Author: David Jacobson

NEW – The Jacobson Flare app for Android AVAILABLE NOW! ***

09.03.2020 , news

*** Important Note

We have retained this post, for historic reasons. The Jacobson Flare App for Android was indeed released on 9 March 2020. It was offered on Google Play, for 4 years, but has proved non-viable.

Compared with the iOS edition, it has failed to meet target expectations. Regretfully, it was revoked and withdrawn from sale on 22 February, 2024. ***

 

NEW – The Jacobson Flare app for Android AVAILABLE NOW!

The Jacobson Flare App Version 1.0 for Android:

Following the recent release of the Jacobson Flare Version 2.0 for the iPad, iPhone and iPod touch, we are proud to finally announce the additional release of the Jacobson Flare App Version 1.0 for Android devices.

This version mirrors, as far as the different platforms permit, all of the design, content and functionality for which the iOS version has been celebrated, since 2014.

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Since 1987, the unique application of The Jacobson Flare has eliminated the imprecise aspects of landing an airplane, otherwise unchanged since the end of World War 1 in 1918.

Everything else in aviation has advanced, but NOT landing training. Historically, the manual landing manoeuvre has remained indeterminate. Conventional flare techniques have involved an inconsistent, critical estimation of height above the landing surface and are subject to a number of variable factors, summarised as aircraft, pilot and environmental.

The Jacobson Flare is the first and only quantifiable, universal, consistent and unassailable landing technique in the history of aviation. To land an airplane consistently well, a pilot should be able to explain the following five questions:

1. Where to aim?
2. How to aim?
3. When to flare?
4. How much to flare?
5. How fast to flare (flare rate)?

Now, this edition of the Jacobson Flare App for Android, answers all five applying, clearly and simply, known principles and facts that enable a pilot at any level of competence and experience to finally and fully understand HOW to make safer and more consistent landings, in any airplane type. The noted increase in pilot competence and confidence is breathtaking.

Professionally designed, the Jacobson Flare app for Android is so much more than the simple electronic equivalent of a 345-page book; interactive and inclusive. It totally replaces and greatly enhances successive and widely acclaimed presentations of the original 1987 Jacobson Flare paper, “Where to Flare” and other associated files.

This new edition of the Jacobson Flare app explores the where, when & how involved in landing an airplane, in TWO DISTINCT PRESENTATIONS:
•Designed in LANDSCAPE as an extensively illustrated comprehensive presentation, with access to the accompanying text; and also
•The Jacobson Flare TREATISE, now re-worked in Landscape and partly illustrated, designed as an e-book, for uninterrupted reading and comprehension of the complete text.

These are best viewed in landscape, on at least the screen size of a mini tablet OR larger smartphone. The bigger the screen size, the better.

Simple to understand for student pilots, it also caters for greater levels of experience with a range of tools including a unique set of five calculators professional pilots can utilise – in preparation for every flight. As well as flare point calculations, vital comparisons may be made between the normal visual aim point for any aircraft and the widely varying aim points defined by ILS, PAPI and T-Vasis approach slope guidance systems.

Graphically enhanced HD videos of various airplane types using the same consistent and quantified technique, at a diverse range of locations, highlight the Jacobson Flare app for iPad as a perfect solution to a serious long-term problem for world aviation. Thirty-five years of research and development are reflected in the intuitive design, fine production and attention to detail – just some of the hallmarks of this stylish presentation.

Summary

The Jacobson Flare has been adopted enthusiastically by thousands of pilots in 65 countries. The convenient digital format on an App has accelerated industry awareness and acceptance and offers predictable and consistently better landings for those individual pilots, at ANY level of experience, who are always seeking to improve their skill set.

Perhaps the three best descriptions come from highly experienced professional pilots: “the greatest single advance in flying training in many, many years and represents simple unassailable aerodynamic logic”; “this is probably what we have all been trying to do all these years”; and “this has the elegant simplicity of the safety pin”.

 

Captain David M Jacobson FRAeS MAP

 

Would you care to experience that unsurpassed sense of accomplishment, derived from executing consistently beautiful landings, more often?

For starters, Download the FREE Jacobson Flare LITE, our no fuss/no frills introduction. Here we demonstrate, step by step, the application of the Jacobson Flare on a typical grass airstrip at Porepunkah, YPOK.

 

We invite you to browse the consistently positive comments on our Testimonials page. Many pilots, of all levels of experience, have downloaded our Apps. Read about their own experiences with the Jacobson Flare technique and the App.

Then download the COMPLETE Jacobson Flare app – for iOS or Android. You’re already possibly paying $300+/hour to hire an airplane : You’ll recover the cost of the app, in just ONE LESS-NEEDED CIRCUIT.

 

** NEW ** The Jacobson Flare App – for iOS

Download The Jacobson Flare for iOS devices now.

 

We invite you, also, to review our new, FREE companion app.

offering a convenient way of staying abreast of our latest blogs.

 

Download the Jacobson Flare NEWS App for iOS devices now.

 

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** NEW ** The Jacobson Flare App – for Android

Download The Jacobson Flare for Android now.

*** Important Note

We have retained this post, for historic reasons. The Jacobson Flare App for Android was indeed released on 9 March 2020. It was offered on Google Play, for 4 years, but has proved non-viable.

Compared with the iOS edition, it has failed to meet target expectations. Regretfully, it was revoked and withdrawn from sale on 22 February, 2024. ***

 

HOW to land a plane. Precisely. The Jacobson Flare Story

** Just Released ** JF App V2.0 for iPad, iPhone & iPod Touch

13.02.2020 , news

Apple iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch Users:

Since September 2019, we have been working to obviate the sometimes inconvenient and unacceptable issues created when iOS updates occur, as they do – inevitably. We actively sought a long-term solution to address all future iOS updates.

We are proud to announce the release, overnight, of the Jacobson Flare App V2.0 for the iPad, iPhone and  iPod Touch, with additional content and improved functionality, appearance and descriptions.

What’s New?

A comprehensive update, comprising

Enhanced diagrams

Additional topics
– Going around
– Reference Groundspeed technique (RGS)
– Summary of the Problem Issues with the 100yo Conventional   Techniques
– Summary of the Advantages of the Jacobson Flare

New base software and layout to facilitate future app development

Videos and 5 operating calculators are hosted externally
– These now require internet connection, to access; (this is to minimise in-flight risks – the rest of the App is installed on your device.)

Removal of bugs

Important Notes for previous Jacobson Flare App for iPad Owners

 If you have previously purchased The Jacobson Flare App on your iPad, you can download it for free on all your other iOS devices, including iPhone, as long as you’re using the same Apple ID.

On some devices the ‘cloud’ icon will appear, acknowledging a previous purchase of the JF App and the app can be downloaded.

However, on other devices, (including our own!) we have learned that the App Store sometimes falsely displays the purchase button. As long as you’re signed in to the same Apple ID, you can just go ahead and download the app, even though the App Store falsely displays the purchase button, displaying the current price. Just go ahead and select that button, as though you intend to purchase the app. A pop-up window should appear, as displayed here, below right and no additional charge should be made.

If you have any doubt:
please reach out to Appstore Support at https://getsupport.apple.com/?caller=cups.
Select Apps & software > App Store > Subscriptions & purchases.

If you have already been charged, please have your Apple ID and your Order ID on your Receipt ready. An AppStore agent will guide you and process your refund. You may select chat or schedule a call back whichever one is more convenient for you.

 

Captain David M Jacobson FRAeS MAP
Director – The Jacobson Flare Pty Ltd

 

Wishing you many safe landings

 

Captain David M Jacobson FRAeS MAP

 

Would you care to experience that unsurpassed sense of accomplishment, derived from executing consistently beautiful landings, more often?

For starters, Download the FREE Jacobson Flare LITE, our no fuss/no frills introduction. Here we demonstrate, step by step, the application of the Jacobson Flare on a typical grass airstrip at Porepunkah, YPOK.

 

We invite you to browse the consistently positive comments on our Testimonials page. Many pilots, of all levels of experience, have downloaded our Apps. Read about their own experiences with the Jacobson Flare technique and the App.

Then download the COMPLETE Jacobson Flare app – for iOS. You’re already possibly paying $300+/hour to hire an aeroplane: You’ll recover the cost of the app, in just ONE LESS-NEEDED CIRCUIT. Moreover, you’ll have an invaluable reference tool, throughout your entire life in aviation.

Download the COMPLETE Jacobson Flare App for iOS devices now.

 

We invite you, also, to review our new, FREE companion app,

offering a convenient way of staying abreast of our latest blogs.

 

Download the Jacobson Flare NEWS App for iOS devices now.

‘We’ve always done it this way! … What’s wrong with that?’

13.11.2018 , we've-always-done-it-this-way

‘We’ve always done it this way … What’s wrong with that?’

The ‘Law of Primacy’ in education is very powerful:  What we are first taught on any given subject often creates a strong, almost unshakable impression. We believe it, implicitly. Perhaps that’s why generations of flight instructors have resisted looking at landings in other way than the 100-year-old ‘conventional wisdom’: that pilots develop landing judgment and proficiency only by ultimately ‘getting the hang of it’, though repetition and practice. And again and again, on every subsequent aircraft conversion.

This is time-consuming and can be unnecessarily stressful and very expensive – for the student – and for the operator, in terms of wear and tear and damage to aircraft.

30 hours to first solo is not unusual. It is, however, unnecessary and quite harmful to a pilot’s confidence. If this sounds familiar, please read on.

When the elements of this ‘conventional wisdom’ are examined, they don’t stack up very well:

What’s wrong with conventional methods?

Simply stated,

  • Triangles have had 3 sides for a very long time.
  • We only ever used 2 of them – the hypotenuse for the pilot’s eye path (correct) – and the opposite side to guess the flare height for each type (highly inconsistent and mathematically flawed).
  • The opposite side (flare height) is invisible to the pilot (forgetting radio altitude call-outs); the conventional wisdom is to develop landing judgment by repetition and trial and error; this height changes with every aircraft conversion.
  • Because the final approach flight path angle (FPA) is exaggerated in books and manuals and all training aids and depicted at around 25-30°– instead of the normal 3° – the actual FPA has been masked; 3° is near enough to a 1:20 gradient, a very flat gradient. The significance of this exaggeration is crucial:
  • It means that every vertical error in flare height judgment or control compounds, one way or the other along the runway, by 20 times  that vertical error.
  • Until the Jacobson Flare, no-one thought of using the 3rd side of the triangle: the adjacent side.
  • This is the runway centreline – effectively, a calibrated ruler (consistent centreline markings) and fully visible to the pilot (under most conditions and where not, options are available).
  • A visual fix (based on the RAF 617 Sqn ‘Dambusters’ operation of 1943) becomes available, using a ‘flare cut-off point’ on the runway centreline, short of the initial aim point, to identify the flare point, rather than a haphazard guess of flare height.
  • Any longitudinal error is reflected as only 1/20th, as a vertical error, making the technique extremely tolerant for use on grass and gravel airstrips, (without any central line calibration).
  • The Jacobson Flare addresses all aspects of the approach and landing, including where to aim; how to aim; the key difference – the use of a visual fix to identify the flare point, rather than a haphazard guess of flare height; how much to flare; and how fast to flare.

 

Wishing you many safe landings

 

Captain David M Jacobson FRAeS MAP

 

Would you care to experience that unsurpassed sense of accomplishment, derived from executing consistently beautiful landings, more often?

For starters, Download the FREE Jacobson Flare LITE, our no fuss/no frills introduction. Here we demonstrate, step by step, the application of the Jacobson Flare on a typical grass airstrip at Porepunkah, YPOK.

 

We invite you to browse the consistently positive comments on our Testimonials page. Many pilots, of all levels of experience, have downloaded our Apps. Read about their own experiences with the Jacobson Flare technique and the App,

Then download the COMPLETE Jacobson Flare app – for iOS. You’re already possibly paying $300+/hour to hire an aeroplane: You’ll recover the cost of the app, in just ONE LESS-NEEDED CIRCUIT. Moreover, you’ll have an invaluable reference tool, throughout your entire life in aviation.

Download the COMPLETE Jacobson Flare App for iOS devices now.

 

We invite you, also, to review our new, FREE companion app,

offering a convenient way of staying abreast of our latest blogs.

 

Download the Jacobson Flare NEWS App for iOS devices now.

Don’t just take our word for it – What-other-pilots-say …

15.08.2018 , what-other-pilots-say

Don’t just take our word for it – What-other-pilots-say …

This review, from Marc Santacroce, a CFI from the USA, was also posted on 3 February 2015, on our testimonials page, www.jacobson.flare.com/testimonials  .

‘So, once again in my flying life (started in 1965), I am faced with getting back up to speed on my aviation skills after another extended absence. I am not a high time pilot, just now 2000 PPSEL hours, and I’m probably the ONLY pilot you know who will admit he’s NOT the best pilot of all time. I don’t test well, I have to constantly study to stay on top, and I have to frequently practice my basic maneuvers, as well as my instrument skills.

This last two year hiatus has taken it’s toll, for one I’m older, and aviation has changed in leaps and bounds the past five years. I have to work harder to keep up, and consequently look for any way to make life easier.

The Jacobson Flare App is one of those aids that make life easier. The App will cost you about what an hour with a CFI will cost, and it is worth every penny.

When I was transitioning from my PPSEL to working on my instrument, I couldn’t find one, not one, instructor who could explain why we teach VFR flight one way and IFR flight another. Of course I’m referring to the perennial debate over whether power or pitch control rate or speed.

Capt Jacobson takes you through a rational analysis of what happens using both methods, then presents a compelling argument of why the “flightpath” method is more effective, and easier to master, than the “airspeed” method.

Three months ago, when I first started using the Jacobson Flare (coincidentally with flying an airplane I hadn’t touched in over 5 years), I found his techniques a struggle. Then, after three practice flights, I nailed it – consistently. Two more months passed (when I couldn’t afford to fly), and I lost my touch again. I emailed Capt Jacobson and he quickly diagnosed my problem as “fixation” on the aim point and flare point. “Open your field of vision”, he said. Today I went up, in a newer, more powerful model of the same airplane and bingo, I got it down.

After 45 minutes of air work, when I was probably too tired to do my best, I hit the pattern for 10 landings. All but one were spot on, and that one was just a longer landing because I hadn’t reduced power as much, and as soon as I should have. I intentionally flew some steep, and some shallow approaches to landing, as well as the optimum 3-4 degree approach, and the J-Flare method works.

Once you earn to work with aim point and flare point, and not be so concerned about HAT, your landings will become more consistent and more predictable. On my way back to home field, I gave a newly minted multi- engine pilot a lift. He couldn’t believe my landing. I took the opportunity to sing the Jacobson Flare praises and give him a 30 second tutorial. His only comment was that the method made total sense. Let me commend it to you too. Everyone says that mastering the landings was the hardest part of learning to fly. Do it the Jacobson Flare way, and they won’t be.

Marc Santacroce
San Francisco CA, USA’

 

Wishing you many safe landings

 

Captain David M Jacobson FRAeS MAP

 

Would you care to experience that unsurpassed sense of accomplishment, derived from executing consistently beautiful landings, more often?

For starters, Download the FREE Jacobson Flare LITE, our no fuss/no frills introduction. Here we demonstrate, step by step, the application of the Jacobson Flare on a typical grass airstrip at Porepunkah, YPOK.

 

We invite you to browse the consistently positive comments on our Testimonials page. Many pilots, of all levels of experience, have downloaded our Apps. Read about their own experiences with the Jacobson Flare technique and the App.

Then download the COMPLETE Jacobson Flare app – for iOS. You’re already possibly paying $300+/hour to hire an aeroplane: You’ll recover the cost of the app, in just ONE LESS-NEEDED CIRCUIT. Moreover, you’ll have an invaluable reference tool, throughout your entire life in aviation.

Download the COMPLETE Jacobson Flare App for iOS devices now.

 

We invite you, also, to review our new, FREE companion app,

offering a convenient way of staying abreast of our latest blogs.

 

Download the Jacobson Flare NEWS App for iOS devices now.

Landings De-mystified

Why inflict yesterday’s landing myths on tomorrow’s pilots?

06.08.2018 , simple-safe-logical-affordable

Why inflict yesterday’s landing myths on tomorrow’s pilots?

Of all manoeuvres flown in fixed-wing aircraft, the landing flare remains an enigma, It is usually the most precise flight manoeuvre that pilots are required to master as it is critical to the safe and satisfactory conclusion of every flight. I’t’s often stated that, ‘while take-offs are optional, landings are mandatory‘.

While everything else in aviation has developed throughout the last 100 years, landing training is still regarded, for the most part, as an ‘art‘. Conventional flare practices have involved a critical estimation of height  above the runway and are subject to quite a number of variable factors.

From the dawn of aviation, before and during World War One until 1987, there was no definitive, universal approach and landing technique and, even more puzzling, little recognition of the need for one. The original pilots were self-taught. Their haphazard trial-and-error practices gradually blossomed into a loose collection of landing myths and legends that ultimately came to be regarded as gospel. Surprisingly, these practices have remained for the most part unchallenged by generations of flight instructors.

It is being realised, by many countries, that there may soon be a significant shortage of pilots, world-wide. When this period arrives, the proper training of many new pilots will present huge challenges, especially if there is no change to the status quo.

We no longer have to swing the propellors of modern aircraft, yet most flight training organisations still cling to yesterday’s obsolescence. It is time now to move landing training from the ‘artistry‘ of 1918 into today’s world, where a totally proven, universal, quantifiable and consistent approach and landing flare technique can define new standards in competency.

The Jacobson Flare is the world’s precision tool that enables us to avoid inflicting yesterday’s landing techniques on tomorrow’s pilots. Together, we can help them to be more precise, consistent, efficient and, above all, safer than ever.

 

Wishing you many safe landings

 

Captain David M Jacobson FRAeS MAP

 

Would you care to experience that unsurpassed sense of accomplishment, derived from executing consistently beautiful landings, more often?

For starters, Download the FREE Jacobson Flare LITE, our no fuss/no frills introduction. Here we demonstrate, step by step, the application of the Jacobson Flare on a typical grass airstrip at Porepunkah, YPOK.

 

We invite you to browse the consistently positive comments on our Testimonials page. Many pilots, of all levels of experience, have downloaded our Apps. Read about their own experiences with the Jacobson Flare technique and the App.

Then download the COMPLETE Jacobson Flare app – for iOS. You’re already possibly paying $300+/hour to hire an aeroplane: You’ll recover the cost of the app, in just ONE LESS-NEEDED CIRCUIT. Moreover, you’ll have an invaluable reference tool, throughout your entire life in aviation.

Download the COMPLETE Jacobson Flare App for iOS devices now.

 

We invite you, also, to review our new, FREE companion app,

offering a convenient way of staying abreast of our latest blogs.

 

Download the Jacobson Flare NEWS App for iOS devices now.