A difficult airplane to fly. I'm at about a confidence level of about 50%... 40% confident I can fly it using automation from shortly after t/o to touchdown... and the remainder is my manual flying confidence level. Such a steep learning curve; it handles completely differently in all aspects compared to the 747 and 767. Looking for criticism on my manual landing. I was waay off the centreline on this. But hey, it earned me 50 points on FS Passengers for the smoothness. I was also able to drop on the TDZ. Hopefully the CAA don't come looking for my Keyboard/joystick license; because I don't have one. http://www.youtube.c...h?v=2l3bPpkPbow All my settings were low/off because FRAPS chews the heck out of FPS. Without FRAPS I would get >60 FPS in VC with those kinds of settings. I only have a cruddy Attack 3 Logitech to fly with, don't intend on buying anything else. Ashley Frew.

Seemed very nice to me. I particularly liked the touchdown. I think it was spot on, not too hard, but neither trying to hard to grease it which would likely result in floating.

At -150fpm, that touchdown was in the golden zone. Good job!

Nice landing. Wouldn't mind being a passenger on that one.Compared to "by the books" procedure, it looks like you reduced thrust a little early, resulting in slightly low speed and high pitch attitude on touchdown. Still far from a tailstrike though, and somewhat better than my own recent attempts at manual landings...

Well thanks guys! Well observed Bernhard; i'm sure you others picked up on that too. I did cut thrust earlier than I normally would/should which produced that result. I find my landings to be exponentially cruddy if I reduce thrust at or anywhere after 50ft... 9 times out of 10 I would hit the TDZ at -200fpm plus or minus 100fpm, but then the aircraft would become airborne again for another 100ft then drift back down again. Completely frustrating because it makes me miss the high speed turn-off... oh, and because it's unsafe for my virtual passengers. I'm getting consistently good results by cutting thrust early but I'm guessing you aren't meant to do that. Anyway, thanks guys. Ashley Frew.

Dunno what weight you were at but it looked like you might have been coming in just a little bit too hot considering you were at full flaps, which is probably why you are having to chop the throttle early, but, it was a decent touchdown for all that and so not a big deal. Don't worry about being off to one side, only pussies land on the centreline, it's a shorter taxi to the terminal if you land on the side of the runway LOL Al

Hi Al. Thanks for the criticism. I was at flaps 40, and Vref was 139 knots, I added 5 knots which put it at 144 knots. I forget what my ZFW was, but it wasn't below 55 tonne. Lol at the pussy comment. Any tips at all concerning thrust reduction? Cheers, Ashley Frew.

Are you a 737NG pilot? How should it land then? Alex

You have to invent ways to land the PMDG 737 because of the flawed flight model, yes. You certainly can't land it properly by the procedures listed in the Boeing manuals or you'll float all the way down the runway to the departure end. The PMDG sim is indeed a pretty bird, but there are too many mathematicans and computer programmers on the development team and not enough real 737 pilots. Oh well. Try a full CAT III autoland pegged at Vref with no wind and sit back. The autopilot will float ya off the TDZ during the flare every time. :) Regards, Aaron Isaacs

Here are a few autolands recorded using my VA's ACARS program. I cannot make this thing land at 1000 ft from the threshold. Landing Time 21:36:55 Landing Rate -97.66 ft/min Landing Airspeed 130.6 Landing GForce 1.0 Landing Runway 18R (12,004 ft - 1,704 ft from threshold - 704 ft from touchdown point) Landing Time 16:11:12 Landing Rate -109.96 ft/min Landing Airspeed 138.1 Landing GForce 1.4 Landing Runway 23 (7,166 ft - 1,529 ft from threshold - 529 ft from touchdown point) Landing Time 16:46:32 Landing Rate -103.04 ft/min Landing Airspeed 136.7 Landing GForce 1.0 Landing Runway 27L (10,506 ft - 1,571 ft from threshold - 571 ft from touchdown point) If anyone has any tips it would be greatly appreciated!

You have to invent ways to land the PMDG 737 because of the flawed flight model, yes. You certainly can't land it properly by the procedures listed in the Boeing manuals or you'll float all the way down the runway to the departure end. The PMDG sim is indeed a pretty bird, but there are too many mathematicans and computer programmers on the development team and not enough real 737 pilots. Oh well. Try a full CAT III autoland pegged at Vref with no wind and sit back. The autopilot will float ya off the TDZ during the flare every time. :) Regards, Aaron Isaacs

WOW it will never end. At least 10 Type rated pilots used it for months and found nothing wrong with it.. Another type rated pilot said it looked looked pretty close to him. Well I guess those guys don't know anything about 737's...

Hi fella's. It is a simulator product after all. Compromises must be made in this case I think. I merely accept that the plane fly's the way it does, and fly it the way it is. My procedures are amended to cater for the fact that simulators aren't perfect and the absence of a first officer to lessen my workload. Again, I would appreciate any tips on landing properly to nail it first time, every time. Ashley Frew.