odd nose down behavior

[briansommers 74]

I notice that is rather wierd when landing.. full flaps and it is really heavy nose down..is this normal? I find I tend to smash it in hard or float forever..tips anyone?

[flapsdown 45]

I am seeing the same thing - a big nose down attitude with full flaps. My final approaches look like I am trying to dive bomb the airport. Someone suggested reducing the drag coefficent of the flaps (but that was a while and I forgot the exact details), but sadly it didn't seem to help at all...

[raymar 969]

Somewhere between proper trim, aircraft attitude and a little power control should sort it out. I would recommend you practice your flying techniques rather than becoming an amateur aeronautical design engineer. You only have 30 degrees of flaps and a very large wing with laminar flow and funtional droopy wingtips.Ray

[Syd Weedon 11]

I second what Raymar said. I would add that if you are flying this plane with less than full realism settings, you will have problems with it. This will show up most clearly during landings. The T210 is not the easiiest Cessna to fly. You have to get to know it. Once you learn its particulars, you'll be able to get some really nice landings. With Raymar, I would urge you not to alter the flight model. It is actually very good.

[briansommers 74]

well I'm embarressed.. I've been flightsimming since the mid 's ... I guess I've developed a somewhat big head about myself being able to "fly" if you know what I mean..I'm usually not stumped but to many things such as this...when you say realism full right.. do you mean even gyro drift as well or the general settings all the way over?I'm going to try that and see what happens.

[Guest BeaverDriver]

Are you flying with the front seat(s) only occupied Brian? The big Cessnas are nose-heavy when empty in the rear. A power off landing with full flaps will potentially cause you to run out of elevator. Also, what speed are you using on short final? Drop back with answers to those and I can possibly offer some suggestions ;)

[Syd Weedon 11]

well I'm embarressed.. I've been flightsimming since the mid 's ... I guess I've developed a somewhat big head about myself being able to "fly" if you know what I mean..I'm usually not stumped but to many things such as this...when you say realism full right.. do you mean even gyro drift as well or the general settings all the way over?I'm going to try that and see what happens.

Sorry, I didn't mean to embarrass anyone. This comes out of a learning that I had with the T210. I had been using medium realism sliders and the plane was very difficult to land. I told a friend about it and he recommended going to full realism with the sliders, and it made a huge difference in the way the plane handled for me. I don't have gyro drift turned on, but I have all the rest -- engine and airframe stress, crash detection on, and sliders fully to the right.

[briansommers 74]

I had sliders full to the right.. I find that it is easier to land when fully loaded and that nose down goes away a bit more.I come over the fence at 70kts and hold power to maintain that speed until I start to pull in the flare and at the same time I'm pulling into the flare I pull out power.. I have found it handles better with a bit more power, but not much and it also flairs very easy.. in other words I barely pull back for the flair and it comes up very fast..

[raymar 969]

I had sliders full to the right.. I find that it is easier to land when fully loaded and that nose down goes away a bit more.I come over the fence at 70kts and hold power to maintain that speed until I start to pull in the flare and at the same time I'm pulling into the flare I pull out power.. I have found it handles better with a bit more power, but not much and it also flairs very easy.. in other words I barely pull back for the flair and it comes up very fast..

Sounds like a plan to me. Try 65 knots over the fence and see how it feels as you slowly reduce power and flare.Also try to grease it on using power as necessary and just set the proper touch down attitude and easy it down - I assume you have a long runway. See if you can get main wheels contact, zero power, and run our of effective elevator all at the same instant with the nose wheel just slightly off the concrete. This airplane's normal stance is slightly tail low.I just did some final approaches using full fuel, full flaps, no power, 200 pounds in each of the front two seats, 100 pounds baggage. Trimmed at 65 knots, the sink rate was almost exactly 1,000 FPM. This is a little steep for me. I like 600 - 700 FPM drop.You can also practice at altitude. I like to practice slow flight at 60, 65, 70 kts and vary the power and flap settings to see what the sink rate and aircraft attitude looks like. Find the sweet spot and try it at 10 - 50 feet above the runway, then try it for full stop landings.That is the old instructor in me.Ray

[briansommers 74]

ok, your pix look about the same for myself.. I have to say it really does "feel" different then the others, C185, C337, etc..I got it to do on demand air cargo as well as flightseeing and photography runs... with no wings struts, I think it will work great for that.

[raymar 969]

ok, your pix look about the same for myself.. I have to say it really does "feel" different then the others, C185, C337, etc..I got it to do on demand air cargo as well as flightseeing and photography runs... with no wings struts, I think it will work great for that.

Good choice. I would think the C337 would get used a lot.Ray

[flapsdown 45]

My concern was that I wasn't sure of the fidelity of the flight dynamics out of the box from Carenado, so when I saw somebody suggesting a different flap drag coefficient I decided I would give it a shot, but returned to the original spec immediately. I have always flown with the realism settings at full tilt from day one as I am a real world pilot (though not current), and have found the 210 to be an easy and enjoyable plane to fly in every other respect except for the pitch attitude I was seeing on landing, so I really appreciate the info provided here and will keep trying to dial my technique in...Thx,Chris B.PS - As much as I like the 210, the 337 is where I log most of my time in FSX recently - it's pretty fabulous

Edited January 12, 2012 by flapsdown

[raymar 969]

My concern was that I wasn't sure of the fidelity of the flight dynamics out of the box from Carenado, so when I saw somebody suggesting a different flap drag coefficient I decided I would give it a shot, but returned to the original spec immediately. I have always flown with the realism settings at full tilt from day one as I am a real world pilot (though not current), and have found the 210 to be an easy and enjoyable plane to fly in every other respect except for the pitch attitude I was seeing on landing, so I really appreciate the info provided here and will keep trying to dial my technique in...Thx,Chris B.PS - As much as I like the 210, the 337 is where I log most of my time in FSX recently - it's pretty fabulous

Me too, along with my highly modified IRIS TexanII and I have been getting a little time in the Icon A5 around the big island and also between S43 and 74S.Ray

[smokeyupahead 6]

Hi guys I tried some of your suggestions and was able to touchdown with the main gear first. Disregard the title of the video, I meant "main landing gear touchdown".Here is a low quality video of my achievement :( :

Edited February 14, 2012 by smokeyupahead