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 approach: 55–65 KIAS with flaps down, from the POH's normal-landing procedure.
- 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
- 152 (standard, 1977-85)
- FAA approach category
- A
- MTOW
- 757 kg (1669 lbs)
- Vref reference
- 60 kt at 757 kg
- Vref in flight
- Adjusted to the weight you land at
- Tail-strike limit
- 12°
- Ideal touchdown zone
- 50–200 m
- G-force curve
- The category's
- MSFS source
- Default Std
- FLARE matches
- Cessna 152 · 152 · C152
Related reading
- → How FLARE grades a landing · the composite formula behind every score
- → What "stabilized approach" actually means · the gates, the criteria, the technique
- → Light Single-Engine GA scoring thresholds · the category curves applied to this airframe
- → Full scoring methodology reference · the complete breakdown in the help docs