I apologize for the unsolicited, or rude, frivolity. Meant no harm.

OK, maybe I took it wrong- the whole tone of it seemed derisive to me. Thanks for the olive branch, accepted with humility.

The xml mod don't seem right to me. You let up on F2 and you get F1 (throttle cut)? Bogus.

Scott was replying directly to my (misguided?) request for some way to emulate a "reverse toggle" on a single button or control in FSX, given that it lacks separate "button down/button up" functionality. I agree that, on reflection, I don't really need it.

Seems like you're a prime candidate (don't go there) for using ILS aproach. This involves using AP and Aproach feature of AP. It should take you down to the threshold, perfectly lined up, and all you have to do is hit the 'Z' key (one finger and 'no hands', yoohoo, hello-haha) just before you do your 'flare'.

Unfortunately, the particular airplane (CS "727 Captain") that I'm trying to do this with has "issues" with its old Sperry AP in approach ("Auto/GS") mode. It steadfastly refuses to capture either LOC or GS without continual non-convergent zig-zagging around the LOC and porpoising around the GS all the way down final to the eventual crash site. Others are experiencing the same problem, yet still others say it works fine for them. I have submitted a ticket on this to CS, but they say "unable to duplicate problem" so it won't likely be fixed any time soon.So out of necessity, I hand-fly all approaches in the 727.

This is how the 'real' pilots do it

FAA Commercial/Instruments for [nn] years. I iz real pilut. Or unreel pilut.First solo was in a C140 off of grass. Autopilot didn't work in that one either. CFI was a firm believer in practicing "real" engine-out scenarios- so one day instead of pulling the throttle and telling me "you just lost the engine" he pulled the mixture, thereby saving himself the trouble of announcing anything. I set up for I-10 westbound, almost directly below us, then checked wind, did a 180 and set back up for I-10 eastbound. Kept waiting for the mixture to go back in. Started really sweating at 200 AGL. CFI just grins and nods. Mixture never went in. Prop stops windmilling during the flare. Greased it onto I-10 between 2 trucks. Mixture in, starter, engine oil pressure, throttle to firewall, trimtrimtrimtrim, nice touch and go but couldn't log it as such because not on an airport. CFI remarks "Good job. We have to get her on pavement every now and then just to rough up the tires." I giggle hysterically, knees still knocking. We'd both be grounded for life if we did that today.CFI says "let's go back to the field for some pattern work starting with a full stop," so I go back and land, turning off whenever I reached safe taxi speed (you don't have "taxiways" if you don't have an actual "runway" to speak of.) CFI has me stop in the middle of the field, jumps out of the airplane (#####?), pulls a folding lawn chair out of the back of the airplane, scribbles something in my log and says "give me two touch 'n goes and a full stop. Then we'll talk some more about what we just did." I keep waiting for him to get back in, the engine going tickitty-tick-tick-tick... He finally opens the door back up and says "If you don't go soon we'll have to install lights at the airport, and I don't think that's in the budget." I didn't actually GET IT until then. Holy crap! Did my 2-and-1 without bending anything and lost my shirttail at the end. WOOHOO! Not until the next day did I read back in my log to see what he had scribbled there: "Pattern work, t/o, ldg, climbs, descents, const rate & S-turns, engine-out procedures, all good. Qual & Cert for solo flight within 5 miles of airport" and then "First solo OK, good job." Not a word about any truck drivers changing their drawers on the Interstate.Took my FAA checkride for Commercial in a Saratoga-SP in hard IMC on an IFR clearance to a "VFR on top" block altitude and using a particularly gnarly cloud bulge below us as "ground ref" for pylon turns... Examiner said that would work even though wind couldn't be the factor it was supposed to be for that exercise because mostly what he wanted to see was accurate, by-the-numbers precision flying and since we departed PDK IFR with 200-1/4 in a 14K crosswind and tracked the LOC outbound (back course) in our zero-zero climb to VMC above 6,000 he said he already knew I could compensate for wind drift...*sigh* Fun times, but I digress: I already know how we reel piluts do it if we got good stick-n-rudder training to start with and practice precision by the numbers at all times thereafter....

But if you want to hand land then use as much (up) PITCH TRIM as is necessary to relieve the pressure on you controls (hand, or joy) as you make your approach where if you DO let go of the stick you will not nose into ground.

This is just basic airmanship, but thanks. Any airplane I'm flying (real or Sim) is *always* trimmed for hands-off flight in whatever phase we are in, except for those brief moments of transition between configurations (gear, flaps, airspeed changes) and between flight phases... like, for instance, the flare at the end of a fully-trimmed final. I don't do the flare with trim (I don't think that's what you were suggesting, but you implied that letting go of the stick at the flare would be "OK" as long as I was well trimmed when I let go- but I am pulling the airplane out of trim by 2-3 degrees for a couple of seconds at the end in order to flare). I do the flare with stick/yoke back-pressure from a trimmed descent condition (final). Hence, letting go of the stick for even a half-second in the flare *will* result in the nose dropping at least a bit (because the airplane is trimmed for 3 degrees less nose-up than it is currently flying at AND because the airspeed is steadily decaying AND because my stick has centering springs)... and dropping the nose even a bit mid-flare is not a good thing IMHO when you're trying to hold 2 or 3 degrees nose-up back pressure 1-5 feet from concrete. It's not that I "nose into the ground" if I let go of the stick in the flare... I just make "firmer arrivals" than I want to make by thumping it on from 5 feet or whatever, followed by nose gear touchdown much earlier than I intended.Yes, I know: "any landing you can walk away from blah blah blah..." Thanks, and tailwinds...

Agreed. Agreed. I myself give it more pitch trim than I really need ('fly the trim'?) and to where I might even have to push forward (a little) on the stick. Gives me a safety margin. In the sim different model of 747 will fly different. Don't have any Capt Anybody's heavies, or payware, so I can't compare.So it's how much lift you get from your flaps that sometimes makes the difference. Not all are alike, like I said. If needed I will increase the lift factor (and use '-0.500' for pitch factor) in (Flaps) section to get better results. Just a little of this and a little of that will tame them to where you can control them every step of the flight. Of course too much lift from flaps will make you reduce throttle which leads to other problems. And if the real heavies land at 130 to 150 kts, then in Sim you will find that with good dynamics you can land them at 110 to 120 kts (which is what I aim for when I tweak dynamics) and then I can still land at 130 kts knowing it will not stall out on me, or zoom in too high, at those speeds. Spoiler drag? That too. Oswald? Yep. Smooth throttle (spool up/down). Of course. It's easier in real life, I do believe, as you know the specs. In the Sim you don't know what your will get, like with chocolates. Happy landings.Chuck BNapamuleHere is a 'sample' of only 1 video that I made of a heavy (landing) at YouTube. Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vEAB9N4mzwY

What I did and worked to me, and for sure for most of you: Before you start FSX, enter to calibration into the Control Manager, in my case from CH. But it supposed to work from different manufacturers, anyway...there we go; once the Manager is opened, you have to select the yoke that you intent to calibrate; then you will follow the steps that probably you are already familiar with; so, you will move the yoke to the limits in "X" and "y" axis. Every time that you complete each step; you push a button on the yoke or on the label "click"; the effect is the same. NOW..THE TRICKY PART. You will calibrate the throttle, the process is similar BUT, at the moment that you asked on moving all the way back the throttle lever...YOU WILL NOT move it until reach the lower limit; I would like to say...stop 1/4" before the lower limit. Push a button on the yoke or use "click" to confirm the lower limit. Now, you have to move the throttle lever all the way up or forward, and push a button on the yoke or use "click". Click on "finish" or "done". AND YES, IT'S DONE!AFTER THE NEXT TEST, YOU CAN TRY THE CALIBRATION AGAIN UNTIL YOU ARE HAPPY WITH THE RESULT.Open the FSX, select a turboprop or a jet. Once you have the engines running, you will watch carefully on how the throttle lever on the screen, follows the throttle lever on your yoke. You will notice that moving all the way back the throttle, it will stop on or so close to "idle"...AND if you continue moving the lever, there is a dead zone. On the screen, the lever will not fllow in the lower range. PUSH ON THE KEYBOARD THE "F2", and holde for a while...and voila!!!!. The reverse is working the way that supposed to be. Now, you can see the throttle lever on the screen, moving in the reverse range; and as long you keep the throttle in that zone, the reverse will stay engaged until you move little forward the throttle. If you practice close to what is for real, in a jet you will use the reverse until the plane slow down around 60 knots, and then you supposed to disengage the reverse and use the brakes as needed; UNLESS you configured the "autobrakes" and then wait for a full stop. OK, this is my story after read to many articles related with this topic, and I foud out to be the simplest but effective procedure. Hope this procedure will make happy a good number of simers. Happy flights!