Landing the 744

[engwerda 0]

At what call out should the flare be initiated? With the 767 I start at the 30 call out but that does not seem to work too well with the 747. SO I tried flaring at 50 but I think I reduced power too soon and landed heavily. Is there some ground effect or should I carry power into the flare? My over the numbers speed is VREF +10 give or take a few knots.Gerry

[Guest The_Glideslope]

Usually Flare is armed in autoland at 1000 feet and corrects descent rate and then at aprox. 100 RADALT pitches up to flare. I usually land no more than VREF Flaps 30.But his depends a lot on the wheight, winds and CG.

[Guest capntom]

Many years ago when I was a budding air taxi pilot in Alaska, a recently retired United 74 Captain explained how to land the Whale, it was good advice and stood me in good stead through many years of flying both the (now) Classic and the 400.The RAT calls are very helpful in two ways, one to judge the descent rate and to to properly guage your altitude...to precisely begin the flare. At 30 feet slowly retard the throttles to idle (should take 1-2 sec) and smoothly raise the pitch attitude 2 deg. Listen to the call rate of the RAT, 20-10 etc. If it's comming too fast, ya didn't pitch up enough or soon enough, soon to be followed by a crunch.... If they are too slow (you will lear this) you will float. After the "ten" it should land in a couple of seconds, max, if not slightly relax the back pressure and she will land. The real aircraft tends to pitch up a lot with spoiler extension and reverse actuation, fly the nosewheel smoothly onto the runway.

[Guest s_L_Y_F_a]

This is what I do:Below 100 feet I reduce V/S too 700fpsAt 50 feet I cut off the throttles smoothly, but not too smooth, it takes about 2-3 seconds for me to get throttles to idle. Having the throttles cut off, I reduce V/S to 500-600. Hearing the callout "30" I prepare for the flare and at 20 feet I start to pull the nose up gently so I have a V/S of about 200-300. Than I keep my eyes on the RA and the V/S needle and start to pitch up slowly so I can have a V/S at about 100-150 fps at Touchdown.This worked fine for me after a while. However, the worst thing that can happen to you ( besides a too hard landing or an engine strike) during the final phase of the flare is to pitch up too high and get a positive V/S. This will lead to an overshoot and probably to a very hard landing since your speed drops quite fast.But as mentioned above this is my "style". You will have to find out whats best for you. The explenations in the manual are a good start but they are neither a law nor the best way for everyone to land that beast. Do some Touch´n go s and whatch the replay so you can analyze what you did good/wrong and how you could improve you flaring technique.

[cowpatz 243]

Really it is a matter of what works for you. The flare and landing is a visual manoeuver while listening to the radio alt height call outs.A good landing will most likely result from a stabilised approach. That is on speed, in trim and on glide path. Most operators establish gates whereby the aircraft must be stablised or a go-around is mandatory. Typically 500ft VMC and 1000ft IMC.The best place to start regarding flare techique is the Boeing Flight Training Manual.Quote " When the threshold passes under the airplane nose and out of sight, shift the visual sighting point to the far end of the runway. Shifting the visual point assists in controlling the pitch attitude during the flare. Maintaining a constant airspeed and descent rate assists in determining the flare point. Initiate the flare when the main gear is approx 30ft above the runway by incraesing pitch attitude approx 2 to 3 degrees. This slows the rate of dsescent.After the flare is initiated, smoothly retard the thrust levers to idle, and make small pitch adjustments to maintain the desired descent rate to the runway. Ideally main gear touchdown should occur simultaneously with the thrust levers reaching idle. A smooth power reduction to idle also assists in controlling the natural nose-down pitch change associated with thrust reduction. Hold sufficient back pressure on the control column to keep the pitch attitude constant." UnquoteDo not trim during the flare.Your VTT speed should be VREF + half the steady headwind component plus half the gust factor. In other words if the wind was reported at 20 kts down the runway gusting to 30 kts then you would use half the headwind component (which as it is straight down the runway is 20 kts) giving you 10 kts plus half of the gust factor which is = Peak gust HWC - Steady HWC so 30-20=10/2=5kts. Add 5kts to the previous 10 to get 15 kts. Add this to your VREF to give you the final speed to set on the MCP. Use a minimum of 5 kts and a max of 25 kts as additives. 30 ft is a good general starting point but as you gain experience you can lower that height for lesser weights. At max landing weight I use 30ft and at light weights 15 to 20 ft. Listen to the Radio alt and the speed at which the calls are made. If they are fast then you have a high descent rate, too slow and you are not desending fast enough and are eating up pavement.Have a look at how the autoland works. You will notice that at 1500ft AGL the flare mode is armed. At 45 to 40 ft the the flare mode engages. The autoland does flare quite high. Have a look at the rate of thrust reduction and the speed of the calls. This is what you are looking to achieve. Dont forget to look down to the far end of the runway.The simulator is a little difficult to fly as you do not have the periphery vision (side windows) that the real aircraft has. Side vision gives subtle clues during the flare and this is missing in the sim unless you can set up 3 monitors! Happy landings.CheersSteve

[Qavion 19]

During Autoland flare only "arms" at 1500' radio height on the real aircraft. The actual flare height depends on vertical speed as you come down the glidepath and varies between 40 and 60 feet (50' at normal descent rates). At high weights, your airspeed should be faster... and as a result, your vertical speed will be faster... so your flare will begin sooner than 50'.The automatics try to put the aircraft on the ground 450' past the glideslope transmitter at a descent rate of 1.5'/second. i.e. 90'/min... which some would consider to be a greaser :)Autothrottle retard begins at 25' with a thrust lever retard rate of 5 degrees a second (i.e. the throttles are retarded smoothly, not slam-dunked).How you, the pilot handle it, is another matter however :(Cheers.Q>

[engwerda 0]

Thank you everyone - now that is what I call support. I am off to try out your suggestions. Many thanks.Gerry