So I was pretty disappointed in my spot landing skills. It really weighed on me and I couldn’t get it out of my head. I needed to prove to myself that I actually can do them consistently.

I knew my problem was that I was coming in with way too much energy to bleed off in ground effect. So I pulled out the ‘ol POH and looked up the suggested approach speed. It turns out I absolutely was coming in too hot. The book approach speed is 70 knots. I typically come in over the threshold at around 80 knots. That extra 10 knots equals a bunch of extra energy. I attribute this to all the instrument training over the past year. I typically fly a 90 knot approach profile. This means that I’m coming down the glideslope at 90 knots with no flaps and gear down. When I break out, I pull the power back and dump the flaps to slow down as much as possible on short final. The issue here is that the Deb doesn’t slow down quickly, so when you are practicing to minimums, you are 200 feet above the ground and over the fence when you start to slow down. This results in floating over the threshold at 80 knots. My brain has gotten very used to that sight picture, the feel of the controls, and general speed coming in. So to slow it down to 70 knots was a challenge and, at first, felt very very wrong.

In this episode of the VLOG, I did 1.5 hours of flying and a total of 11 full stop landings. I focused on nailing my approach speed of 70 knots over the fence and really retraining my brain to normalize the mushier feel of the controls and the change in general sensations and sight picture. I also have an Angle of Attack (AoA) indicator, and I used that to help dial in and validate the book speed. It was uncomfortable at first, but I eventually got used to it.

Most importantly, I proved to myself that I can consistently make my spot landings happen, AND that the book speed is accurate. (Those Beechcraft engineers apparently knew what they were doing.)

The Video