Pilot Life: Practicing Landings in the Piper Cherokee

I took my second flight with my instructor in the Piper PA-28-140 Cherokee Cruiser today, with the objectives being practicing landing techniques in an airplane that flies like a pig. The plane was once again, defrosting in the maintenance hangar so my instructor and I headed over there, where we conducted the pre-flight. After finishing pre-flight, we pulled the Cherokee out of the hangar, hopped in, and got the engine started (after some initial difficulty; again the Piper Cherokee is a whole different animal compared to the Diamond Katana!).

Short and stubby wings, climbs like pig too! But the Piper Cherokee is starting to grow on me a bit!

After engine start-up we taxied straight ahead for a second and then conducted the run-ups. After run-ups, I taxied the Cherokee to the runway and commenced takeoff roll and got us airborne. From there, it was eleven laps around the pattern doing regular touch-and-go landings to get the technique down. Like the last time I started doing landings in the Cherokee, things started out a little rough and I still had difficulty managing the controls and getting the flow down, especially during each final moment before touchdown. Thankfully, my instructor was with me to coach me through the intricacies of the Cherokee.

During one lap, my instructor walked me through a commercial maneuver known as the "Power-off 180." It is exactly what it sounds like; it's a 180 degree turning maneuver that's executed in an emergency practiced in the event of an engine failure while in the traffic pattern (usually abeam of a section of runway where normal touchdown on landing occurs) and forces the pilot in a potentially stricken aircraft to make an abbreviated approach to land on the runway as soon as possible. Power-off 180s are supposed to give pilots the best chance possible making the runway while abeam of it. The point of doing a Power-off 180 in today's flight was to help me understand how well a Piper Cherokee glided, especially just 1,000 feet above the ground.

Eventually, I got the flow to landing preparation and making the approach down for the most part; the problem I still have is that I have a tendency to hit the runway hard on touch down as I'm having a hard time floating and flaring to achieve a smooth touchdown. The other problem is a lot of things are manual so it takes a little physical exertion to have full control of the airplane, especially during the critical phases of flight. I'll get it eventually though... Regardless, I felt like I improved today in the Cherokee.

After our 11th landing, I taxied us back to the ramp and over to the fuel pumps, as my instructor was taking the Cherokee up again with another student. I made another Cherokee entry into my logbook and called it a flight.