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FLIGHT INSTRUCTOR'S MANUAL        107

settling almost as much as gliding and this descent should be checked by further back pressure on the stick, i. e., raising the nose in an attempt to keep this altitude. Since the aircraft is close to its stalling speed and settling, this will only increase the settling instead of maintaining the altitude, and will result in the airplane touching the ground in normal landing attitude.
Once having started the actual process of landing, the elevators are never pushed forward. If too much back pressure has been exerted, this pressure may either be slightly relaxed or held constant, depending on the degree of the error. In some cases it may be necessary to open the throttle slightly to compensate for the loss of speed. 
 If the error has been too great and the stick is pushed forward, the speed will be further reduced, the reaction of the ship to the control will be further delayed, and when it does occur the airplane will be nosed toward the ground without either the speed or altitude sufficient for recovery.
 The student, if left to this own devices, will normally delay the selection of a place to land until he has closed the throttle and assumed a glide. Such a habit will bring serious consequences in traffic and often result in the instructor having to take over and go around again.
 After the initial instruction in landings, the instructor should require that the student plan his path to the landing while flying along the down-wind side of the traffic rectangle. This he may do by either visualizing his path or by reference to airplanes ahead of him, picking out a path or lane on the field upon which he intends to land and planning his circuit of the field accordingly. The flying of the rectangular course will have given him the background to do this. He should not be required to have any accuracy problems during this early landing practice other than to land somewhere in the lane he picks out, or to be able to select another lane if the first lane is occupied when he gets there.
 This planning will also cause him to vary his flight path in accordance with the knowledge gained by the experience in the problems of elementary application of the turn to an objective, as practiced in "S turns across a road" and "eights along a road."
 As practice progresses he should be required to cut the throttle on the down-wind side of the field and make a 90° turn in the glide. In doing this the normal glide should be established and continued down to an altitude of not less than 200 feet and a regular 90° gliding turn made to the landing lane. This will require some planning as to the starting point and radius of the turn and will be a forerunner to the use of the turn in accuracy landings. After more practice involving this turn, he should be required to cut the throttle while flying down wind and make two 90° gliding turns to the landing lane. This will require still more planning and further development of judgement in the use of the turn. Finally, just before he is ready to solo, the throttle should be cut and a continuous 180° turn substituted for the two 90° turns. This will be a further extension of the planning problems by requiring variation of the radius of the turn at various times during its execution in order to arrive at the proper landing lane.

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