Hello everyone,Firstly this is my first post here in the forum, and I

Hi Jibran,I also use autobrakes on 2 most of the time. But what I know that autobrakes usage relays on wet/dry rwys along with length.I'm sure more experienced Pilots/Simmers can give you a better answer though.Regards,Mohammed

Jibran-All braking distances stipulated are just that- stopping distances using brakes only. Obviously there are ways to assist- aerodynamic braking, spoilers, reverse thrust etc. These allow for selecting lower settings than required for brakes alone- prolonging brake life, guarding against brake overheat/fade and adding to passenger comfort.I would highly recommend TOPCAT (http://topcat.ofplan.net/index.php) for getting all auto-brake/landing settings, as well as take-off performance. A highly useful tool, that with the margins provided, gives excellent and accurate decision making ability for thrust derate selection as well as autobrake selection.With his latest update Christian has enabled automatic VATSIM or NOAA metar updating, instant PTOW importing from PMDG's 400 or 400F even over networked PCs- an absolutely BRILLIANT piece of software for our specific platform!ENJOY!Best-Carl F. Avari-Cooper BAW0225http://online.vatsimindicators.net/980091/523.png

Auto-brake depends on all sorts of things like Carl said. Something to also take into consideration though is where you want to stop. For example, if I'm flying BAW from Seattle to Heathrow and land on 9R, I would probably not use the auto brake and just use full reverse until I get close to terminal 4, then use manual braking. If I land on 27L, I'll use auto-brake 4 so when I turn off, I won't have to taxi a mile and a half to the gate.Also, contrary to popular belief, the carbon brakes on the 747-400 are actually best preserved when primarily relied on for stopping. Qantas used to have a SOP for Flaps 25 and Idle Reverse using the auto-brake for most of the deceleration. Then a flight overran a runway in heavy rain and that procedure changed.Ryan GamurotLucky to live Hawai'ihttp://www.virtualpilots.org/signatures/vpa296.png

>If I land on 27L, I'll use>auto-brake 4 so when I turn off, I won't have to taxi a mile>and a half to the gate.Now if you were a taxi driver, that's exactly what you'd want to do so you can help your nice passengers dig deeper into the wallets and purses :D

Firstly, thanks for all the replies...i realized that autobrake usage would depend on many variables, including runway conditions and what turnoff you were hoping/requested to make. I was just looking for something more formal than the "guess and check" method i have been using up until now.I actually have TOPCAT, and have been using to calculate my thrust derates for takeoff, however i hadn't updated to the new version (i have been using something like v0.87). I just downloaded the latest version and i must say it is incredible the number of new features that have been added. So i think i will be including information form TOPCAT in my autobrake selection decision from now on!P.S It is interesting to hear about QANTAS' procedures, i'm guessing the 744 that overran the runway is the one they spent all that money to avoid writing off?Jibran

Glad you are pleased with TOPCAT's evolution. I think its an outstanding piece of software, that has tailor made interfaces for PMDG.I could not imagine making sound t/o ldg calculations without it! The margin calculations allow for EXACT performance planning and no surprise execution- lovely!Best-Carl F. Avari-Cooper BAW0225http://online.vatsimindicators.net/980091/523.png