Take MHTG Toncontin, or say Madeira for example...When something like a 737 or 757 enters final approach at such airports, at what point would full flaps be deployed?Toncontin seems to be especially difficult for this (at least to get right), and throwing full flaps at the wrong moment can cause extra lift when you least need it it seems. I often have to force the thing onto the tarmac!Presumably, professional pilots get plenty of simulated landings before heading to such places? At least I hope they do...I have looked at the many YouTube vids of that field, but most don't show much detail.According to the approach plate, it's a steady rate of decent into there, but I find that REALLY hard to achieve.Any tips for such approaces and landings much appreciated.I've been using the Qualitywings and Captain Sim 757s for this, under the assumption their flight models are more accurate than the default 738?Is the 757-200 about the largest bird in and out of there?

When something like a 737 or 757 enters final approach at such airports, at what point would full flaps be deployed?

Two 'virtual' life examples:1) Kai Tak 2) Canarsie VOR ApproachBOTH require hard right turns to align w/ the rwy. BOTH require you to be in FULL LANDING configuration, WELL before that 'final' turn... no, is not written anywhere, is just common sense so pilot workload is reduced during such a critical moment.In both of the 'above' cases, you don't take the runway threshold as a reference, but the point where you make the final turn.. that comes from 'virtual', not real experience.

The largest bird (in MTOW) flown into and out of Toncontin is the C-17 Globemaster as far as I'm aware, although the largest in terms of length is the DC-8. Most typically, the largest things that fly into there fairly regularly are 727s and 757s, which sort of makes sense since the 757 was basically the 727s replacement. I got a 747-400 down onto there once in FS, but it's a squeeze.My 747 turning final at Toncontin:The CS 727 doing it:As far as landing there goes, if you have the payware Latin VFR add-on scenery for Toncontin, you will note that it comes with some approach charts, and one of those will show you the RNAV approach into Toncontin (from MELVO at about 9,000 feet if I recall correctly). So what you want to do is stick all that into your FMC as an approach. For that you will need to do it manually, by either setting fixes, or waypoint offsets, or doing it as part of an FS flight plan. You can find the fixes for that RNAV approach if you look on the 'net, but personally I did it as a flight plan and plotted them myself, and here's how you do that:Open up the picture of the RNAV chart in a photo-editing program that can support layers (such as photoshop or paint.net), then park your aircraft at Toncontin in FSX and go to the map view and take a screenshot (make sure you have a few of the icons showing on the map in FS as that will help). Now, open up the map screenshot in FS as a new layer in your paint program over the layer with the chart on it, and resize it so that the map screenshot matches the chart (making that layer slightly transparent will help). Now, mark off where the approach waypoints are on that map screengrab and then when back in FS, you can use that as a guide to create custom waypoints for the arrival segment of your flight plan into Toncontin, and it will match the RNAV approach points.In this way, if you fly the flight plan automatically with LNAV, you will only have to control the descent angle and speed, since the steering will be done for you and you should be spot on with the approach, although to be honest, it's fun to do it all manually using the flight plan path on your map display as a guide and noting the altitudes on the chart.Flaps are a function that is necessary for a given speed of course, but also serve to control the speed too when on a descent by acting as aerodynamic brakes, so for Toncontin, it's best to get the aircraft dirtied up early, since you'll be busy, and with a constant long descent from 9,000 feet, the sooner you have the thing settled into a configuration that you can fly nailed onto a stable airspeed without having to screw around, the easier it will be. With practice, the only really tricky part of that descent into Toncontin will be the last two waypoints, where the thing has to really get racked around and you are fairly low down, so that's actually one of the few occasions where Track-IR is useful on an airliner in FS.The truth of Toncontin is, there are quite a few strict rules about what can fly into there and when, but it's fun to do that RNAV approach at night or when it's totally socked in, even though that's actually an unlikely occurrence. You have to trust the instruments for that, and it is quite a novel experience.Al

Thanks Guys.At night I actually find it MUCH easier as one can actually see the runway. I think maybe I understand about the Track-IR, as one of the bigest problems is seeing the darn runway. Even if I 'cheat' and 'step outside' for a spot view, it's still very hard as being so low, the field is not in sight.I'm determined to nail this! I'm currently at 26 approaches and counting. Three crashes, probably two that would have resulted in fatalities (I'm amazed the airport is actually still open to be honest).During approach, I have the FSC moving map networked on another PC, so I can see the route and the waypoints. Even so, that left turn is much sharper than Kai Tak and I find that to get close, I have to be wide (outside) the waypoints. If I'm not mistaken, so are the pilots on the YouTube clips. Of course, get too wide and there's the hill!!!For those trying it without the payware addon, I thoroughly recommend it (gimmi some comission :( ) Somewhat dated by todays standards, but still makes a real difference.The only payawre aircraft I have that track the lateral path perfectly are the PMDG 744 and MD11. I find with all the others, I'm better hand flying after Melvo.The South RNAV approach is fun. You get to overfly the field first, before doing a complete 360 turn :(

Flying an airliner, you want to be all trimmed and configured for landing when you are on final. Throwing flaps in a 757 right before the runway is what a small Cessna pilot might do, but not in the real world.

Hi,Airspeed reduction and flap extension go hand-in-hand. Just follow the Landing Flap-Speed Schedule and you can't go wrong. When dealing with a difficult approach, configure the aircraft as soon as practical.

Take MHTG Toncontin, or say Madeira for example...When something like a 737 or 757 enters final approach at such airports, at what point would full flaps be deployed?

I'm still experimenting with approaches like Kai Tak, Funchal, Toncontin, Palm Springs, KJFK Canarsie et al. But even after doing so since a long time, there are two main problems I have:1."Peripheral vision": In contrast to a real plane, there's only a limited amount of "field of view" available, at most times too less view to the sides to see the runway and steer the plane properly2.The missing "feedback" from the sim which doesn't allow to "feel" where the plane goes in such approachesI tested 1. above with head tracking devices already, but they make me sick, don't feel right etc. all in all I don't use them, never got accustomed to them, I'm simply not a VC flyer. The only solution I could think of is something like TripleHead2Go and a 3 monitor setup.2. is not solvable and makes flying such approaches a "robotic" event.For the time being (multi monitors are expensive and I'd need the physical space for them) I zoom out and use look left and right with the hat switch in 2D panel mode - not perfect, but currently the only acceptable alternative...

Hi,Why not setup a couple of snap view commands for your keyboard, mouse, flight yoke or joystick?. I don't know what you use to fly your aircraft, but why not setup two snap views, one at lets say 2 o'clock and the other at 10 o'clock. Press the button or key assigned to the snap view to look in the desired direction and release the button/key to return to forward view.