Landing an aircraft is often described as a blend of precision, practice, and intuition—yet even seasoned pilots can fall victim to common landing errors. From misjudging the flare to battling crosswinds, these mistakes can challenge pilots of all experience levels. This article dives into the most prevalent landing errors, shedding light on why they occur and how they can sneak into even the most carefully executed approaches. More importantly, we’ll explore actionable strategies to help pilots recognize, correct, and ultimately avoid these pitfalls, ensuring every landing is as smooth and safe as possible.

1) High Roundout—Sometimes when the airplane appears to temporarily stop moving downward, the roundout has been made too rapidly and the airplane is flying level, too high above the runway. Continuing the roundout would further reduce the airspeed, resulting in an increase in angle of attack to the critical angle. This would result in the airplane stalling and dropping hard onto the runway.

To prevent this, the pitch attitude should be held constant until the airplane decelerates enough to again start descending. Then the roundout can be continued to establish the proper landing attitude. This procedure should only be used when there is adequate airspeed. It may be necessary to add a slight amount of power to keep the airspeed from decreasing excessively and to avoid losing lift too rapidly.

You should GO-AROUND any time it appears the nose must be lowered significantly or that the landing is in any other way uncertain.

 

2) Late or Rapid Roundout—Starting the roundout too late or pulling the elevator control back too rapidly to prevent the airplane from touching down prematurely can impose a heavy load factor on the wing and cause an accelerated stall.

Suddenly increasing the angle of attack and stalling the airplane during a roundout is a dangerous situation since it may cause the airplane to land extremely hard on the main landing gear and then bounce back into the air. As the airplane contacts the ground, the tail will be forced down very rapidly by the back-elevator pressure and by inertia acting downward on the tail. Recovery from this situation requires prompt and positive application of power prior to occurrence of the stall. This may be followed by a normal landing if sufficient runway is available—otherwise EXECUTE A GO-AROUND immediately.

If the roundout is late, the nosewheel may strike the runway first, causing the nose to bounce upward. No attempt should be made to force the airplane back onto the ground—a GO-AROUND should be executed immediately.

3) Ballooning During Roundout—If you misjudge the rate of sink during a landing and thinks the airplane is descending faster than it should, there is a tendency to increase the pitch attitude and angle of attack too rapidly. This not only stops the descent, but actually starts the airplane climbing. This climbing during the roundout is known as ballooning. Ballooning can be dangerous because the height above the ground is increasing and the airplane may be rapidly approaching a stalled condition. The altitude gained in each instance will depend on the airspeed or the speed with which the pitch attitude is increased.

When ballooning is slight, a constant landing attitude should be held and the airplane allowed to gradually decelerate and settle onto the runway. Depending on the severity of ballooning, the use of throttle may be helpful in cushioning the landing. By adding power, thrust can be increased to keep the airspeed from decelerating too rapidly and the wings from suddenly losing lift, but throttle must be closed immediately after touchdown. Remember that torque will be created as power is applied; therefore, it will be necessary to use rudder pressure to keep the airplane straight as it settles onto the runway.

When ballooning is excessive, it is best to EXECUTE A GO-AROUND IMMEDIATELY; DO NOT ATTEMPT TO SALVAGE THE LANDING. Power must be applied before the airplane enters a stalled condition.

4) Bouncing during Touchdown—When the airplane contacts the ground with a sharp impact as the result of an improper attitude or an excessive sink rate, it tends to bounce back into the air. Though the airplane’s tires and shock struts provide some springing action, the airplane does not bounce like a rubber ball. Instead, it rebounds into the air because the wing’s angle of attack was abruptly increased, producing a sudden addition of lift.

The corrective action for a bounce is the same as for ballooning and similarly depends on its severity. When it is very slight and there is no extreme change in the airplane’s pitch attitude, a follow-up landing may be executed by applying sufficient power to cushion the subsequent touchdown, and smoothly adjusting the pitch to the proper touchdown attitude.

When a bounce is severe, the safest procedure is to EXECUTE A GO-AROUND IMMEDIATELY. No attempt to salvage the landing should be made.

 

5) Porpoising—After a bounced landing that is improperly recovered, the airplane comes in nose first setting off a series of motions that imitate the jumps and dives of a porpoise—hence the name. The problem is improper airplane attitude at touchdown, sometimes caused by inattention, not knowing where the ground is, mis-trimming, or forcing the airplane onto the runway. Porpoising can also be caused by improper airspeed control. Usually, if an approach is too fast, the airplane floats and the pilot tries to force it on the runway when the airplane still wants to fly. A gust of wind, a bump in the runway, or even a slight tug on the control wheel will send the airplane aloft again.

The corrective action for a porpoise is the same as for a bounce and similarly depends on its severity. When it is very slight and there is no extreme change in the airplane’s pitch attitude, a follow-up landing may be executed by applying sufficient power to cushion the subsequent touchdown and smoothly adjusting the pitch to the proper touchdown attitude.

When a porpoise is severe, the safest procedure is to EXECUTE A GO-AROUND IMMEDIATELY.

Good landings take practice! Be patient and practice disciplined traffic pattern and stabilized approach procedures.