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AviationSoft-field approach and landing
On grass, sand or snow, you touch down as softly as possible, keep the nose wheel off the ground and keep moving so the airplane does not sink into the surface. It is Task D of Area IV, Takeoffs, Landings, and Go-Arounds, in the FAA Private Pilot Airman Certification Standards, for the airplane classes listed below.
Free to startScenarios
- Airplane single-engine land (ASEL).
The steps
- Complete the appropriate checklists.
- Make radio calls as appropriate.
- Make sure the airplane is lined up with the correct or assigned runway.
- Scan the landing runway and the area around it for traffic and obstructions.
- Select and aim for a suitable touchdown point for the wind, the landing surface and the obstructions.
- Set the recommended approach and landing configuration, airspeed and trim, and adjust pitch and power to keep a stabilized approach.
- Hold the manufacturer's published approach speed or, without one, no more than 1.3 VSO, +10/-5 knots with the gust factor applied.
- Keep directional control and the right crosswind correction through the approach and landing.
- Use smooth, timely and correct control inputs in the round out and touchdown and, in a tricycle-gear airplane, keep the nose wheel off the surface until the elevator loses effectiveness.
- Touch down at a proper pitch attitude with minimum sink rate, no side drift and the airplane aligned with the center of the runway.
- Hold the elevator as the manufacturer recommends during the rollout and leave the soft area at a speed that keeps the airplane from sinking into the surface.
- Go around in time if the approach cannot be flown within these tolerances or anything else makes the approach or landing unsafe.
- Keep the flight controls in the right position and enough speed to taxi on the soft surface.
Safety rules that stop the station
- Any action, or lack of action, that makes the examiner step in to keep the flight safe is unsatisfactory.
- Not clearing the area with a proper visual scan before and during the maneuver is unsatisfactory.
- Consistently exceeding the tolerances of the task, or not correcting promptly when you exceed them, is unsatisfactory.
To pass
- Approach speed +10/-5 knots, a touchdown with minimum sink and no side drift, the nose wheel held off and enough speed to keep moving on the soft surface.
- Know the stabilized approach and energy management, how the atmosphere and the wind change the approach and landing, wind correction techniques, and the risks of the approach path and landing surface, crosswind, windshear, tailwind, wake turbulence, a go-around or rejected landing, collision, low-altitude stalls and spins, and distractions. Also land and hold short operations.
- Missing the standard on this task fails the task and its area of operation.
Official source
Federal · FAA Private Pilot ACS
Private Pilot for Airplane Category Airman Certification Standards (FAA-S-ACS-6C)
The FAA publishes the Private Pilot Airman Certification Standards free: every task of the checkride with its knowledge, risks and tolerances.
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