by JW » Fri Dec 13, 2002 10:59 am
Hey remyadrian,
I can only tell you from my glider experience.
Assuming you want to know about landing speed: you approach the runway threshold with a speed just above stall speed (which differs per aircraft and its weight, for a glider 15 kms extra depending on windspeed and -direction), then nearing the point of touchdown, you level off (or what is it called in English).
By doing so, you increase the angle of attack of your wing, causing it to maximize its lift. BUT, this also causes your drag to increase, which is good for bleeding your speed off. The moment your plane is lowering it's airspeed further, you keep pulling the stick or yoke toward you, gently but decisive, until at a certain speed your plane won't fly anymore. Preferrably, you don't gain altitude during this procedure. Now, you should be just at the desired point of touchdown, (and for a glider) just 5 cms. (2") above the ground, almost ready to touchdown.
This way, your plane will touchdown gently, and because you don't have enough speed, your plane won't be able to start flying anymore.
To prevent it from bouncing back in the air (basically, making you fly again without enough lift, thus you might crash back to the ground) you could open the spoilers, airbrakes, wheelbrakes, whatever to slow you down.
Mind you, there is much more to a landing, especially in a glider, like ground effect (denser air lower to the ground, enhancing lift just before touchdown) or crosswinds, but generally speaking you DON'T run the plane on the ground, you level off just above the ground, so it settles itself down.
I leave approach for someone else. Good luck.