Landing Fix Cards v2.2

Same error every time? Four whys

Doesn't see itAsk after: “What was the airplane doing at that moment?” They can't describe it.

Doesn't know what to doTalk them through it. They hesitate or move the wrong control even when told.

OverloadedTake a task away: you take the thrust, reposition closer, steady wind. Now they do it.

Thinks it's rightAsk: “Why did you do that?” They have a reason: another airplane, another instructor.

What did you see?

Or pick it by phase. Tap one.

Final below 500

100 ft to flare

Flare and landing

Rollout and crosswind

Intervention kinds

Cover a cueBlock what they're wrongly looking atIn this bay: a sticky note on the glass pane over the aim-point area. Training events only.

ShadowYou fly; their hands and feet on

Talk-throughThey do exactly what you call

FreezeStop the sim and point

Ask mid-approachFind out where their eyes are

One correctionGrade one thing this approach

Reposition repsShort final, many reps, nothing else graded

Their phoneTheir phone on the CB panel; play it back on their phone

SetupFix the seat, pedals or sim before the next rep

Tiers. First rep: ask, talk-through, one correction. If it repeats: cover, shadow, freeze. If it persists: reposition reps, their phone. Every option in Try one is instruction, so Validation mode greys out the whole list. Find out, Show in debrief, Source and the session log stay active for the debrief.

Numbers to have ready

Thrust: start at fifty, idle by ten. Not 100; the 100-ft REF call is information. CFM 7-8, 7-84; FOM 8-70.

Flare 30–20 ft; hold constant pitch from 20. Pitch 1° on approach, 3–5° at touchdown (4–6° reduced VREF). CFM 7-86.

Flare height ≈ sink ÷ 30 (700 fpm → ~23 ft). Briefings Card; guidance, not a limit.

Hard landing = over 600 fpm at or below MLW. CFM 7-89. A 300-fpm arrival is a normal landing.

Touchdown zone = first 3,000 ft or first third, whichever is less, starting 500 ft past the threshold. FOM 2-12.

Spoilers deploy with both levers at idle plus two of: main WOW, wheel speed > 16 kt, RA < 10 ft. Systems 9-32.

11° pitch = tailstrike, 11° bank = wingtip, gear near the runway. CFM 7-89.

Crosswind: crab wings-level on final; rudder and aileron together at the flare; aileron in until clear. CFM 7-88.

Rollout: nose down, then reverse, then brakes. 90 kt: stow; idle by 60. CFM 7-87.

The three sentences

The aim point tells you where you're going, not how high you are.

The flare is a rate, not a height: turn 700 into 200–300 and hold.

Rudder and aileron are one word, and the landing ends at the taxiway.

Conditions that move the picture

Night, black holeNo texture around the runway, so it feels higher than it is. They fly low on final, and the sink cue arrives late in the flare.→ Ducking under · Firm or hard landing

Wide runwayLooks closer and lower than it is. They flare high.→ Early flare / balloon · Float

Narrow runwayLooks farther and higher than it is. They fly low and flare late.→ Ducking under · Firm or hard landing

Upsloping runwayFeels high, so they push to get down; then the runway rises into the flare.→ Ducking under · Firm or hard landing

Rain on the windscreenRefraction puts the runway lower in the glass, so it feels high. They push on short final.→ Ducking under

Set one of these in the visual on purpose once the normal picture is solid. Source: FAA AIM 8-1-5, illusions leading to landing errors [verify]. Not in company manuals.

Video: two uses, kept separate

Your reference clips (your phone). Phone on the CB panel over your shoulder, framed on the windscreen, the PFD and your hand on the levers. One approach per error, 20–30 seconds, narrate only what you’re doing: “Fifty. Eyes long. Levers coming back. Thirty. Flare. Hold.” Trim the ends, no other editing. These are yours; they go into these cards as “watch” clips.

The student’s clip (their phone). Offer it: “Want me to put your phone up so you can see your own landing?” Same mount, same spot, every student. Play it back on their phone in the debrief, not on the big screen. Nothing is ever on your device, and the consent is built in because they handed you the phone. One error per session, not every approach.

Why it works. They flared on the “fifty” and believe they flared at thirty. You don’t argue; the clip shows the nose coming up as the voice says fifty. And a camera behind them shows the head tilt toward the numbers at 50 ft, which is the eye-position answer you can’t get from the IOS.

Setup. A clip mount that attaches to the CB panel in a few seconds. Test one clip: can you hear the RA callouts, can you see the lever position? If the windscreen blows out the exposure, lock exposure on the panel. Check with training on recording in the sim before the first session; the student-owns-the-clip approach keeps it clean.

Long-form reference

The full perception-vs-reality write-up (why each error happens, technique reconciliation, sim fidelity, source log) is the companion doc CRJ-900 Landing: Perception vs Reality — Instructor Deep Dive. Use it to build briefs; use this page in the bay.

What's new in v2.2

Every card asks why it keeps happening. Up to four whys: doesn't see it, doesn't know what to do, overloaded, thinks it's right.
Each why has a test and a fix. Run the test; the row that matches tells you what to try. Tap any row to make it the one you're testing.
Same moves you to the next why. The debrief records which why you were testing, so “Fixed (Overloaded)” goes in the comments.
New card: Does almost nothing in the crosswind flare.
Validation mode, Bay view and all CFM references are unchanged from v2.1.