Touch and Go

For fun?? I'm not sure about the point of doing it.
I have a video that shows an A330 doing some Touch and Go's.

99jolegg wrote:

Hiya,
What is the point in touch and go and when is it used? I've never done it before

Well, landing practice, for one thing. Once you've touched down, it is presumed you can bring the plane to a halt and taxi, etc, so touch and go allows you to practice multiple touch downs without having to stop.

SoCalRick is correct. T&G's are used to save time, fuel, and aircraft expense while practicing landing techniques during initial training and to maintain currency after licensing. There is very little to be learned taxiing back to the runway after landing, once you have basic taxiing concepts mastered. Doing T&G's allows you to make more landings in any given period of time than full stop landings would.

That makes sense. I should have thought about that.
I made some Touch and Go's before. It's a bit hard because you don't have to use full flaps and you have to come in a bit faster. I saw this on the video I have.

Flying the pattern is your busiest time in aircraft control, visual and radio work. After touching down there's a lot of work to get the aircraft back to the takeoff configuration in a short amount of time and runway distance.

T&Gs help to improve the pilot's ability to deal with the volume of rapid changes in configuration and the effects on the aircraft. Also prepares the pilot for last minute go-arounds. To increase the pressure try T&Gs on shorter runways.

T&G's are purely for practice and pattern improvements.

When I download a new aircraft (prop) I take it from KSEA to KBFI to KRNT and back to KSEA.
It's fun and I see how it handles and lands.

AGUS0404: You wrote: "you don't have to use full flaps and you have to come in a bit faster". Not true.

A touch and go should be no different than any other landing during the approach and landing phases. You should be using the same flap settings and same landing speeds as you would if it were a full stop landing and those should be determined by the type of landing you are attempting(normal, cross-wind, short-field, wet-field, etc).

The only difference in T&G's and full stops is after you touch down. Instead of braking and taxiiing off the runway, you must, in a short period of time, clean-up the aircraft (flaps, trim) and reset takeoff power while you are rolling down the runway.

Well, Don Wood, I saw the Air France A330 video in which it shows the A330 doing some Touch and Go's with almost no flaps. Maybe it was on second position. The A330 land with full flaps, and not with Flap 2 position.

I completely understand what you said, and I can trust you, since you are a real pilot.

Thanks for all the answers! 😀 I will try it tomorrow seems like a sensible idea!

Don Wood wrote:

AGUS0404: You wrote: "you don't have to use full flaps and you have to come in a bit faster". Not true.

A touch and go should be no different than any other landing during the approach and landing phases. You should be using the same flap settings and same landing speeds as you would if it were a full stop landing and those should be determined by the type of landing you are attempting(normal, cross-wind, short-field, wet-field, etc).

The only difference in T&G's and full stops is after you touch down. Instead of braking and taxiiing off the runway, you must, in a short period of time, clean-up the aircraft (flaps, trim) and reset takeoff power while you are rolling down the runway.

That is exactly true. I'm not into multi-engine planes yet, but in a single engine a T&G goes exactly like a normal landing, but instead of braking you just apply full power and go on from there.

On shorter rnwys I don't pull my flaps all the way back in touch & go's. On strips shorter than about 3500' I reset the flaps to 10 degrees instead of full retract. This gets you off the rnwy a little sooner.

I'm afraid there was misunderstanding about my comments on flap settings, etc with touch and go's. I by no means meant to imply that an aircraft might not do a T&G with less than full flaps. What I was trying to say, perhaps badly, was that, for the type of landing you are trying to make, you would use the same flap settings, trim and power on approach as you would if it were a full stop landing. The purpose of a T&G is, afterall, practice. It makes no sense to "practice" for a particular kind of landing with different aircraft configurations than you would use when not practising. If you do, it is no longer practice, it is flight test .

I often land with zero flaps when I'm approaching a long runway, especially if my desired taxiway is a long distance down that runway. That allows me to keep my speed up on final, not interfering with other traffic and to land at a higher speed, shortening my taxi time. The point is, I would do the same whether I was making a full stop or a T&G landing. On the other hand, if I were practicing short-field landings, the objective is to make the approach at the lowest possible safe speed. Therefore, whether I was making a T&G or a full stop, I would be using the greatest amount of flaps and the lowest safe power setting consistent with conditions to minimize my ground speed at touchdown.

One of the things pilots learn through practice (T&G's) is what combination of flaps, trim, and power settings are appropriate for various wind conditions and the type of landing you wish to make.

Re FL050's comment about braking, that may or may not be true. Some instructors, especially in the early phases of landing training and with a suitably long runway, will have their student apply brakes almost to a full stop, then clean the airplane up and apply takeoff power. That gives the student experience and confidence not only in the approach phase but in the roll-out phase without having to take the extra time to exit the runway and taxi back. Of course, on a controlled field, ATC would have to be accepting of that and on shorter runways, there may not be enough concrete to allow that technique.