Tips on Smooth Landings please.

[Maca07166 0]

Hi all i'm new to MS Flight and new to Sim's in general, i downloaded this game on Thursday not knowing what to expect and i fell in love with it and bought all the DLC a few hours later.Up to now i've done all the landing challenges on gold bar the Maule which is what i'm working on now however i'm really struggling with smooth landings on the game i was wondering if anyone could give me any advice to help me achieve these landings.I appreciate any help thanks.

[g_precentralis 191]

There are different techniques for different configurations. For example, classic gear configuration and tricycle gear configurations requires different landing techniques. Maule is classic I think so try to land on all 3 gears at same time.

[Guest]

I think the most important thing is to take the time for a good approach. A lot of the challenges put you in the air too high and too close to immediately start the landing! So turn away from the airport and try to line up with the runway from a greater distance, fly lower and slower, lower flaps and simply take more time to line up well for the landing. Afaik there is no time limit, so take your time! When you have lined up from further away, you will only have to worry about keeping the right speed (use nose up or down to change speed and NOT throttle) and descent rate (use throttle for descent rate and NOT nose up or down) and not so much about direction at the same time.

Edited March 3, 2012 by J van E

[g_precentralis 191]

On some airfields its easier to land on one side of rwy than on the other side, so make low pass and determine which side is better and to better see obstacles. Try to land in wind, as tailwind is not good for take offs/landings

Edited March 3, 2012 by g_precentralis

[Maca07166 0]

This particular challenge puts me 6kft and 3 miles out from the airport.. I almost got gold 2pts off hehe.Thanks for the tips.

[albx 17]

welcome, nice to see new virtual pilots joining Avsim

[SAS263 1]

In addition to the advice above you could try this for the very touchdown bit. Don´t try to land, try to keep the aircraft in the air very close to the ground with trottle all the way to idle. The closer to the ground you are able to do this, the smoother the landing will be.What happens is that as your airspeed decreases yo need to pull the stick back more and more to stay level. Usually you will stall about the same time as the stick is as far back as it gets. When the aircraft stalls it will be in such an attitude (nose up) so that the two main wheels and the tail wheels touch the ground simultaneously, hence three point landing. Since you are trying to be as close to the ground as possible, the drop as you stall is minimal or at best non-existing. I´ve never flown a tricycle geared plane, but the landings I´ve sat beside the pilot have all had the stall warning just starting to sound as we landed, so I think the technique is similar.For larger taildraggers there is another technique in which you fly the airplane closer to the ground, set the two main gears and then throttle back to idle and let the aircraft settle down. Doing this is harder and introduces the risk of making a too hard landing which causes the tail to go down by its inertia. The risk is that at that moment the airspeed can be so high that the increase in angle of attack of the wings caused by the tail being "forced" down means that the plane will lift off again. This can lead to unpleasant things...

[Bartbear 10]

Also don't hesitate to type 'taildragger landing' in Google: you get loads of information!

[ViperPilot 81]

Hello!Two concepts to learn, and remember...The slower you can control the airplane in flight without stalling will give you more leeway when landing...andUse POWER to control AltitudeUse PITCH to control Airspeed.Here's a Tutorial using FSX that explains this in detail:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L9f9ajdeHwMLearning this concept is one of the Essentials of mastering Control and Landing. Master this, and every landing from an Icon to a 787 will feel the same!Enjoy, and Welcome to the Forums! :Applause:Alan

[Maca07166 0]

Thanks so much for the friendly and helpful advice guys :) will keep practicing.

[Barnstormer1 0]

Practice. Then practice and practice some more.

[Chock 17,769]

Ironically, the trick to landing, is to try not to land.What I mean by that, is that when easing the thing down onto the runway, you should be trying to keep the aircraft flying by keeping the nose up. Getting the nose up will slow you down whilst gradually reducing the lift which your wings are generating. As a result, you will settle onto the runway. There is some judgement involved in how much and at what speed you bring the stick back when landing, but all that takes is a bit of practice.You should be aiming to have the aircraft quit flying owing to a lack of lift when it is half an inch off the ground. In reality that is in fact a lot easier than it sounds, since all you really have to do is fly straight down toward the runway, and the moment you see detail in the concrete of the runway's surface (let's say maybe 50 to 30 feet off the deck), you bring the stick back slowly and progressively to have the aircraft 'round out' from its descent, which will slow it down and level it off. If you do this right, you'll get to the stall speed just as you are about to touch down. This is a lot easier than it might sound by the way, especially in real life where you have peripheral vision to help you judge it...What happens at this point, is that physics take over and do most of the rest of the work for you: When just a few feet above the runway as you are rounding out into a flare, your aircraft goes into what is known as 'ground effect'. Ground effect does two things, first it provides more lift as you effectively ride on a cushion of air trapped under the wings (you might have seen this effect if you have ever thrown a sheet of paper on a table and seen it ride across the surface for quite a way), and second, ground effect reduces drag by breaking up the vortices coming off the wingtips that normally create a lot of drag (you may have seen these vortices if you have ever seen an aeroplane coming in to land with what looks like smoke coming off the wingtips in spirals). Less drag makes it harder to slow down than you might think would be the case based on how your speed was probably dropping as you came in, before the ground effect made your aeroplane a lot less draggy.Ground effect is why you can float a long way down the runway just above the surface before touching down, which usually comes as a surprise to student pilots and it's my bet that this is what is foxing you. The good news is however, that what you do to counter the ground effect and floating, is simply keep pulling the stick back progressively, which will do two things, it will increase your angle of attack and it will reduce your speed, this creates more lift but also more drag too, and this combination will effectively 'lower' your aircraft onto the runway as you slow down.Just keep easing that stick back to try and keep the thing flying. Get that right and everything else it will fall into place.Al

[EagleSkinner 36]

Apparently flying Flight with the mouse helps get much smoother landings if you want to aim for the gold landing awards...

[sweetmusic 9]

One thing great about Flight and all of the "new" folks is the opportunity to discuss some of the basics of flying. These topics too soon become taken for granted. I'm enjoying reading the tips and techniques that are being shared. Keep them coming!

[Maca07166 0]

Again those that have posted thanks, I just got mission 2 gold medal on the maule so 3 more to go till I've done them all.