‘Breaching the Dam’, Nicolas Trudgian – presented with permission from the artist

In 2012, David Jacobson collaborated with Jamie Durrant, producer of Essentials Magazine, in a new chapter of the Jacobson Flare Story.

Since 2014, the Jacobson Flare App can be easily and affordably downloaded to your Apple iOS or later OS device in just a few minutes. The cost of just one or two less necessary circuits. Less necessary because because blind repetition and guesswork is no longer mandatory.

The Mission

To revise and redevelop the entire Jacobson Flare visual and written presentation, including this comprehensive website.

A new company, the Jacobson Flare Pty Ltd, was established and work commenced to produce The Jacobson Flare App for iPad – available on the App Store.

Like all worthwhile projects, The Jacobson Flare story is more than a little involving.

2014 saw the launch of The Jacobson Flare App for iPad. This exciting new app is the equivalent of a 350-page interactive book, including six videos and five on-board calculators. It was listed immediately by Apple on their ‘Best New Apps’ list.

Met with immediate success, the app is now used by pilots in over 70 countries, to date, winning great respect for its content and Jamie’s fine design, functionality and presentation.

In January 2015, The Jacobson Flare Pty Ltd was short-listed as a finalist for the prestigious Innovation Awards of Aerospace Australia for Avalon Airshow 2015.

June 2015 saw the next exciting step forward: a collaboration was announced, linking the Jacobson Flare with WINGMATE, best described as a flight data recorder for light aircraft. It’s the brainchild of Peter Wezenbeek, air race tactician for Matt Hall, World Champion Australian Red Bull Air Race pilot and former RAAF FA-18 ‘Top Gun’. Peter was formerly the Renault F1 Race Team Control Systems Engineer and assisted Fernando Alonzo’s team to two World Championships.

Now, these two powerful tools combine the unique JACOBSON FLARE landing parameters with the leading-edge technology of WINGMATE. Together, they provide incomparable evidence-based feedback on approach and landing accuracy.

This will greatly enrich WINGMATE’s Landing Report of recorded flights and endow pilots and operators in any branch of aviation with finite results to review and refine levels of competency – which are now increasingly required by aviation authorities.

In February 2020, The Jacobson Flare App Version 2.0 for iOS – iPad, iPhone and iPod Touch was released, followed in March 2020 by The Jacobson Flare App Version 1.0 for Android devices.

Regrettably, the Android version has not met acceptance expectations. Ultimately,it was not self sustaining and was withdrawn on 22 February 2024.

Find out more about the app or Download now for Apple iOS and later OS

1965

While the first publication occurred in 1987, the story of The Jacobson Flare goes back much further. Back to early 1965.

David trained at Moorabbin, Victoria, Australia with Civil Flying School and soloed at 17 years of age at the typically average total of about 10 hours. Even then, he was dismayed with the widespread acceptance of trial and error practices. These trace back to the classic era of ‘circuits and bumps’, developed haphazardly through to the end of World War I in 1918 and recycled ever since.

We’ve all been told over the years, by flight instructors and training manuals, WHAT to do to successfully land an airplane. The HOW has been a bit more elusive. Initially, David was taught to pitch the airplane with the elevators to control airspeed and then use power to control the rate of descent. He says, “It made no sense to me, when on a normal powered approach, to use the secondary effects of controls to fly the approach.

This is the most precise manoeuvre most pilots are ever required to execute; and ‘getting the hang’ of the landing flare from a combination of guesswork, the ‘look’, the ‘feel’, repetition and luck made no sense, whatsoever!”

There was no universal explanation or system to use on subsequent aircraft type conversions – or at new locations.

Have you ever watched the movie ‘The Dam Busters’? David recalls first seeing it with his father, on its Australian release in 1956. ‘The use of simple triangulation applied to the problems of low flying at 60ft over water at night, and the design of a simple Y-shaped bombsight, captured my imagination as a then nine-year-old’, he says.

In 1965, at 18 years of age, that highly effective use of triangulation became David’s inspiration. He says:

“By then, thankfully, a very senior ex-RAF instructor, Jim Noonan, had taught me how to aim my eyes at an aim point by pitching the airplane with the elevators, and controlling airspeed with power (as taught by the airlines, defence forces and the more enlightened flying schools). Then it clicked; my eye path to the aim point was a position line. A second position line, such as one over the nose of the airplane to a point on the runway centreline, short of the aim point, would surely provide a visual fix for the flare point, rather than relying on an educated guess of flare height.

I didn’t have much flight experience back then. Certainly, not enough to dream that my idea might actually work, let alone be universally adaptable to almost any airplane.”

The Dam Busters Y-shaped bomb sighting tool;Breaching the Dam (section), Nicolas Trudgian – showing triangulation of light beams intersecting on the water’s surface

David’s career in aviation and training is extensive and packed with highlights.

Here he describes his career and the refinement of The Jacobson Flare:

“My early career followed a typical course through general aviation (GA) as a flight instructor. I joined Trans-Australia Airlines (TAA) on 12 January 1970, flying as First Officer on F27, DC-9 and B727 aircraft, achieving Initial Command on the F27, in 1982. In 1978, however, an event occurred that is worth the telling:

‘The worst landing that I ever completed was the one I never actually made’

Fortunately, no damage was done – the only thing that really took a hit was my ego. The simple fact is that many years ago, I touched down in a passenger jet before I thought I needed to commence the landing flare manoeuvre.

I was the (reasonably experienced) First Officer (co-pilot) of a B727-100, one of the most forgiving airplanes to land. We were in perfect conditions on a cold, calm, moonlit night with unrestricted visibility, no rush and a completely stabilised approach. Yet a visual illusion of our height above the runway caused me to not even commence the flare before the jet planted itself firmly on the runway surface. Firmly enough that it didn’t even skip or bounce.

Like me, both the Captain and Flight Engineer were also lulled into inaction … not even a sharp intake of breath from either, just before we ‘arrived’. There was much embarrassment all round, especially when (after clearing the runway), our Purser enquired, “Which one of you aces is responsible for the 6-rows of rubber jungle back here?”  Of course, she was referring to a collection of dropped oxygen mask panels.

Out of sheer embarrassment, I made sure I didn’t pass through the terminal before all our passengers had claimed their bags and departed. Later, it cost me a few rounds of drinks in reparation for my colleagues!

The problem becomes apparent

That experience sure made me think about how we continue to land airplanes by guesswork and trial-and-error techniques that hark back over 100 years to the end of WW1.

1983 found me instructing again, on weekends, with the RAAF Point Cook Flying Club, Victoria. It was an opportunity to put something back and to re-discover my love of elementary flying training in a special and historic environment. By 1986 I was a DC9 Training Captain, finding that my landing technique on the DC9-31 was much the same as on a variety of light airplanes at Point Cook, although obviously commencing at different flare heights.

One day, while waiting for the rain to lift, a couple of RAAF instructors, a private pilot, student pilot and I were gathered around a white-board with steaming mugs of coffee, discussing landings. The 1965 flare-fix inspiration from ‘The Dam Busters’ was re-kindled that day.

For the next 2 years, I gave myself a harder time than anyone has done since. I couldn’t believe that no one else seemed to have thought of it. Many industry experts were very encouraging, and insisted I should publish my findings. Apart from the ‘The Dam Busters’, I had also been a young fan of the story of the American ‘frontiersman’, Davy Crockett and I recalled the old Disney movie suggesting that Crockett’s motto had been, ‘Be sure you’re right and then go ahead.’ So, I wrote and presented the first paper, ‘Where to Flare?’ for the 1987 Australian Aviation Symposium, Canberra ACT.

Triangles have had three sides for a very long time and we’d only ever used two of them. Moreover, apart from trying to judge the height of an invisible ‘opposite’ side of the triangle which, of course, varies for every type of airplane, every error occurring on this vertical side compounds about 20 times down the runway. Landing accuracy and runway occupancy times suffer as a direct result.

In comparison, the adjacent side (on the runway centreline) is visible, and any errors occurring here are reduced to 1/20th in vertical terms. Flare point predictability, consistency, transportability (to other airplanes) and safety are only some of the benefits. It is tolerant of errors and actually self-compensates for runway slope, path angle and flap settings.

Runway width is no longer a consideration, because the flare fix occurs longitudinally and the height illusions may therefore be discounted. It also diminishes ‘lack of recency’ issues. It defines a virtual eye path to touchdown.

The name came about because one cannot patent a training technique, or a formula. (A chef may copyright a cookbook, but he or she cannot patent a cake recipe.) So I called it ‘The Jacobson Flare’, and this name and the JF logo are now registered trademarks.

Over the years the most common statement made to me by other pilots is, ‘It’s quantified what we’ve all probably been trying to do.’ I agree.”