The 152 is the small-engine, two-seat trainer — slower than the 172, more responsive in pitch, with a narrower margin between approach speed and stall. If the 172 is the workhorse, the 152 is the gymnast — short coupled, light, and quick to react to inputs.
Landing technique
- Final speed: 55–60 KIAS, bleeding to 50 over the fence.
- Tight glide — the 152 doesn't have the energy to recover a botched approach. Be on speed and on glidepath, or go around.
- Round-out at 15–20 ft. Pull-back to maintain ~2 ft above the runway and let the speed bleed.
- Land on the mains first; the 152 is short-coupled — fly the nose wheel down slowly.
- Pattern speeds: 70 downwind, 65 base, 60 final, 55 over the threshold. Stable approach matters more here than in heavier iron.
Common mistakes
- Approaching too fast — at 65 over the threshold you'll float halfway down the runway.
- Drop landings from too high a round-out — the 152 has less energy reserve than the 172.
- Late round-out — pilots used to faster aircraft round out too low and slam the mains.
Aircraft data
- Manufacturer
- Cessna
- Model
- 152
- Variant
- —
- FAA approach category
- A
- MTOW
- 757 kg (1669 lbs)
- Vref reference
- 55 kt
- MSFS source
- Default Std
- FLARE matches
- Cessna 152 · 152
Related reading
- → How FLARE grades a landing — the composite formula behind every score
- → What "stabilized approach" actually means — the 1000-ft gate, four criteria, technique
- → Light Single-Engine GA scoring thresholds — per-category curves applied to this airframe
- → Full scoring methodology reference — complete breakdown in the help docs