Flap speeds, Flight Level and cruise speeds

[Barthandelus 1]

Hi guys,

Really loving this plane, and im enjoying flying patterns to get the hang of it before i take it to my virtual airline.

 

Need some pointers if poss:

 

At what speed to i start dropping the flaps for landing?

Does the FMC provide an optimal cruise altitude? If not, how do i work this out?

What is the 'general' cruise speed for this bird?

 

Thanks for taking time in helping me out!

 

-B

 

[James79 1]

I drop flaps 5 at just below 180kts, a little performance calculator for free is here at http://www.aurasim.com/ you just need to sign up and you can use it, and if you wanna spend some coin to learn this bird checkout http://www.airline2sim.com/.

[spesimen 135]

Hi guys, Really loving this plane, and im enjoying flying patterns to get the hang of it before i take it to my virtual airline. Need some pointers if poss: At what speed to i start dropping the flaps for landing? Does the FMC provide an optimal cruise altitude? If not, how do i work this out? What is the 'general' cruise speed for this bird? Thanks for taking time in helping me out! -B

 

same as above, i usually drop flaps 5 when i get below 190kts, then on approach (5nm-7nm out) drop gear, and go to the chosen landing flaps setting when speed is reduced to the correct amount (there's a little reference card on the left windowsill).

 

for your second question, there's not a lot of info out there but i can tell you what i've learned..

 

there isn't really any such thing as an optimal level, nor does the fms calculate one. it's engines are too powerful to need step climbs or anything like that. you can basically reach the service ceiling of 27,000 even when taking off from MTOW. (ok, the last few from FL250-FL270 it slows down a little but you can still climb at 500fpm or more when fully loaded)

 

in practice this means that your best cruise level is basically dependent on your flight length. for flights that will last more than an hour or two, just cruising at FL260 or FL270 is your best bet. (anything over 250nm is my rule of thumb for this)..

 

for shorter hops (less than, an hour or so) there's no reason to go that high since you'll only be at cruise for a few minutes anyway, so for those i tend to do somewhere around FL190 to FL210. in the airline2sim vids the short sectors they fly are done around these levels and typically they are only in cruise for a few minutes in those also, most of those routes are pretty short like in the 100-150nm range.

 

for cruise speed, it's basically a judgement call again. typically you can leave the thottles at the full power rating during cruise and you'll do just fine, although there is a slight chance of overspeeding if you run into some funky weather.

 

one of the written tutorials mentions that their airline SOP was to cruise at 234 knots. which basically translates to backing off the power a few percent from full rating, which ends up being around 60%. in the airline2sim tutorial they do a flight also where they set power to full to make up time for being behind on schedule.

 

basically if you look at your performance page you can see how much fuel you'll have at the destination and if it looks low you can back the power off a bit to save some. i use 234knots as my target and tweak from there.

 

cheers

-andy crosby

[por930 51]

 

 

in the airline2sim vids the short sectors they fly are done around these levels and typically they are only in cruise for a few minutes in those also, most of those routes are pretty short like in the 100-150nm range.

Hi Andy, What did you think about the airline2sim training? intro reads pretty good. Are you familiar with the Angle of Attack training videos for pmdg 737 etc, and if so, what comparison can you draw?

[spesimen 135]

Hi Andy, What did you think about the airline2sim training? intro reads pretty good. Are you familiar with the Angle of Attack training videos for pmdg 737 etc, and if so, what comparison can you draw?

 

the airline2sim vids are awesome. it's like sitting in the jump seat while an experienced simmer gets walked through all the real procedures by a real pilot. and both the guys making it do a nice job.. the guy doing the flying (ben) asks all the right questions, and the teaching pilot josh is both knowledgeable and very good at explaining things. the whole tone of it is just formal enough to be serious and deeply informative, but also very entertaining and humorous at times.

 

one thing that i liked is that besides the q400 specific stuff it's also a great tutorial on reading and understanding approach charts and dealing with atc, and also other real world airline types of issues like dealing with staying on schedule that i found very interesting to learn about....

 

to answer your other question, i haven't seen the angle of attack ones, so i can't really make any comparison there, sorry... if you like the q400 and fly it a lot i would definitely recommend them though..

cheers

-andy crosby

[por930 51]

 

 

if you like the q400 and fly it a lot i would definitely recommend them though..

Thanks Andy, worth looking at. Good training can save a lot of frustration.

[Barthandelus 1]

Some great advice there guys, thanks a lot. Will definitely get the A2S training on pay day.

 

Time to shoot some patterns around EGLC!

 

Cheers,

-B