porepunkah, YPOK.

 

We invite you to browse the consistently positive comments on our Testimonials page. Many pilots, of all levels of experience, have downloaded our Apps. Read about their own experiences with the Jacobson Flare technique and the App.

Then download the COMPLETE Jacobson Flare app – for iOS. You’re already possibly paying $300+/hour to hire an aeroplane: You’ll recover the cost of the app, in just ONE LESS-NEEDED CIRCUIT. Moreover, you’ll have an invaluable reference tool, throughout your entire life in aviation.

Download the COMPLETE Jacobson Flare App for iOS devices now.

 

We invite you, also, to review our new, FREE companion app,

offering a convenient way of staying abreast of our latest blogs.

 

Download the Jacobson Flare NEWS App for iOS devices now.

The Jacobson Flare NEWS App – Bug resolved

12.05.2023 , captain-david-jacobson

To our valued Jacobson Flare NEWS App subscribers:

We became aware of a bug affecting the operation of the News App: It has now been resolved and we apologise for any inconvenience.

 

For future reference, all the articles in the JF NEWS App can always be accessed via the Blogs tab on www.jacobsonflare.com .

 

Wishing you many safe landings

 

Captain David M Jacobson FRAeS MAP

 

Would you care to experience that unsurpassed sense of accomplishment, derived from executing consistently beautiful landings, more often?

For starters, Download the FREE Jacobson Flare LITE, our no fuss/no frills introduction. Here we demonstrate, step by step, the application of the Jacobson Flare on a typical grass airstrip at Porepunkah, YPOK.

 

We invite you to browse the consistently positive comments on our Testimonials page. Many pilots, of all levels of experience, have downloaded our Apps. Read about their own experiences with the Jacobson Flare technique and the App.

Then download the COMPLETE Jacobson Flare app – for iOS. You’re already possibly paying $300+/hour to hire an aeroplane: You’ll recover the cost of the app, in just ONE LESS-NEEDED CIRCUIT. Moreover, you’ll have an invaluable reference tool, throughout your entire life in aviation.

Download the COMPLETE Jacobson Flare App for iOS devices now.

 

We invite you, also, to review our new, FREE companion app,

offering a convenient way of staying abreast of our latest blogs.

 

Download the Jacobson Flare NEWS App for iOS devices now.