What happens when you don’t use enough elevator trim during approach and landing.

Robert, a long time Cirrus owner-pilot began refresher training today with hopes of improving what his wife says are his “abysmal landings”. His first attempt at greasing one resulted in what we instructors affectionately call a flawless ‘aircraft carrier’ landing, also known as a ‘three-pointer’.

After clearing the runway I pointed to the trim line on his yoke shaft and informed him that he landed with quite a bit of forward trim. I told him it should be close to the T.O. line after landing with flaps set at 100%. He was instructed to trim more ‘nose up’ during the next approach and landing.

After turning final I coached him to trim all the way to round out constantly checking by releasing his grip on the yoke to maintain neutral trim. He was also instructed to check the trim line after each landing to confirm sufficient trim was set.

As you can probably guess, Robert lost his ‘wings of gold’ by greasing the next landing with a ‘two pointer’ and then went on to nail several others after that. Great job Robert—hopefully your wife will approve! 👏👍💪

Knowledge = Safety

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