When we don't know something exists, we rarely search for it

When we don’t know something exists, we rarely search for it

11.07.2020 , David Jacobson , we've-always-done-it-this-way 0

When we don’t know something exists, we rarely search for it

On December 17, 1903, Wilbur and Orville Wright made four brief flights at Kitty Hawk. The Wright brothers had invented, flown and somehow landed the world’s first successful powered aircraft. Ever since that historic event, pilots – with a wide range of aptitudes – have pursued the elusive, consistently perfect landing. Sadly, this seemingly formidable task remains elusive to too many pilots, over 100 years later : Sadly, because it is no longer elusive.

The first generation of pilots, who pioneered the next 10 years leading to World War One, virtually taught themselves and each other. By 1914-1918 through to 1987, no formal approach and landing training system had yet been developed, other than trial-and-error and individual pilot opinions. Myths, legends and misinformation were added to the mix and re-cycled, unchallenged by generations of flight instructors who claimed, collectively, that it was a matter of repetition, judgment and experience – none of which can be taught.

In 1965, as a young student pilot trying to fly an approach, I was taught to pitch the airplane to control airspeed and then use power to control the rate of descent. It made no sense to me to use the secondary effects of controls to fly the approach which, for most pilots, is the most precise manoeuvre they are required to perform; and then, ‘getting the hang‘ of the landing flare from a combination of guesswork, the ‘look’, the ‘feel’, repetition and luck – but with no universal explanation or system to use on subsequent aircraft type conversions, or executing final approaches in challenging, even critical conditions. The silence on precisely ‘HOW’ to land a plane, from flight training books, manuals and videos, is both deafening and worthless.

I went searching for better answers and solutions : and found none. Fortunately I did ‘get the hang of it’, personally but, even twenty years later in 1985 as an experienced flight instructor, I hadn’t been able to resolve the range of problems inherent in teaching landings – in both large and small aircraft – without a comprehensive, fact-based system. That became my dream – and then my dream became a reality.

My good friend and mentor, Geoff Tually, a renowned specialist in agricultural business, financial advice and farm succession planning, recently hit the nail on the head when he said, “If you don’t know that something exists, you’ll never go looking for it.”

I’ve realised that these wise words captured the essence of my work : Finally, by 1985 I knew I was looking for a solution to the circus that conventional landing training has become. By 1987, I had found it from an inspiration back in 1965 and had written my first Paper.

Today, it’s called the Jacobson Flare : and, now, you’ve found it, too.

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.

When we don’t know something exists, we rarely search for it