I am a quite new simmer, and have been acquiring more skills whileexperimenting. I have asked some questions here regarding ILS approachessome time ago and was immensly helped by the forumers here, to the pointthat I can now fly and land using ILS quite well. Please excuse thelength of this post, I just wanted to elaborate my questions a little.However, I have several other issues that I encountered while flying,and perhaps you can help me.1) I am a bit confused about the indicated airspeed of aircraft (especially jets). As far as I know, airspeed is displayed in knots (nm per hour). What I don't understand is why I am never able to reach an indicated reading of over around 350 kts (even that is not easy to reach) during cruise (I am aware of the 250 kts limit under 10,000 feet). I know that cruise speeds of about mach 0.8 are common, and as far as I know that is equivalent to around 520 kts. However, after my first flight with FSPassengers, it reported my avg cruise speed to be in fact at about 530 kts (almost mach 0.84), even though I know that my max reading was 340 kts. It also reported that I exceeded the allowed 250 kts below 10,000 ft by 96 kts, even though I know I reached a max of about 267 kts under this altitude). Is there something I don't know? I am aware of the fact that the indicated airspeed is not equal to the actual ground speed, but if that is the issue, how do I correctly know my speed without using the GPS ground speed indication?2) This is just a small follow up on my previous ILS questions. I have since posting on this forum had many successful landings using ILS and coupled approaches, but it quite often happens that the autopilot, unexplicably follows the glide slope incorrectly. Even worse, I sometimes am in the middle of a perfect approach, and suddenly the plane stops its steady descent and almost maintains altitude, resulting me arriving too high. I've also had the autopilot bring me significantly short of the runway into some scenery. The first problem puzzles me more, however, since up until the descent suddenly stops, the approach appears nearly perfect. Is it a problem with some airports in FS, or is it me approaching at an incorrect speed/flap setting? I usually approach at around 170 kts, reducing as I am about to touch down, with full flaps.3) This is a somewhat stupid question perhaps :) I just noticed that I find it hard to fly, and especially land, the 747-400, because it tends to keep its nose pitched significantly up even in level flight and descent (I understand it is part of its design). This, however, prevents me from seeing the runway or anything near it, making landing very hard (I have to switch to external views). I'm curious how pilots cope with this problem in both Flight Sim and in real life.I appreciate any help!

1) Most planes today will display KIAS in your Airspeed Indicator, KIAS=Knots of Indicated Airspeed... the keyword being indicated. To be simple, airspeed indicators compare air pressure that hits the aircraft with static pressure that is unaffected by how fast the plane is going. That difference = what displays on the airspeed indicator. However, the airspeed indicator does not correct for altitude and temperature. The GPS measures how fast you travel over the ground, but the airspeed indicator measures how much air hits the front of your aircraft. (higher altitude=air density decreases). Your airspeed indicator could read 250 at 35,000 feet while you are actually traveling at 500 and at 0 feet with standard temp and pressure and no wind, 250 kias means 250 knots. Edit: the 250 knot rule is true airspeed, not indicated, so probably 220 or around there to not break the limit).2) Sounds like you might be coming in fast on your ILS approaches, that or you have a faulty AFCAD which can mess up the ILS or the hard coding in MSFS is messed up for that airport. It doesn't sound like what you are doing is the source of the problem as long as you touch down and fly the approach at the proper airspeeds.3) In real life you can move your head forward in the cockpit or lift your seat up. You can adjust your seat height with certain controls in FS (sorry, I don't know them by memory, just look in options.) Or you could fly from the virtual cockpit which will probably help with your sight problem.Hope this helps!http://www.kthxdone.com/images/kw_ft.jpgKen Weik [link:maam.org|MAAM-SIM][link:library.avsim.net/search.php?CatID=root&SearchTerm=kenneth+weik&Sort=Added&ScanMode=0&Go=Change+View]My AFCADs

What's your fuel level during those aproaches? Mid size to large aircraft have large fuel tanks. All thet fuel is HEAVY. The extra weight means the wings have to generate more lift to maintain the proper glide slope. That extra weight has to be generated with some combination of higher airspeed and higher angle of attack. It's even possible the high angle of attack as the autopilot struggles to maintain the glide slope will cause a wing stall.In most cases you should start you flight with ONLY enough fuel to have about 30 minutes worth in your tanks when you land. Not only will you enjoy a better view over the instrument panel the lighter weight will allow you to reduce you speed enough to turn off the runway in a shorter distance. In the real world the lower weight would also reduce tire and brake wear and the extra fuel burned carrying all that fuel from one airport to another airport where there is already more fuel to buy (cheaper to let fuel pipelines, ships and trucks to carry fuel around the country/world).

Ken already did a good job explaining item number 1, but here's a little drawing I put together to illustrate what's happening:http://www.puonti.net/stuff/airspeed.gifThe red dotted lines indicate air - of which there is less the higher you go. Each time the plane passes through one of these lines it makes note of it. By taking into account how many lines it has passed through within time X (say, a second) it can figure out how fast it's going.The effect of flying higher, as far as the measuring equipment is concerned, is the same as flying slower at a lower altitude (=less air passing by within a certain amount of time).

My apologies: I made a mistake by saying the 250 knot rule is True Airspeed, it is indicated, so as long as you remain below 250 knots you are okay. If you do, it sounds like there is a problem with the program.http://www.kthxdone.com/images/kw_ft.jpgKen Weik [link:maam.org|MAAM-SIM][link:library.avsim.net/search.php?CatID=root&SearchTerm=kenneth+weik&Sort=Added&ScanMode=0&Go=Change+View]My AFCADs

Janne,A very good example but, the thing I don't understand is why there appears to be no restriction on *possible* speed below 10,000 and yet as you get higher, the aircraft speeds stress levels narrow down?For example 'Concorde' is unable structurly to attain safe high speed until it has climbed higher.I am of course referring to indications shown on the 'speed tape' indication?

It's shift-enter to move your "seat" up and shift-backspace to move it down.

Thanks a lot guys for explaining :)How do I calculate the right amount of fuel to take on my flight, sothat I don't have too much of it when I land? Is there some indicationof average fuel burn rate somewhere?And as for the airspeed, is the only way, then, to know my true speedto look at the GPS reading, or is there an instrument somewhere thatindicates that?And as for FSPassengers, I guess when I went a bit over the speed limit,it simply reported the amount in true airspeed, which was higher, buthad I not exceeded the indicated 250 kias, it wouldn't complain at all.

>Janne,>>A very good example but, the thing I don't understand is why>there appears to be no restriction on *possible* speed below>10,000 and yet as you get higher, the aircraft speeds stress>levels narrow down?>>For example 'Concorde' is unable structurly to attain safe>high speed until it has climbed higher.>>I am of course referring to indications shown on the 'speed>tape' indication?I believe that at least part of the answer can be gleaned from Janne's helpful little diagrams, above. Each time the concorde hits one of those red dots (air molecules) it creates friction and the result is heat. Even at altitudes around FL600, I seem to recall that the concorde stretches by about 12" as it approaches Mach 2. It is from the heat of friction that causes it to "grow." At low altitudes there is more friciton and more heat. R-

>3) This is a somewhat stupid question perhaps :) I just>noticed that> I find it hard to fly, and especially land, the 747-400,>because> it tends to keep its nose pitched significantly up even in>level> flight and descent (I understand it is part of its design).>This,> however, prevents me from seeing the runway or anything>near it,> making landing very hard (I have to switch to external>views).> I'm curious how pilots cope with this problem in both>Flight Sim> and in real life.>Are you sure your flaps are set right for the airspeed you're at when you see this nose high issue? You should never have a problem seeing correctly out the windshield if the plane is properly configured...