practice final approach and landing

[leftseatguy 0]

Hi all,

 

Not sure if anyone has raised this question before, but I could'nt find and previous questions of this type on the forum. Anyway, here goes . .

 

My question is this:  is there any easy way to be able set up the situation such that I can practice finals and landings over and over again without the need to start every flight from scratch every time? Although I have been flying on flight sim for several years, most of my flights have been on light aircraft, and its only recently that I 'graduated' to flying the fantastic pmdg 737ngx 800. So I am just trying to develop my landing skills so I can do fly the aircraft manually on the final approach and landing. I have to admit that I do have a tendency to flare either too early or too much and I either float or hit the ground too hard! I would just add that my autoland is perfect every time (nearly!). ['So it should be . . .' I hear you saying!!!]

 

By the way I do have the height call-outs enabled.

 

Cheers guys,

 

Dennis

 

 

 

 

[BrianT 54]

You could save a flight just prior to your final and then just recall that each time.

I've just remembered that I'd seen this FSiPanel http://www.fsipanel.com/Products.html I've not purchased it ...yet but I'm certainly thinking about it

Edited September 26, 2014 by BrianT

[kevinh 409]

Take off from the desired landing runway and climb to circuit height. Then use the FSX map to reposition to an intercept heading. Just drag the aircraft symbol to the approach position you want.

[leftseatguy 0]

Kevin and Brian,

 

Thanks, I will certainly try out both ways. I was sure that there must be an easy way!

 

Dennis

[Pe11e 812]

Or use/try Lord Of The Landing

 

http://planeman-fs.blogspot.com/2012/05/lord-of-landing-v17.html

 

[nikeulas 0]

Dennis,

 

check this serie of two videos. It's the 777 but you can set up your NGX panel state about the same way. You'll be ready to go in no time to practice go arounds, touch and gos and landings.

 

 

 

[rfresh737 36]

With your FSX flight at the point you want to save your flight and come back to that point:

 

1. Press the semi-colon key.

---The Save Flight dialog box will display.

2. Type in the name of the flight you want to save such as "Final Approach Practice".

3. Click on OK.

 

Now, you can re-load your flight right at this point and do your practice landings.

[Copper. 78]

I Suggest touch and go's. They are designed to specifically address your requirement to practice approaches and landings.

 

Flight Crew Training Manual - Chapter 5.80.

 

Brian Nellis.

[leftseatguy 0]

Hi guys,

 

Many thanks for your replies. Some great ideas there. rfresh737, I have been trying your suggestion, except that I found that when I want to repeat the approach, I have to close down fsx completely, otherwise when I reload the saved status, the aircraft starts flying the approach in the cold and dark configuration, which of course is not ideal, especally at 2000 feet or so!!

 

I think probably Brian's suggestion of touch and go is probably the way to for me. Thanks Brian.

 

I will certainly look at the other things you guys have suggested.

 

Dennis

[rfresh737 36]

Dennis

 

There is a memory leak bug in FSX. This prevents you from restarting a flight in the same session. Windows will give you an error dialog and say its looking for a solution...if you leave this dialog up long enough, FSX will reload itself fresh.

 

I usually don't wait that long and I red x the dialog to completely shut down FSX and then I restart it myself.

 

The flights I've saved using the ; (semi-colon) key to prompt for a saved flight name, I have had no problems selecting the flight again when I start up FSX and click on the free flight Load button. That's how I restart my flights when I am recording my training videos and believe me, I restart these training flights a lot to get a good video.

 

But I'm sorry to hear that method doesn't work well for you.

[Copper. 78]

Anytime.

 

Return to this thread or see Dr YouTube if you're in need of tips for flying the circuit - the touch and go diagram is a bit short on the finer details.

 

Brian Nellis.

[Mike777 163]

 

 

I found that when I want to repeat the approach, I have to close down fsx completely, otherwise when I reload the saved status, the aircraft starts flying the approach in the cold and dark configuration, which of course is not ideal, especally at 2000 feet or so!!

 

Save the flight at the beginning of the approach.  Then load the default Trike/Ultralite/Friday Harbor flight (you may have to load it once from the opening screen and then save it under an easily recognizable name so you can find it from the flight selection window).  Once the default ultralite is running, open your saved approach flight and ready to go!  No need to restart FSX.  This works most of the time; occasionally you will see the panel not load properly and you will need to restart FSX

 

When you save your approach flight, be sure to have it in pause.  When it reloads, put it in slew mode, then release pause.  Wait for the countdown to start (may take 20 seconds or so to start), let it run, then get out of slew mode.  Sometimes in slew mode the aircraft starts spinning around.  Hold the 5 key on the number pad (w/out number lock on) to stop it.  Use the slew commands to get it pointing the right way as necessary.

 

No need to purchase an addon.

 

Mike

[leftseatguy 0]

Thanks guys for your latest comments and suggestions. At the moment, my present computer is really not up to running fsx, it strugles to get better frame rates than 3 or 4 per second! I have already placed an order for a new machine from 'wired2fire', which I am hoping to be able to collect during the next couple of weeks or so.

 

Apart from that, I am really getting well into the 737ngx800 flying - but my visual approaches are rubbish!! Hence the need for practice.

 

Dennis

[downscc 1,327]

 

 

I am really getting well into the 737ngx800 flying - but my visual approaches are rubbish!! Hence the need for practice.

 

Practice your handflown visuals by setting up an instrument approach, either ILS or RNV doesn't matter, then handfly the approach using the F/D cue bars and keeping an eye out the window. I always use A/T simply because my cheap game controller throttle response is cartoonish. You should get proficient at the handflying in just a few hours, if you have experience with a light aircraft and maybe longer if not.

[NM5K 1]

A slow 3-4 fps frame rate can make landing a lot harder than with a smooth frame rate.

People vary on what is smooth.. I like to see 16 fps minimum to look fairly fluid, and 20 is

better. More is even more better..