What sort of touch-down rate should you be aiming for with the NGX on landing. By that I mean -xxx feet ??

They dont actually aim for a specific vertical speed in real life. They aim for a firm landing instead.

They dont actually aim for a specific vertical speed in real life. They aim for a firm landing instead.

 

HAHA!!!

At threshold reduce at less than 500ft/min and touch firmly, the best landing is not the smoothest.

Yeah, this is an unfortunate side-effect of VAs trying to implement metrics to determine pilot quality. Smooth touchdowns aren't the mark of a good pilot. Granted, they do take skill and experience, but they're not the only metric by which a good landing is evaluated. It's very situational. If it's raining, you'd want a firmer touchdown. When you're fighting wind all the way down final, a firm touchdown is sometimes all you can pull off. Furthermore, if it's gusty, attempting to grease it on to the runway leaves you prone to a gust blowing you off centerline in the last moments.

 

The long and short of it is: put it on the runway as softly as possible for passenger comfort, yet firm enough for a safe landing based on conditions, while not so firm as to damage the landing gear.

 

Furthermore:

Look outside! You shouldn't have your head down looking at the gauges that close to the runway. You'll come to understand smooth as you continue flying.

Yeah, this is an unfortunate side-effect of VAs trying to implement metrics to determine pilot quality. Smooth touchdowns aren't the mark of a good pilot. Granted, they do take skill and experience, but they're not the only metric by which a good landing is evaluated. It's very situational. If it's raining, you'd want a firmer touchdown. When you're fighting wind all the way down final, a firm touchdown is sometimes all you can pull off. Furthermore, if it's gusty, attempting to grease it on to the runway leaves you prone to a gust blowing you off centerline in the last moments.

 

The long and short of it is: put it on the runway as softly as possible for passenger comfort, yet firm enough for a safe landing based on conditions, while not so firm as to damage the landing gear.

 

Furthermore:

Look outside! You shouldn't have your head down looking at the gauges that close to the runway. You'll come to understand smooth as you continue flying.

 

Great Summary.

Touchdown zone and centreline tracking is what you should be concentrating on. All you're doing by trying to grease a landing is ruining your landing performance.

Big thing to remember is on speed and on glide path. As long as you fight for center-line, speed, and glide path, the hard part is done. Cross the threshold on altitude, and initiate your flare at the 20ft call out and add about 2 to 3 degrees and you are done. Once you master the text book landings, you will find techniques on power pull and flare timing to achieve better touch downs. As long as you touch between 1200 to 2000 down, you should be fine. Have a read of the training manual, the landing guidance will put you in the right ball park. In my real world landings, I'm more focused on the call outs and aimpoint as i look down the runway to judge my sink rate.

From an equipment standpoint, anything over - 500fpm runs the risk of seriously damaging the gear.

From an equipment standpoint, anything over - 500fpm runs the risk of seriously damaging the gear.

 

Not to mention many other parts of your plane as well; just take a look at that ANA 767 video from a month or two ago for an example.

 

The FAA requires a 10 fps (so -600 fpm) touchdown at maximum landing weight as a certification limit, but that's an ultimate limit, so even rates below that might require a post-landing maintenance check. For the MD-11 Boeing recommends 2 to 4 fps (so 120 to 240 fpm) as the touchdown rate, I'm guessing the 737 would be similar.

Not aiming for a specific touchdown rate either. That changes with the conditions.

 

Stabilized approach with a normal descent rate, correct approach speed, aiming for the TDZ. I don't hold it off to make greasers.

 

Looking at ACARS afterwards I see that it normally ends up around 200 ft/min +/- 100.