Landing Speeds

Want to make great landings consistently in your Cirrus?

It's pretty easy if you do this one thing: be on speed on final. The End.

In an SR22T, the POH says 80-85 knots for final approach. I find 80 is best, and if lighter weight, I want to have that decrease to 76-78Kts as I start my roundout. Faster than 85 knots does nothing good for you. At 85+, you are much more likely to balloon, float, bounce, drift, and even start to daydream while waiting for the airplane to touchdown.

When winds are gusting, add half the gust factor to your final speed - and reset your goal to be a sage landing, not a greaser.

If you are faster than 85 knots, it's very common to give up on flying before touchdown and then settle firmly onto the runway.

Cross the threshhold at 80, start shifting your aimpoint down the runway and your focus on the horizon so that you can see your sink rate clearly. Use your peripheral vision to sense drift left/right from a crosswind and correct this with aileron into the wind.

Keep your fuselage aligned with the runway - the only way you can do this is with your rudders. As you continue into the flare, the prop rotation will typically cause your nose to turn left due to the P-Factor, so, right rudder will correct this.

Keep flying the airplane into the flare, watching the horizon to judge your sink rate.

If you aren't fast on final, you'll get the stall horn right as you gently touch down.

This short video clip shows an excellent SR20 landing. Notice the pilot is looking at teh horizon so that he can see his sink rate. Inside the plane, he is continuously and gradually increase aft stick pressure to keep the plane from settling onto the runway before it's ready to quit flying.

Proper airspeed is the key!