The morning starts off being unusually cold for this time of the year. The temperature was just below 60 degrees F and the ceiling was low at 1600′. Srinath was away at a Boy Scouts Camporee. So I planned to practice touch and go at Livermore and our traffic pattern was to be 1200′ instead of the usual 1400′. Overall, there was no consistency in the landings. Once the plane bounced, another time the landing was a greaser, and the remaining attempts were somewhere in between. On the second touch and go, the airport briefly closed 25R for runway inspection. So we extended our downwind until we got clearance from the tower to turn base. All the while I did not speak a single word on the radio while in flight because my brain was full just focusing on flying the plane.

The key is to remember to use the rudders to keep the plane aligned parallel with the runway. This is because when the plane touches down, the wheels should be parallel to the runway otherwise there will be a twisting moment on the landing gear. While the rudders keep the plane parallel to the runway, ailerons should be used to produce lateral movement if the plane is not on the centerline. This general principle works particularly well in crosswinds. If the rudder keeps the plane parallel the runway, the crosswind is going to push the plane laterally. This is countered by dropping the wing upwind (thus causing the plane to roll into the wind) countering the crosswind. In this landing configuration, the upwind main wheel is going to touch down first. By maintaining the upwind wing down, the plane must roll on the runway for as long as it can and as the speed bleeds off (and consequently the effect of the crosswind dies down), the other main wheel will touch down and eventually the nosegear.

I have been clearly using the rudder to stay on the runway, not to stay parallel to the runway. This is a key distinction. And I have been using the ailerons to keep the wings level. Whenever Steve asked me to step on the right rudder, he was doing so with the intention of keeping me parallel to the runway. But this confused the heck out of me because I was using the rudder to stay on the centerline. Often when Steve asked me to step the right rudder, I would have been stepping on the left because of our very different mental intentions.

The other observation is that the approach should be stabilized. That means 65kts and on the proper glide slope. What you see instead in the video is the nose dancing all over the place requiring constant hands on flying by the PIC. If the approach is stabilized, the landing becomes much more controlled, predictable and repeatable.