Final approach attitude in small GA aircraft

[Mr._Ryan]

This is more of a real world question (although it is contrasted against what I do in FSX):

I am training in a Cherokee 160 (140 conversion) and when we are on final approach, my instructor likes me descending at 500 feet per minute, speed at 80 mph, and the important part, in a nose-down attitude (two notches of flaps). In his words: "nose pointing towards the runway!" Mind you, he is a CFII with 6,000 hours of dual instruction, and he's in some of Rod Machado's advertisements in AOPA Pilot, so it's not like I'm assuming he's wrong, but I'm just curious about the nose-down attitude part, because it seems to me in FSX I'm in the "flare attitude" all the way down on final, i.e. nose up as opposed to down. The way he has me do it is the nose-down attitude until power off a few feet above the runway, then pull back on the yoke to start the flare and just hold the airplane off the runway and let it settle down itself. So there's a transition from the nose-down attitude to the flare for landing.

Hopefully that made sense. Any thoughts would be appreciated!

[Brett_Henderson]

There's no way to answer this post, without stepping on your CFI's toes. Not in any way suggesting that he's wrong; because he's not..

[Mr._Ryan]

[quote]There's no way to answer this post, without stepping on your CFI's toes. Not in any way suggesting that he's wrong; because he's not..

[beaky]

I think normally, any plane similar to what you've been flying will "want" to descend with the nose down a bit when it is configured as you describe... the flight dynamics in FSX are not all that realistic (compared to the real thing, LOL).

In the long run, in FSX or real life, I'd say the thing that's best is whatever allows you to descend at a suitable airspeed and descent rate while still being able to see the runway. 

[Brett_Henderson]

This might help: he's telling me that I'm always trying to stop the plane from descending

Right now; with an instructor sitting next to you.. you're only concern (as far as  elevator and elevator-trim are concerened), is airspeed.

If you're descending too quickly (or too slowly), the throttle is your tool.

Meshing the two controls together comes with practice... and a crosswind will throw in some nifty, albeit counter-intuitive, aileron/rudder use.

Theres' a LOT going on during an approach..  8-)

[beaky]

This might help: he's telling me that I'm always trying to stop the plane from descending

Right now; with an instructor sitting next to you.. you're only concern ([i]as far as

[Mictheslik]

I also have experienced this problem in the real world, and I think it's primarily down to having messed about in the sim too much. With any home flight simulator, the field of view is awful with the panel taking a massive chunk of the screen off. TrackIR helps, but doesn't solve the problem. This results in making it look like you're more nose up than you actually are. The thing I first found immediately apparent in the real aircraft was how much better landing visibility was than in the sim. This was because you could get the big panel out the way and have a good old look.

One of the most satisfying things about the real world flying I've done so far is when your hands become completely coordinated and you can descend smoothly at a fixed speed on approach, still with a good view of the runway. That's one of the reasons for flaps

.mic

[Chris E]

I have been taught to land both ways.  My primary instructor taught me the way your instructor is teaching you now, and I have learned the high flare method at another flight school.  As to which works better, trust your current CFI, you tend to get a much better touchdown if you do your flare in ground effect and bleed off the airspeed.  If you follow his instruction there you will have great smooth landings, the flare before ground effect tends to get a very firm landing.  Both methods work, but the high flare is much more applicable for larger aircraft.  I had a reluctance when I first learned to pitching the nose down, but as my instructor said, fly it into ground effect.  If you have a nose high pitch that high up and have an engine failure, you may be in for some trouble.  If you keep pitch down and your airspeed under control, even if the engine fails you should be able to glide is straight down with no major control changes. 

So just trust your current CFI, his method works and works very well for small aircraft.