Throttle reduction and touchdown

[cmdn 16]

Hi,

I have noticed 2 things, and I don't know what do you think about it?

I find that when you are not using the ezdok camera you don't really feel the touchdown, I mean I don't really hear a touchdown sound exept the speedbreak deployment.

The second thing is the throttle reduction when you do a landing with the A/T, I find that this throttle reduction is too long, and it supposed to be pretty fast. In my case I have an homemade made throttle and I have to press the reverse handle to accelerate the reduction. ( thing which is not really realistic , I mean press the reverse handle at 30 ft)...

 

Christophe M

[trancesetter 5]

You actually should hear a very distinctive sound upon touchdown. Yesterday I had the smoothest of all touchdown I've ever done with the 777 and I still heard it properly when my main gear touched the ground. Then I kept my nose gear as long in the air as possible, and when it finally started to go down I again heard a very noticeable sound.

In between you'll hear the rolling of the wheels on the runway, including some squeaky sounds of the plane's frame.

 

Surely add ons like Ezdok or OpusFSX create a more immersive experience, but that is not restricted to touchdown only. You'll get the in-flight turbulence, the acceleration during take-off runs etc.

 

About the throttle reduction: the 777 will only reduce throttle to idle between 20-10ft during ILS autoland. Using your reversers to reduce throttle more quickly is not the way to go. Also, you shouldn't use reversers when your nose gear is still of the ground, as it would make your nose gear to slam into the ground because of the quick deceleration and decreasing lift.I do even believe that using the actual reversers is not possible when not all gears are on the ground, but I did not try that in the PMDG 777 yet.

[3-2-1-Now 126]

Then I kept my nose gear as long in the air as possible

 

This isn't a fighter you're landing.

 

You should land the nose gear promptly (but without slamming it on) so you can take advantage of maximum braking effort if required, and reverse thrust (reverse is inhibited until the nose gear is landed).

 

You will get the best control and stopping distances if you land correctly. Attempting to deviate will extend the rollout and reduce controllability.

 

Best regards,

Robin.

[trancesetter 5]

I definitely agree with you Robin, however I've seen those big 777's land at Schiphol many times where they kept the nose gear for over a km in the air after the main gear touched down. Surely that's not what is the normal procedure, but it is very impressive, and on a runway which permits this kind of behaviour due to it's length it sometimes is quite fun to do so. I was actually surprised for how long you can still keep it in the air. I was doing about 75 knots when it went down eventually.