we’ve-always-done-it-this-way

‘We’ve always done it this way! … What’s wrong with that?’

‘We’ve always done it this way … What’s wrong with that?’

The ‘Law of Primacy’ in education is very powerful:  What we are first taught on any given subject often creates a strong, almost unshakable impression. We believe it, implicitly. Perhaps that’s why generations of flight instructors have resisted looking at landings in other way than the 100-year-old ‘conventional wisdom’: that pilots develop landing judgment and proficiency only by ultimately ‘getting the hang of it’, though repetition and practice. And again and again, on every subsequent aircraft conversion.

This is time-consuming and can be unnecessarily stressful and very expensive – for the student – and for the operator, in terms of wear and tear and damage to aircraft.

30 hours to first solo is not unusual. It is, however, unnecessary and quite harmful to a pilot’s confidence. If this sounds familiar, please read on.

When the elements of this ‘conventional wisdom’ are examined, they don’t stack up very well:

What’s wrong with conventional methods?

Simply stated,

• Triangles have had 3 sides for a very long time.
• We only ever used 2 of them – the hypotenuse for the pilot’s eye path (correct) – and the opposite side to guess the flare height for each type (highly inconsistent and mathematically flawed).
• The opposite side (flare height) is invisible to the pilot (forgetting radio altitude call-outs); the conventional wisdom is to develop landing judgment by repetition and trial and error; this height changes with every aircraft conversion.
• Because the final approach flight path angle (FPA) is exaggerated in books and manuals and all training aids and depicted at around 25-30°– instead of the normal 3° – the actual FPA has been masked; 3° is near enough to a 1:20 gradient, a very flat gradient. The significance of this exaggeration is crucial:
• It means that every vertical error in flare height judgment or control compounds, one way or the other along the runway, by 20 times  that vertical error.
• Until the Jacobson Flare, no-one thought of using the 3rd side of the triangle: the adjacent side.
• This is the runway centreline – effectively, a calibrated ruler (consistent centreline markings) and fully visible to the pilot (under most conditions and where not, options are available).
• A visual fix (based on the RAF 617 Sqn ‘Dambusters’ operation of 1943) becomes available, using a ‘flare cut-off point’ on the runway centreline, short of the initial aim point, to identify the flare point, rather than a haphazard guess of flare height.
• Any longitudinal error is reflected as only 1/20th, as a vertical error, making the technique extremely tolerant for use on grass and gravel airstrips, (without any central line calibration).
• The Jacobson Flare addresses all aspects of the approach and landing, including where to aim; how to aim; the key difference – the use of a visual fix to identify the flare point, rather than a haphazard guess of flare height; how much to flare; and how fast to flare.

 

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.

“We’ve always done it this way!” Why? (Continued)

“We’ve always done it this way!” Why? (Continued)

In part 1 of ‘We’ve always done it this way, (7 June 2016), I noted that EVERYTHING in aviation has progressed over the last 100 years –  except training technique for the manual landing flare manoeuvre.

I am often asked why I thought it necessary to ‘bother’ with trying to turn the landing into a ‘science’, when most pilots have been indoctrinated to believe it to be an ‘art’.

For a start, I regard the landing as a SKILL, not a science. But to explore this a little more, I was drawn to looking at how the rest of the flight training syllabus has been taught, historically.

I am indebted to the School for Social Entrepreneurs Australia for the succinct ‘Change as a Learning Process’, referenced from their ‘INTRODUCTION TO ACTIVE LEARNING’ participant workbook (page 3, v.2.0 2015):

Clear distinctions are drawn here, between head- and heart-based learning processes.

It is well understood that pilot training is generally based on head-based learning, however there is a ‘stand-out’ exception.

Since the earliest days of aviation, head-based or technically definable training processes have been applied to just about all flight training sequences, but not the landing manoeuvre.

It is fascinating to note how the most precise manoeuvre that most pilots have to master, has been relegated to esoteric expressions such as, “about here”, about now”, and getting the ‘hang’ or the ’sight picture’ or the ‘feel’ of it.

That is why the Jacobson Flare was developed, in 1987. Without a technically factual explanation, pilots have had no hope of predictable, consistent and universally quantifiable landings. The proven and potential cost savings in training time and competency at all levels, wear and tear on pilot and machine and airport runway occupancy times are immense.

Isn’t it about time that the industry re-considered the statement, “We’ve always done it this way”?

IF you are seeking some fresh information on landing issues, different from the non-quantifiable and inconsistent results you may have experienced;

IF perhaps you’ve now realised by now that you were never actually taught HOW to land, but just WHAT to do, when landing;

IF you have always felt that there had to be a better way to teach, to understand and to learn HOW to land an airplane, WITHOUT having to ‘getting the hang of it’, on every successive airplane conversion: THEN …

You are invited to view the wealth of information on this website: 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.

“We’ve always done it this way!” isn’t an explanation

“We’ve always done it this way!” isn’t an explanation.

We don’t start aero engines as we did, back in 1918 – by hand. In fact EVERYTHING in aviation has progressed since then – EXCEPT training technique for the manual landing flare manoeuvre. It’s still taught by trial and error. Many pilots remain underconfident and those who are confident still cannot describe HOW they land. ‘You just get the hang of it!’, ‘Cross my fingers’ or ‘Stuffed if I know!’ are very common responses.

The most dangerous phrase in the language is ‘WE’VE ALWAYS DONE IT THIS WAY!’

In 1987, I developed the world’s first and only universal, quantifiable and consistent approach and landing training technique – a solution to a problem that is not even acknowledged or understood by the aviation industry, TO THIS DAY. Unfortunately, even for such an innovative company, the Cirrus Landing Standardization Course fails to offer any fresh enlightenment, from what has been taught, historically. The silence around the subject of the flare is deafening. Check any manual or textbook.

Then ask your instructor about the Jacobson Flare: You’ll see what I mean, when most either haven’t heard of it, or haven’t ever tried to understand it. Those many instructors who have understood the problems of landing training have had no trouble embracing the Jacobson Flare themselves and introducing it to their students at any level.

The sole basis of my life’s work on this project has been consistent: to IMPROVE FLIGHT SAFETY.

Briefly, conventional techniques require a critical, visual estimation of vertical height to commence the flare. This estimation is subject to many errors and these vertical errors compound 20 times one way, or the other, longitudinally, on the runway. The surface of the airstrip (grass or gravel) or the centreline of a sealed runway is utilised to take advantage of a simple visual fix for the flare point. This creates a flare point which is visible (instead of a guess), tolerant of error (any longitudinal error diminishes 20 times, vertically) and consistent in its results. The technique is easily transferred to, and has been proven by many pilots on, a wide range of aircraft types, from sailplanes to the A380.

If you are seeking some fresh information on landing issues, different from the unquantifiable and inconsistent results you may have experienced;

If perhaps you’ve realised by now that you were never actually taught HOW to land, but just WHAT to do;

If you have always felt that there had to be a better way to teach, to understand and to learn HOW to land an airplane, WITHOUT having to ‘getting the hang of it’, on every successive airplane conversion; THEN:

Please view the wealth of information on this website: 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.

Are others having ‘fun’ with your landings: at your expense?

Are others having more ‘fun’ with your landings than you are? At your expense, figuratively and literally! Are you frustrated, trying to get the ‘hang’ of it?

None of your landing issues are new and they are certainly NOT your fault; the problem is that the world of aviation has been recycling the same ideas about landing training for 100 years, without really offering anything more than trial and error and repetition, ‘explained’ badly through cliches and bad jokes. We just get the ‘hang’ of it; and then we have to get the hang of it again and again and again, perhaps through an entire career. One of my earlier B727 captains described one of my landings – back in 1977 (pre- Jacobson Flare, I might add) – as “like an older person trying to be graceful, but ultimately losing control and dropping clumsily, int0 a bath!” That hurt!

‘Circuits and bumps’? Since the end of World War One, flight instructors have made little attempt to do better than telling students what they, themselves, do; and each one has their way of relating the story; and that’s why you have had a different story from every instructor. There has been no comprehensive landing system – until 1987.

We all know WHAT we are trying to achieve; it’s the HOW that has been so elusive.

Until 1987, there had never been a universal, quantifiable and consistently reliable approach and landing training technique. In order to land any airplane consistently well, we must know the answers to five important, yet simple, questions:

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

Let me ask: ‘Have you ever seen a book or article, or heard an instructor explain, factually (without mumbo jumbo or smoke and mirrors), the answer to even ONE of these questions? No?

Neither had I, from 1965 as a 17-yo student pilot until 1985, when I questioned conventional wisdom and dared to challenge the status quo. It was worth the effort and the resistance; because now the Jacobson Flare app answers each of those 5 questions – and many more – in fact EVERY question you’ve ever had, regarding landings.

 

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.