Everyone take a deep breath and say it with me... Doh!
Fresh off of her 3-month firewall-forward refurbishment and awesome-making, 25R is going back under the knife for awhile. While 3-point landings are strange, 2-point landings leave much to be desired, except for the maintenance staff, who can see their children being upgraded to a Yale education here shortly. :)
Anyone who has done a touch-n-go knows that it is a rushed and hurried operation. Land, maintain centerline, clean up the plane, get going again, check airspeeds, stabilize and climb -- all in a blink. It feels like you need 12 hands and maybe even some of Neo's bullet-time special effects work.
Even in a fixed-gear airplane, this can be trouble. Out of all of the steps, forgetting to raise the flaps can literally make your plane hug the ground and never leave ground effect. It's what we would call a "critical operation", ie, one whose performance must be ideal or it may result in Bad Things(tm) happening.
The whole purpose of the touch-n-go is to get as many landings practiced in an hour as possible. That's it. It's a hasty operation, and as we know, haste can make waste.
Observe, then, the RG touch-n-go.
In addition to the flaps being able to cause Bad Things(tm) to your take-off, everyone contemplates that gear lever. The idea of doing a cannonball into the runway pool is one that sends shivers down ANY pilot spine, and it's a good reason why many folks stick with things like 182s and 206s, and never dabble in the foldy-legged planes. Additionally, failing to clean up the prop RPM (even in a heavy FG plane) can cause anemic or absent climb rates. Failing to open those cowl flaps can cook a poor engine. Man, there's a lot of housekeeping to do on these complex planes.... maybe we shouldn't do all this stuff at 50mph flying down a strip of pavement?
Luckily, nobody was injured (aside from pride) in 25R's little pavement kiss, but it could have been prevented. I'd like to discuss another way to go, one that people don't often talk about, and one which is very nearly as efficient as the touch-n-go.
CLEARED FOR THE OPTION
So, intrepid pilot, it's a beautiful blue sunny day, as we so often enjoy, and you'd like to crack off some landings. Nothing more. Maybe the wind is doing interesting things, maybe you need to brush up on some currency, and maybe you just want to search for that elusive runway-tickling greased landing that feels oh-so-nice when it happens.
You grabbed a 172RG for the hour.
Instead of the hurried rush of the touch-n-go, I'd like to spend an additional 30 seconds of your time and discuss the stop-n-go. What's a stop-n-go? Come on, don't be silly -- a stop-n-go is where you literally stop ON the runway, collect your thoughts, run your checklist, exhale, and then start again from the top. The most I have ever seen a stop-n-go add to a circuit in the pattern is 30 seconds.
So how do you get one?
First, start by planning a runway appropriate to the occasion. No stop-n-goes at Corona, I'm afraid, unless your short field takeoffs and landings are something to make Chuck Yeager curse in envy. (pro tip: they're not) But why not Chino's 26L? Perfect.
Second, just ask for it. You can request "stop-n-go landings", which gobbles syllables, or you can request "the option". What's the option? Well per FAA Order 7110.65S, aka "the Air Traffic Controller handbook" (3-8-1), it is this:
"The 'Cleared for the Option' procedure will permit a pilot the option to make a touch-and-go, low approach, missed approach, stop-and-go, or full stop landing. This procedure will only be used at those locations with an operational control tower and will be subject to ATC approval"
Ah ha!
So in practice, the "option" allows you to basically horse around all over the airport to your heart's content, as long as it's one of those 5 logical outcomes to your flying the pattern, and all of this power at your disposal in two little syllables.
The other good news in getting "the option" is that the tower controller will give you all of the spacing you require to do whatever it is you need to do, in a slow and methodical fashion. No rushing, just checklists, a swig of water, or a double-check on your lipstick in the mirror. Perfect. It is basically a landing and departure clearance rolled into one. You own the runway that you have "the option" for.
Cool, eh?
Give it a shot next time you're playing at Riverside or Chino. I prefer Chino, since they have 2 runways available -- if I stop to finish that article in AOPA pilot while sitting on the runway, they just won't mind, and traffic will be diverted around me.
And, if you're in the RG (when she returns), please don't do touch-n-goes. It's tough on paint AND pride. 25R's forecasted downtime will be in the neighborhood of 1-3 months.
Blue skies & rolling landings,
- Mike
