captain-david-jacobson

The Jacobson Flare rounds-up the loose ends

Whenever the subject of landings is discussed, the expression ‘can of worms‘ often comes into the discussion. It’s a term that loosely refers to the multitude of variable factors at play, when an approach and landing is executed. It attempts, also, to describe the challenge, the frustration and seeming impossibility to understand and to constrain these factors with consistency. A key issue is that these factors vary, individually and collectively and they present with different emphasis, on each and every single landing.

 

 

For over 100 years pilots have attempted to react and respond to each ‘worm‘, as it appears and this only adds to the dilemma. An old saying goes, “when you’re up to your ass in alligators, it’s sometimes really difficult to remember that your initial aim was to drain the swamp!” Conventionally, we just keep attempting to correct our own corrections, as we stumble towards the landing, which takes only 5-6 seconds and the landing cannot be adequately mastered in 5-6 sec repetitive ‘grabs’, during a session of circuits.

And therein lies the main problem: we forgot that initial aim: ‘to drain the swamp’, or to relate back to the landing, we forgot – at least until 1985 – to research and to define the main common denominator to all landings, namely the pilot’s eye path. By understanding and then flying this predictable eye path, we can all fly a consistent and stable approach and landing in any airplane. The ‘worms‘ are still present, BUT they are ALL taken into account, without you needing to wrestle with them, one by one. They are still present, but they are constrained.

When a pilot can fully understand:

1. Where to aim, then we have a definite initial target for our eye path – aim point 1.;
2. How to aim, then we can fly a consistent eye path to that initial aim point. The approach path angle, aircraft attitude and the cockpit lower visual cut-off angle (the lowest angle you can see over the nose, ignoring any visible engine cowling) and airspeed become very much more stable, with minimal corrections required; You won’t get high and fast, or low and slow and have to make big corrections.
3. When to flare, based on a visual fix – NOT a guess of height, then the flare point becomes consistent;
4. How much to flare, by the selection an additional aim point 2, related to the runway slope (level or not), together with:
5. How fast to flare, then the classic, long-sought after exponential curved flare manoeuvre can be executed, consistently well, achieving a perfect touchdown on or just beyond the original aim point 1.

These 5 elements combine to present the Jacobson Flare as a complete approach and landing training technique for ALL fixed-wing airplanes that are flared for landing and the variables are accounted for.

Compare this with conventional techniques, where pilots are often pitching up and down chasing airspeed; and then having to make coarse throttle adjustments, in the mistaken belief that this will control the rate of descent and, therefore the path angle. These are very second-rate methods that hark back to the earliest days of aviation and they have remained unchallenged since World War 1, except for the Jacobson Flare. If they were ever valid, they are most certainly not, now, when every other subject and manoeuvre in the flight training syllabus is defined, precisely.

At an approach ground speed of, say 80 kts, a 2nm approach from 600ft will occupy just 90 seconds, with the flare itself, adding a further 5-6 seconds. That’s not a long time, each time, to ‘get the hang of it’.

It is just not possible to understand the approach and landing manoeuvres through the classic, repetitive pre- and post-flight briefings, together with 5-6 sec repetitive ‘grabs’, during a session of circuits.

The worlds’ textbooks, training manuals and YouTube clips remain silent on HOW to Land a Plane, because they are still trying to contain these ‘worms‘, while The Jacobson Flare has rounded-up ALL of the loose ends, since 1985. 

 

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.

Planning the final-approach commences at the end of it … NOT the start!

Planning the final-approach commences at the end of it…

From the time that a student pilot ‘escapes‘ the familiar bounds of the circuit area of his or her ‘home‘ airfield, a new challenge (among many others) is to understand how to plan the re-entry to the circuit, either at ‘home‘, again, or at a new an unfamiliar airfield, when starting to venture ‘cross-country‘. No two airfields are alike, for many reasons.

The generally-standard circuit entry tracking and altimetry procedures for both ATC-controlled and uncontrolled airfields and aerodromes are well documented by aviation authorities’ publications: But what about the considerations applying to the   re-configuring of the airplane with landing gear and flaps and the finer points of airspeed control? Has your flight instructor offered any advice, or referred you to a written explanation?

Have you ever been made aware of a universal technique – one that can be applied in any situation: Whether VFR or IFR? Small airplane or large? High performance or not? Many pilots haven’t and resort to just ‘winging it‘ (no pun intended) on each and every approach. That makes it hard to be safe, efficient and graceful.

There is such a simple and well-proven technique; however, interestingly, the planning starts at the END of the approach … NOT the start. It may prove quite helpful before and, perhaps, even after you gain further flying experience. We approach airfields in 3-dimensions, so why not add altitude into the mix?

For EVERY approach, in ANY airplane, the simple key is to decide on a ‘Height above (runway)threshold‘ (elevation) – (HAT), by which the airplane should be fully re-configured for landing, and fully stable: That is, established on the runway centreline, on a standard 3º approach path angle – to the correct visual aim point for the subject airplane – and stabilised on the correct approach airspeed (Vapp). This ideal condition is often referred, colloquially, as being established ‘in the slot‘.

(Note: Vapp is based on Vref for the landing weight and landing flap setting, plus additives for variations in airfield elevation, ambient temperature and wind velocity. In turn, Vref is based on 1.3-times the stall speed for that landing weight and landing flap setting.)

This height will vary for each airplane size, weight and approach speed. For example, many airlines use 1000ft HAT, when in instrument meteorological conditions (IMC) and 500ft HAT, for visual meteorological conditions (VMC). Furthermore, the pilot not flying (PNF) makes the standard call, “1000 STABLE” or “500 STABLE“, as appropriate, or “500 GO-AROUND“, if the approach is assessed as unstable and, therefore, unsafe to continue the approach.

For much smaller RA and GA aircraft, figures of, say 300ft HAT (VMC) and 800 or 1000ft (IMC) may be considered suitable.

The point is, that this HAT becomes the basis of the approach sequencing, BACK from which the pilot computes when to make each successive flap and landing gear selection and reduce airspeed accordingly, until finally configured and stable by the selected HAT.

The following example illustrates the technique:

My former employer, Qantas Airways Ltd had a standard operating procedure (SOP), among many, that stipulated 500ft HAT (VMC) and 1000ft HAT (IMC) as the target height at which the aircraft had to be stabilised, with landing gear extended, flaps 30º or 40º (whichever was decided) and stabilised ‘in the slot‘ and on the selected approach speed. In the interests of simplicity – and safety, to avoid making a rushed approach, it was my practice to assume 1000ft HAT for all landings.

Now, in order to allow time for the flaps to run from 25º to 30º or 40º and for the airspeed to reduce and to stabilise on VApp, it was appropriate to select flaps 30º or 40º at 1200ft HAT. Experience on type proved that 500ft height intervals between the successive configuration changes were ideal. Working backwards up the approach, shows how the sequence plan is unfolded.

Note: It can be seen that the ‘end of descent‘ was located, nominally, at approximately 13nm from the runway threshold, at 3700ft, at Vref 40º +70 KIAS, at which point the first selection to Flaps 1º and Vref 40º +50 KIAS could be made, to be stabilised at 3500ft and so on.

It should be noted, also, that the technique is not restricted to straight-in approaches. A further advantage offered by the 500ft stepped configuration changes technique is that it lends itself readily to ‘bending‘ around a circuit or instrument approach procedure. 

                       

Similar flap extension schedules can be developed for other airplane types. Here’s an example for the Cirrus SR 22:

                                            

There are major benefits of this HAT-sequencing technique. The first is that it can be tailored to any airfield, simply by adding the runway threshold elevation to the preferred HAT figures. (If the runway threshold elevation was, say 430ft AMSL, then that figure could be rounded to 500ft and added to each ‘gate‘. So, in the Cirrus SR 22 example, above, flaps 50%/16º would be selected at 1500ft QNH, with the airplane stabilised at 85-90 KIAS by 1300ft QNH.  Then, flaps 100%/32º would be selected at 1000ft QNH and stabilised at 80-85KIAS by 8ooft QNH.

This intelligent technique can be applied to both a straight-in approach situation, or ‘bent‘ around the  applicable legs of a circuit. A further benefit is a smooth and stable re-configuring schedule that is comfortable for fare-paying passengers (remember them?) and un-hurried in its execution, improving flight safety, in the process. Finally, the 500ft intervals in the sequence provide some predictable ‘space‘, to re-assess, to execute landing checklists and to receive, consider and respond to radio calls.

May we suggest that you consider the above in reference to your airplane and then give it a go: It works.

 

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.

“I’ve just lost my treasured aviation job: What do I do, now?”

“I’ve just lost my treasured aviation job: What do I do, now?”

Happy New Year 2021 to all of our friends and supporters around the world.

Thanks to the current and unrelenting Covid-19 pandemic, the world is witnessing unprecedented restrictions and shutdowns in trade, industry, commerce, education and transport, to name a select few. Aviation, particularly, has been hit hard. 20/20 hindsight has taken on a whole new meaning!

Airlines have stood-down entire fleets of old and new international and domestic jet transports, such as the A380, A350, B747 and B787 and positioned them in desert airports; Loyal, long-term staff, in many categories, including senior aircrew, have been stood-down; some have even been offered voluntary and forced redundancy packages. Fleets of training aircraft stand idle.

Some airlines and many general aviation companies, such as flying schools, have been forced into administration for various reasons. Many pilots have, for the first time, found themselves considering temporary and permanent re-employment and re-training alternatives to their cherished first choice: flying. And this hurts, badly, because a professional pilot does not regard flying so much as work, but as sheer joy. The trick is to find as secure a suitable and satisfying position as possible and then embrace it, fully.

We hope, sincerely, that all who wish to may find new positions in their chosen career, by reducing to turbulence penetration speed, tightening your seat belts and riding out the rough air. This will never be just a ‘storm in a teacup‘, but it will pass.

Nevertheless, it’s always tough when this stuff occurs and I wish to offer some reassurance that, sooner or later, other doors will open for you; the professionalism, knowledge and skills that you have honed will not be wasted. Over my 55 years in the industry, when things like this have occurred, I cannot recall anyone, who was totally dedicated to the profession, failing to secure a new position, better than the last and, hopefully, in no time at all. I wish everyone success for the future.

The airline scene and flight training will open up again and when it does, there will be many gaps to fill – perhaps more than ever before. Utilise this opportune time to upgrade your ATPL theory subjects and any other related qualification; apply everywhere that is of interest to you and update those applications: every 100 hours, every specialist rating or renewal, every airplane type endorsement, gas turbine theory, (almost to what you received at Christmas and what you had for lunch yesterday!), etc, etc. Add further value to your C.V. It won’t be wasted. Any excuse to make some clerk, somewhere, re-open and update your application file and maybe remark, to someone important, “Gee, this one is really keen”: They’ll get so sick of hearing from you, they’ll offer you a job! (It worked for me, back in 1969!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

May I commend some further reading: the blogs, https://www.jacobsonflare.com/from-our-logbooks/the-best-advice-i-was-ever-offered-by-the-best-pilot-i-ever-flew-with-captain-geoffrey-w-lushey-dfm-7-july-2020/ and

https://www.jacobsonflare.com/from-our-logbooks/just-sayings-building-pilots-resilience-in-aviation-august-16-2020/

In the meantime, understand that it doesn’t matter so much when something goes wrong: What matters is what you do about it.

Don’t wait for ’someone’ to fix it. Australia’s famous AFL champion, Ron Barassi once said, “There are 3 kinds of people in this world:

1. Those who make things happen;

2. Those who watch things happen; and

3. Those who ‘blink’ a couple of times and say, ‘What happened?’ ”

Take whatever steps you see fit, to take command of your own destiny, as soon as possible. That’s how you will survive this regrettable situation and fly further, faster and higher than ever.

For what it’s worth, it’s how I survived such events (and there were several), in my career.

 

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 was to be standardised at Soar Aviation, but …

The Jacobson Flare was to be standardised at Soar Aviation, but …

Following on from our last post, Generation Next, which highlighted a group of young aviators, comes another exciting story with amazing potential for Australian Aviation. This one focuses on a special group of dedicated flight instructors, open-minded, honest and totally professional who are already improving the shape of future aviation training.

On 15-16 December 2020, a total of 7 additional (9 in all) senior Flight Instructor/managers, at Soar Aviation’s YMMB (Moorabbin, Melbourne VIC) campus, demonstrated and subsequently were certified as proficient at applying and instructing the Jacobson Flare.

This completed another key phase in the implementation of the Jacobson Flare as the standard approach and landing training technique, at Soar. It follows initial mass briefings at Moorabbin, detailed Zoom briefings to both the Melbourne- and Sydney-based flight instructing staff, a comprehensive ‘App-open’ theory assessment of knowledge and thorough development of pre-flight briefing material, to be shared with Box Hill Institute in their joint collaboration. One pilot was honest enough to explain that, initially, he was a sceptic of the Jacobson Flare (as was I, when I first thought of it!); but now, he is a convert.

However, an additional, unplanned and unexpected aspect of the assessment occurred:

I was simply blown away by the highest levels of professionalism, conscientiousness, enthusiasm, competence, confidence and mature temperament, demonstrated by every single pilot with whom I had the privilege to fly. From weight and balance computations, walkaround inspections, fuel management, use of checklists and standard operating procedures (SOPs), passenger and take-off briefings, right through EVERY aspect of the conduct of each and every flight, these young, yet experienced pilots demonstrated the highest levels of that intangible quality, Airmanship. Nothing whatsoever was overlooked, ignored or neglected. They are a credit to themselves and their organisation.

It was really gratifying to be able to take a glimpse into the future of Soar Aviation … and it was looking good.

* BUT … a further, unexpected aspect then occurred:

Regrettably, Soar Aviation was put into administration on 29 December 2020, according to notices published by the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC).

The Jacobson Flare Pty Ltd expresses its sadness in learning of these unfortunate developments. No-one wants to hear of aviation companies failing, at any time, but this has happened at a time when Australia was coming out the Covid lockdowns, that were endured during 2020.

The Jacobson Flare Pty Ltd never received payment from the Management of Soar Aviation for the training provided – no doubt, just one of a long line of creditors.

However, the positive to come out of this is that this group of professional instructors is qualified to take the Jacobson Flare with them, into their future endeavours, their every next airplane and for the benefit of their future  students. We wish them every success, in the future.

In addition, an old friend, China Southern WA Flying College, entered liquidation on 21 December 2020. Back in 1999, this college HALVED its courses’ average flying times to first solo, following their introduction of the Jacobson Flare, as their standard approach and landing training technique.

The official, original statistics from that time are available, on request, to info@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.

Uh-oh! – This runway is nothing like I imagined, at all…

Uh-oh! – This runway is nothing like I imagined, at all…

You’ve just learned to fly and proudly earned your PPL or CPL. Your home airfield was wide and flat : ‘Aren’t they all?’ Well, actually, not necessarily. The main runways may have been  30m, 45m or even 60m wide, sealed and painted with centreline and other markings : or, perhaps, the sealed runway(s) were narrower at 18m, or were just airstrips with gravel or grass landing surfaces.

Sooner or later, you will fly to an airfield with varying characteristics and you’ll notice some marked differences. For starters, the airfield elevation may or may not be close to Mean Sea Level, which will affect airplane performance. It may be in a closely built-up, highly populated city or it may lie in a regional area, with plenty of open space surrounding; or in a desert or high country area.

The runways (or airstrips) could differ markedly from your home airfield and may be more uphill / downhill / undulating / longer / shorter / narrower / wider / sealed / unsealed / lighter-coloured / darker-coloured than the ones you are used to. And, from my observations of many years, they can be quite confusing to deal with, for pilots at any level of experience.

These variations are a fact of life and must be accommodated, despite some very real  visual illusions that can and do occur when approaching to land – especially at night. Up-/down-sloping runways need earlier/later flare commencement points, respectively, (exactly the same issues as  approaching at too high/too low an approach path angle).

Runways that are wider/narrower than those familiar to us cause height illusions that can cause pilots to flare too early/too late, respectively.

Even landing with a lesser or greater flap angle can affect pilot judgment, due to the different  airplane body angle. In larger aircraft, this becomes significant, due to the greater change in the height relationship between the pilots’ eye position and the relatively well-aft main landing gear.

All of these issues are well-documented, but the conventional solutions are varied and widely left to pilot judgment and experience. This situation has never been good enough, because  inconsistent judgment distracts and distorts from the main task: flying a precise visual eye path approach to a defined aiming point, suitably determined to suit the airplane size.

The Jacobson Flare explains how all of these issues are geometrically self-compensated, most of them automatically, just by using our innovative longitudinal flare initiation point, rather than a conventional educated ‘guess’ of flare height. It’s that simple.

 

 

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.