How Many "Touch & Go's" Does It Take To Get To Have A "Landing Incident"?...1?...2?..5?..10?...More?

[Hank]

I do touch and goes for instrument currency, running along the runway at idle while resetting trim before powering up to head for the next airport. Sometimes I even do a touch and go on an IPC.

What's the point in purposely avoiding touch and goes?

My minimum for TnG is 5000' of runway and not landing long, otherwise I'll stop and taxi back.

[DonMuncy]

Sounds like the typical multi-tasking vs no multi-tasking question. I have had CFIs chide me for writing down a clearance while taxiing. And I do admit that it does take a little thought and eye movement to re-set the flaps to the take-off position (assuming you landed with full flaps) while rolling exactly on the center line. Yes, there are potential risks with any distraction, but yes, in real life we sometimes have to deal with distractions, so perhaps we ought to practice distractions. 

[EricJ]

32 minutes ago, DonMuncy said:

Sounds like the typical multi-tasking vs no multi-tasking question. I have had CFIs chide me for writing down a clearance while taxiing. And I do admit that it does take a little thought and eye movement to re-set the flaps to the take-off position (assuming you landed with full flaps) while rolling exactly on the center line. Yes, there are potential risks with any distraction, but yes, in real life we sometimes have to deal with distractions, so perhaps we ought to practice distractions. 

I've had a number of instructors/check pilots/etc do subtle or not-so-subtle distractions at critical moments.   It is good exercise.   It's also fun to snark back a bit when you notice it. 

[midlifeflyer]

Seems most if these threads come down to:

There’s an increased risk that’s not necessary.

vs.

It hasn’t happened to me so it’s silly.

[MikeOH]

23 hours ago, EricJ said:

I've had a number of instructors/check pilots/etc do subtle or not-so-subtle distractions at critical moments.   It is good exercise.   It's also fun to snark back a bit when you notice it. 

LOL!  Yeah, the weirdest one pulled on me was the CFI that kept changing the code on the transponder from 1200 before we took off!  Like four times!  I just kept casually resetting it to 1200 and never let on that I knew he was doing it.  Thankfully, he was not so inclined once we were airborne.  Seemed kind of a stupid 'distraction' as taxiing was about as far from a critical moment as you can get!

[jetdriven]

On 1/19/2025 at 1:01 PM, DonMuncy said:

Sounds like the typical multi-tasking vs no multi-tasking question. I have had CFIs chide me for writing down a clearance while taxiing. And I do admit that it does take a little thought and eye movement to re-set the flaps to the take-off position (assuming you landed with full flaps) while rolling exactly on the center line. Yes, there are potential risks with any distraction, but yes, in real life we sometimes have to deal with distractions, so perhaps we ought to practice distractions. 

Minimizing distractions is key for safety.  In 2-pilot airline operations the F/O will announce heads down to enter something into the FMGC or to write down something like a clearance.  We also don’t do any reconfiguring during taxi, exception being  the after landing flow at taxi speed once clear of the runway.  There is a reason for this. 

[T. Peterson]

On 1/19/2025 at 9:48 AM, Ricky_231 said:

What's the point of touch and goes beyond primary training? I assume no one here is renting so you're not paying by the hour. In my plane, I always do full stop/taxi back. No rush, no sudden changes in power. Flight school 172s, sure, but not in my baby.

Some folks do T&G’s because they enjoy them. 

[Ricky_231]

9 hours ago, T. Peterson said:

Some folks do T&G’s because they enjoy them. 

ok, fair. that's a good reason :-)

[A64Pilot]

On 1/21/2025 at 12:06 AM, T. Peterson said:

Some folks do T&G’s because they enjoy them. 

I think it goes way back as in decades ago and was primarily the new pilot and or owner just going flying and it was an excuse to fly, it was something to do, on weekends you would have several in the pattern doing T&G’s.

I personally other than back in training have ever done them, and don’t on a complex aircraft, but not because I’m afraid of a gear up, but because just adding gear cycles for seemingly no real gain is counterproductive as in it has to be accumulating wear for no gain.

[Ibra]

On 1/19/2025 at 7:37 PM, EricJ said:

I've had a number of instructors/check pilots/etc do subtle or not-so-subtle distractions at critical moments.

I enjoy doing it to students, also when not instructing and just flying with other pilots …

Just to see how far one can go before one lose it or enforce sterile cockpit. Learned this from a lady who taught me to fly while ago, she was the kind who can’t stop talking, even during flaring 

Edited Sunday at 09:58 PM by Ibra

[Fly Boomer]

On 1/26/2025 at 3:54 PM, Ibra said:

Learned this from a lady who taught me to fly while ago, she was the kind who can’t stop talking, even during flaring 

That's what the "Pilot Isolate" button on the audio panel is for.