Touch & Go

January 12, 2014

A touch-and-go is simply when an airplane touches down on the runway for a few seconds, speeds up and takes off again. Touch-and-gos are an efficient way to learn how to land (or abort a landing) because you can do them one after another. Once I did nine in about 90 minutes.

Good landings take a lot of practice because you have to learn to adapt to varying wind conditions. Landing is easiest when the wind is coming from directly in front, so that air is flowing faster over and under the wings, thus increasing airspeed and creating lift. (Airspeed means the speed of the air flowing over the wings, not the speed of the airplane moving over the ground, which is ground speed.) More lift allows ground speed to slow without stalling, so that the plane can touch down more gently. (Flaps, which change the shape of the wing, are used to increase lift while landing.) A pilot would never choose to land with a tailwind because the lack of lift would make for a hard touchdown. Conversely, a really strong headwind can keep a small plane aloft at almost-zero ground speed. See videos here and here.

Airports with multiple runways will usually use the runway that is most pointed into the wind, but often this is not enough and pilots have to deal with a crosswind. Crosswinds can be extremely tricky. In a strong crosswind you have to use everything: your hands, your feet, your eyes, your brain and your experience all at once.

Taking Off

There is a lot of jargon in flying. Communications have to be short and business-like because there is so much radio traffic and the action is so fast that otherwise everyone would be overwhelmed. When I’m ready to take off, the exchange with the control tower might go something like this:

Me: Ventura 5 (or more officially, Five One Five Victor Tango, reflecting the plane’s tail number N515VT), ready for taxi with information Alpha. Request touch-and-gos.  [I am requesting VFR or Visual Flight Rules clearance, and I am aware of the latest weather report.]

Tower: Ventura 5, cleared to taxi to Runway 1 via Bravo. Touch-and-gos on request. [They are directing me to Runway 1 via the Bravo access point.]

Me: Ventura 5, holding short Runway 1 at Bravo, ready for takeoff. [I am “on deck,” waiting for takeoff clearance.]

Tower: Ventura 5, cleared for takeoff. Make left traffic. Touch-and-gos approved. [They are telling me to turn left after takeoff, and that they know I will be looping back to practice touch-and-gos.]

We then taxi out onto the runway and line up with the center line. At this point, we have done all our pre-flight checks and the plane is ready to go. I push the throttle to full power and when airspeed has reached a minimum of 60 knots (“rotation” speed), I pull back on the yoke gently. Yanking back too hard is dangerous because when airspeed is low, pitching upward abruptly can cause a stall. The non-intuitive rule to remember is “pitch controls airspeed and power controls altitude.”  Full power is needed to achieve the maximum rate of climb. Piper Warriors climb most efficiently at an airspeed of 80 knots. This speed should be maintained using the pitch controls, not the throttle.

Traffic Pattern
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Knowing how to fly in a traffic pattern is just as important as knowing how to land. (Below is a diagram of an airport traffic pattern.) Traffic pattern altitude is usually 1000 feet AGL (above ground level). Once an airplane has entered a traffic pattern, the pilot has to correct for wind direction and speed. If you don’t pay attention, it’s easy to drift off course due to the wind.

If the pattern is very busy, air traffic controllers can direct pilots to fly extended downwind legs or sometimes to abort landings (a “go-around”). This means that the pilot has to re-enter the traffic pattern and go around again. The tower will often direct a pilot to “follow” another plane. This means visually spotting the other aircraft and following it – sometimes difficult when there is glare or visibility is not good.

As the plane climbs during the “upwind leg” (into the wind), I start my first 90-degree turn to the left as we reach approximately 700 feet AGL. This puts us onto the “crosswind leg,” perpendicular to the runway. At 1000 feet AGL I reduce power to 2000 RPM and turn left again, onto the “downwind leg,” the longest leg in the traffic pattern, now flying parallel to the runway going in the opposite direction from takeoff. Sometimes it’s hard to judge the distance from the runway. My instructor Steve gave me a great visual aid: when the tip of the wing is “slicing through the runway” with the plane at 1000 feet AGL, we are at the perfect distance from the runway.

Touching and Going

When the tower instructs me to “turn base,” I reduce power to about 1500 RPM and start a shallow left-banking descent onto the “base” leg, perpendicular to the runway again. This is a short leg, and finally I turn left yet again, onto the “final approach.” At this point it’s important to get a sense of wind speed and direction, and to coordinate the rudder and ailerons (foot pedals and yoke) to line the plane up with the runway center line. The tower says, “Ventura 5, cleared touch-and-go, make left traffic.” I repeat back the instruction and extend flaps to 40 degrees, causing the plane to slow even further. I pick a spot on the runway that I want to land on, and using a combination of pitch and power, guide the plane downward. In the last stage of the landing, with the throttle off completely, my mental picture is to “fly the plane down the runway” for as long as possible, just a few feet off the ground, eventually flaring the nose (pitching up slightly) and letting the aircraft glide gently to a touchdown.

After the wheels have been on the ground for just a couple of seconds, I retract the flaps, go to full power, take off, and fly the pattern again.

I divide landing procedures into “Always Do” and “Never Do”:  Always have clear in your head the instructions from the tower; always be situationally aware; always match speed, pitch and flaps to the task at hand; and always be prepared to go around if necessary; never move the yoke or other controls sharply or abruptly; never bank more than 30 degrees while in a traffic pattern (risk of stall at low altitude); and never extend flaps above a certain speed (risk of excessive stress on the airframe).

Touch-and-gos are a great way to build “muscle memory” so that landings become routine and predictable.

– Garrett C.