SMS MD-11 Landing Angle....

[Speedbyrd 0]

I very much enjoy the SMS MD-11's but one thing I'd like to fix and that is the angle at which the plane makes final approach. When flaps are deployed the plane noses down heavily. I've tried decreasing the flaps drag and I use approach speed of about 150kts. It's only just before we cross the threshold that I can nose her up for a 3 point landing. It's like it's coming in high, but it's really not. I normally descend at 800 fpm from 2500 ft, 10 miles out. My other planes land very nicely and almost at the same angle as cruise flight. Any ideas?

[Guest RotorRick]

It's probably "light" for it's size (meaning the cargo/pax maybe is not accounted for, an empty plane compared to real specs), and you are maybe approaching faster. It's also possible that the MD-11 is one of those planes who didn't use the last notch of flaps in the real world use, much like some 727's.I dunno, but personaly I ended up looking at the iFDG version, loved parts of it, but finally just took FSPainter's version, rebuilt the FDE and tweeked it for weeks. Now it's very low impact on framerates, but flies how I'd expect an MD-11 to fly. PS I did use the SMS panel for it though! Recently someone posted a link to an awsome panel for this MD, but I've not had time to try it out, and might be a bit complex for me.

[Speedbyrd 0]

Well you helped a lot. I noticed that there are 7 flap positions for this plane going all the way up to 50 degrees! That seems rather steep, as the 747 only has 6 going to 30 deg. I thought 30 was a more realistic maximum flaps position so I did some adjustments and voila! We no longer have that heavy nose-down drag on final approach and everything seems to do its job with 30 deg. Thanks again for giving me the clue.