Anyway Im asking this question so I can achieve something at my virtual airline, having my name on the top landings wall. Is there any techniques on "greasing the landing" on a 737? I want to get it down to about at least -50fpm,

IMHO, Placing the main wheels exactly where you intend on, should be higher priority than descent rate at touchdown, that is as long as your within a safe descent rate. Try to pick a spot on the runway durring final segment that you want to place your gear and also pick a descent rate, lets say 60-120 fpm. Try to meet those goals. To slow your descent and "Grease" it, maintain and slowly increase back pressure on the control comumn when your in the flare and less than 5 feet above the runway. keep increasing back pressure until the plane settles on the ground. Velocity in the flare will decrease rapidly as induced drag increases due to pitch increase. This technique is used more for light and medium aircraft typically and not so much for larger/jet aircraft as they try to teach holding an indexed pitch attitude, airspeed and power setting (for tailstrike reasons) over the threshold allowing ground effect to slow the descent rate.Ive never looked, but curious to know if the shorter 73's have a higher pitch limit on landing due to a tailstrike happening later or at higher AOA?One of the reasons why you may see company jets often touching down after the Touchdown Zone (Which usually if not always lines up with the glideslope and VASI), is because it is often company procedure to never descend below the VASI or Glideslope... and thats even when doing the visual.Sorry to be overly verbose, but it is an interesting topic in the sim community.JB

Edited January 30, 201214 yr by Buzz313th

Ive never looked, but curious to know if the shorter 73's have a higher pitch limit on landing due to a tailstrike happening later or at higher AOA?

Yes! In fact I think the shorter NG's were designed to have a higher body angle at touch down. Check pages 282-288 (6.16 - 6.22) of the Flight Crew Training Manual and there are very nice charts showing the allowable angles. The previous pages show the classics. The whole "Landing" section in the FCTM is a realy good read if you're like me and actually enjoy reading stuff like this. I've actually re-read the Landing chapter just to "brush up" and make sureI haven't learned any bad habits.Oh and also, I don't think I've read any Boeing documents that use any wordage that suggest a "greaser." In fact, every Boeing manual I've ever read specifically states "Do not hold the aircraft off the runway attempting to acheive a smooth landing." Furthermore, a "Boeing Landing" is one which V/S at touchdown is -150FPM. So aim for less than or equal to -150FPM, but never waste runway trying to get close to 0FPM.

Edited January 30, 201214 yr by adamant365

Yes! In fact I think the shorter NG's were designed to have a higher body angle at touch down. Check pages 282-288 (6.16 - 6.22) of the Flight Crew Training Manual and there are very nice charts showing the allowable angles. The previous pages show the classics. The whole "Landing" section in the FCTM is a realy good read if you're like me and actually enjoy reading stuff like this. I've actually re-read the Landing chapter just to "brush up" and make sureI haven't learned any bad habits.Oh and also, I don't think I've read any Boeing documents that use any wordage that suggest a "greaser." In fact, every Boeing manual I've ever read specifically states "Do not hold the aircraft off the runway attempting to acheive a smooth landing." Furthermore, a "Boeing Landing" is one which V/S at touchdown is -150FPM. So aim for less than or equal to -150FPM, but never waste runway trying to get close to 0FPM.

Cool, thanks for referencing that.You make a good point about a positive touchdown. By trying to hold it or "Grease" it, can easily extend your flare by another 1000 feet if a good sustained gust comes down the runway heading.JB

Edited January 30, 201214 yr by Buzz313th

Unlike in a light aircraft, a so called "greased landing" as a primary consideration in an airliner is poor technique. Proper targets for touchdown, in relative order of importance:1) Speed at Vref, and never less than Vref-102) Touchdown centerline and within 1000ft to 3000ft of the runway threshold.3) Finally, mains should touchdown at about 150 fpm, never less than eighty fpm, and never more than 500 fpm.* Orest

Edited January 31, 201214 yr by oskrypuch

with everyone saying "the wheels should be on the spot" with the greased landings Ive made of around -50fpm it really wasn`t that far from it. Like I said I don`t do it in bad weather, only in fair conditions

I was told, please correct me if I am wrong, you always have to look the runway and/or outside the window when on final and during takeoff.Then, I would not care about clapping for greasing, I would prefer a safe landing instead.

Yes, absolutely right, head up, look about 2/3rds of the way down what remains of the runway. When transitioning to the touchdown attitude, you generally need only 1 to 1.5 deg of additional nose up, then you just fly the aircraft into the ground. (similar to a floatplane landing on water) Don't use your instruments to achieve that, but after the fact you can review your touchdown to judge if you had the "feel" correct.What many folks do dead wrong is that they let the airspeed bleed way too much, in an extended flare, looking for that "greaser". Your brakes and speed brakes may not engage, you may miss the touchdown zone, and could lose too much airspeed. An airliner will crash to the ground hard if you stall it, there is no recovery, again never less than Vref-10 and target Vref. To see whether you have finessed the landing, look at your touchdown airspeed, not your VS.* Orest

Edited January 31, 201214 yr by oskrypuch

A friend of mine is a 747 FO and used to fly the 757 as PIC and he stated that greasers are not recommended as auto brakes need the correct amount of downward pressure to activate them. The first priority is to ensure you land in the touchdown zone with the auto brake functioning. A greaser may look good and be a smoother option but its not the priority

Myself, I think the airplane itself does it just right.. So I try to emulate those.. :)The Otto pilot in mine flies better than I do, sad to say.. He does it perfect every time. :/He's my mentor... lol.. So I try to copy what he does.

Hi guys,In order of importance as I was taught many years ago on DC-9rs... (it may differ from one company to another)a- your speed nailed at Vref+10,b- on the glide path,c- mains on the marksd- centerline the runwayOld piston drivers used to have the saying "mains on the numbers" not here anymore. Despite you could have large runway, fair weather conditions, almost wind calm AND if you feel fairly confident at the moment of your tuchdown,you could look for a greasser, never FLOAT...All around 200ft/min to 100 would not to mess one's hair up, and everyone's happy and SAFE!!! Many of us were also B 727-200 drivers some time in the past, this magnificent aircraft was called "ego breaker" rare greassers there, just everyone's knew when the flight finished... Happy in my retirement days flying the NGX... it really does the sim closer to the real thing. MANY THANKS PMDG.Warm regardsArtur Washton.