Swayne Martin
Landing on a soft field? Here’s how to make a perfect touchdown every time.
Soft field landings are not too different from normal landings until you cross the runway threshold. At that point, you need to apply your soft field landing technique.
So, what are the steps for a good soft field landing? We’ll break it down into three phases: approach to landing, touchdown, and rollout.
Approach to Landing
To achieve a great soft field landing, you need to start with a stable approach. Being stable ensures that you land where you want and gently transfer the aircraft’s weight from the wings to the wheels.
You should fly your traffic pattern like a normal landing. The Airplane Flying Handbook recommends flying your final approach with full flaps at 1.3 Vso, unless your POH suggests a different configuration and speed. The key difference between a normal and soft field landing comes when you cross the threshold. As you approach touchdown, hold the aircraft 1-2 feet off the runway to dissipate forward speed and allow the wheels to touch down at a slower speed, reducing the nose-over force on touchdown.
Touchdown
The most important moment is touchdown. Once you enter ground effect, it’s okay to use a small amount of power to level off and ensure a slow touchdown (though power isn’t always necessary). The goal is to let the wings support the aircraft’s weight as long as possible. This can vary significantly between low-wing and high-wing aircraft. Low-wing aircraft have a more pronounced ground effect due to the closer wing to the ground, while high-wing aircraft may require more power manipulation near touchdown. After the main wheels gently touch down, slowly remove power (if any) and hold the nose wheel off the runway.
Rollout
Since the main gear is stronger than the nose wheel, keep the nose off the soft/rough surface until the plane slows to a safe speed. Applying back pressure on the yoke can hold the nose off until the safe speed is reached. Be gentle on the brakes as excessive braking on soft surfaces can cause the nose wheel to touch down prematurely and harder than desired. Once the nose touches down, maintain back pressure (typically full back pressure) during rollout and taxi to minimize nose weight. Keep the back pressure until you reach a harder surface or stop to park.
Common Problems with Soft Field Landings
Soft field landings may take practice to feel comfortable. Some common problems to consider before practicing include: too fast a descent rate resulting in a hard touchdown, too much airspeed causing excessive float, an unstable approach making for a smooth touchdown difficult, and allowing the nose wheel to touch down too early, putting excessive stress on it.
Putting It All Together
Fly a stable approach, hold the aircraft in ground effect for a soft, slow touchdown, and keep the nose wheel off the ground as long as possible. Follow these steps for a perfect soft-field landing.
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