When to put gears down

[Guest]

In the default approach procedures in FS2002 when exactly am I supposed to lower my gears? I generally lower them when my a/c intercepts the ILS, but for some planes, like the 747 i think it's a bit too late.Any ideas?Cheers!

[Guest Maul]

Hello,It's not a bad thing to put the gear down when you intercept the ILS, but if you intercept at 15-18 miles, it may slow you down a bit. So generally, I tend to put them down when I'm at the outer marker (about 6 miles out). By then, you should be stabilized on the approach and at the right speed to have your gear come down.Hope this helps!MaulWho Wants To Fly The Big Jets In & Out Of Chicago O'Hare...I DO! :-wave

[Guest]

I put my gear down when the glideslop indicator reaches one "notch" above centered and lower flaps to 10 degrees (If in the 747), then trim for about an 800 feet/min approach.

[Guest groundpounder75]

Lando is right on. I have a 744 POH and it states the same.

[Guest flightpro08]

I also do the same as Lando.Ryan-Flightpro08 :-cool VATSIM Pilot/ControllerZLA ARTCC Senior Controller (C-3)SAN TRACON Lead ASRC (Advanced Simulated Radar Client) Beta Tester-----------------------------My "Home Made" System Specs:Intel Pentium 4 2.2GHz ProcessorTurbo Gamer ATX Mid-Tower with 420W Power SupplyEPoX 4G4A Motherboard with Intel 845G ChipsetVisiontek XTASY GeForce4 128MB Ti4600 (Det 30.30 Drivers)512MB PC2100 DDR RAM40GB Matrox 7200RPM Hard DriveWindows XP Home Edition SP1*No CPU or GPU Overclocking*3dMark2001SE Score: 11298-----------------------------Click [link:ftp.avsim.com/library/esearch.php?DLID=&Name=&FileName=&Author=Ryan+Fretwell&CatID=Root]Here to Download my American Eagle POSKY CRJ-200!

[yellow5 0]

I usually put my gear down before touchdown. As long as they are down I am gauranteed a good landing.... When you land with the gear up, the pax get pretty upset. Especially the dogs that are in the cargo hold below....

[Guest crashing_pilot]

IMHO :-lol

[N562Z 4]

Gustavok:I drop my gear at the outer marker as well, for all airliners and jets. I find it a convenient reminder. So like Pavlov's dogs, I now instinctively reach for the gear handle when I hear the beeping sound!Alex ChristoffN562ZMinneapolis, MNThermobulb@aol.com

[Guest]

LOL btw, are dogs in the cargo hold considered pax? No wonder why plane food tastes funny... they're too close to the galleys!

[Damian Clark 1,203]

Hi,Standard rule of thumb is to put the gear down at glideslope intercept, or crossing the FAF (final approach fix). This is for IFR approaches. Best thing is as mentioned earlier, to plan ahead and put them down along with some flaps when 1 dot below the G/S - to ease the transition to the new performance configuration and establish steady decent on glidepath without much fuss.Different for visual approaches. When flying in the pattern you generally put them down on downwind. When making a straight-in, or other different pattern entry, gear goes down as soon as it can (within aircraft limitations Vle).The gear can go down earlier, in any circumstance, if you need to lose airspeed or altitude. Great speed brakes they are. Just make sure you are below Vle to prevent damage!This is just rule of thumb that I have always been taught to follow and it makes a lot of sense.. keeps things standard so you always have an 'event point' at which you put the gear down at. Of course you then want to complete your landing/GUMPS checklist at LEAST 2 more times after you initially extend the gear, and always again when "crossing the fence". :)-Damian[table border=0" cellspacing="30" cellpadding="0][tr][td align = "left"]Damian ClarkHiFi Simulation SoftwareDeveloper of ActiveSkyThe next-generation weather environment simulation for FS2002!http://hifi.avsim.net/activesky[/td][td]http://hifi.avsim.net/activesky/images/wxresmallbanner.jpg][/td][/tr][/table://http://hifi.avsim.net/activesky/ima...][/tr][/table

[Geofa 108]

I always put the gear down at the outer marker on an instrument approach-and at the first descent point of a non precision approach.Besides the reasons giving-that places in my mind that the gear level is the "down" switch-it is always put down at the point you start "down". No gear down-no start down-I am much less likely to forget lowering the gear this way.http://members.telocity.com/~geof43/Geofdog2.gif

[Guest]

I have a great unobstructed view of the the approach path for CYYZ(Runways 05/06L & R), being pretty much prependicular to the OM/FAF point.95%+ of the time, aircraft lower the gear at the OM/FAF(it might well be at the 1 notch above), regardless of model(DHC8 to 747).At CYYZ, you don't contact tower for landing permission until at the Marker. FAF's at CYYZ are generally 4 nm from runway.My understanding is you want to keep your craft in as clean a config as long as possible in the event you have to execute an emergency procedure.The exceptions to this rule at CYYZ appear to be AN-124 and IL-xx equipment. They almost always have their gear down on downwind(If I look out my back window, I see the downwind leg, I am in the middle of the circuit).In FS02, I try to follow this same rule, gear down at FAF. However, I do have a few models that require gear down and flaps set prior to GS intercept in order to capture the GS without going into a nose dive.