26 minutes ago, cwburnett said:

Pete, in case it is helpful, I did a quick video of a circuit in the MD82 including showing my control setup and the autobrake use.

 

Thanks for posting this video. I will cross reference my settings with those in your video and see if I can make some progress.

Cheers, Pete

4 hours ago, PilotPete99 said:

I tried the auto brake on medium and max, no luck. I put a ticket in with Leonardo and hope they can help. This makes no sense.

Cheers, Pete

Did you arm the autobrake (separate switch) as well as selecting medium with the knob? Easy to overlook if you’re used to Boeings.

Are your spoilers armed and deploying on touchdown? There was a real md-80 crew forgot that one, didn’t end well without the downforce the spoilers provide.

i use no manual braking until the plane is seriously slowed down, even then i’m gentle on the pedals.

11 hours ago, OzWhitey said:

Did you arm the autobrake (separate switch) as well as selecting medium with the knob? Easy to overlook if you’re used to Boeings.

Are your spoilers armed and deploying on touchdown? There was a real md-80 crew forgot that one, didn’t end well without the downforce the spoilers provide.

i use no manual braking until the plane is seriously slowed down, even then i’m gentle on the pedals.

I always deploy the spoilers at touchdown, not sure if there is an automatic feature but I just hit the " / " key. Perhaps with the MD-80 you have to be much more precise than with the other aircraft? Perfect airspeed, very slight rudder control, etc? Also, when I used the autobrake it took forever for the plane to slow down after landing. I used almost the entire runway, and it didn't feel like there was any braking happening. Just to confirm, all I did was flip the "arm" switch up and turned the dial (knob) to "med" and then "max" for the next flight (seems like exactly what you instructed in your post above). It is possible that the autobrake wasn't engaged? Am I perhaps missing a step? By the way, in the operations center I saw there was a box for autobrake and I checked that box. Is it supposed to be checked or unchecked in order to use autobrake? Sorry for all of questions, this plane is certainly quite different from boeing and airbus jets.

Cheers, Pete

42 minutes ago, PilotPete99 said:

Just to confirm, all I did was flip the "arm" switch up and turned the dial (knob) to "med" and then "max" for the next flight (seems like exactly what you instructed in your post above). It is possible that the autobrake wasn't engaged? Am I perhaps missing a step? By the way, in the operations center I saw there was a box for autobrake and I checked that box. Is it supposed to be checked or unchecked in order to use autobrake? Sorry for all of questions, this plane is certainly quite different from boeing and airbus jets.

Cheers, Pete

Autobrake: yes, you're doing the right thing. The "arm" switch is something Boeing pilots might miss, as they are used to just a knob without his second step. Perhaps double check that the switch is up before touchdown, but I imagine from your description that it is. Also, you'll disarm the autobrakes if you use the rudder pedals, so make sure you stay completely off those until you've slowed right down.

In the ops centre, you've also got it right. If you don't check the autobrake box, your plane will be missing one altogether ie no knob/switch on the pedestal.

Spoilers: you want them armed rather than deployed, just like a Boeing. So lever should be in the forward position, but lifted up so that the big red tab that says "arm" is visible.

Also, I don't think we've mentioned reverse thrust. Is that working OK for you? Check that the thrust reverser lever is fully up, plus there's four lights at the top of the EEDP (the panel with the engine gauges) to confirm that both reversers are unlocked and deployed.

For anyone wanting to learn this great aircraft, if you haven't read Chuck's guide, read Chuck's guide: https://www.mudspike.com/chucks-guides-p3d-leonardo-md-82-maddog/

The box checked in the load manager means the panel will appear. If it is unchecked, you won't even see the autobrake panel.

In the video I posted, you can see that when we go gear down, with flaps at 28 or 40, we then arm the autobrake by setting the knob to low and the switch forward (arm) and we also arm the ground spoilers by pulling up on the handle which exposes the red 'armed' indicator.  Make sure it actually arms, if the switch flips back, it isn't armed. It will not armed unless flaps are at 28 or 40. If in transit, it will not arm. Only arm spoilers and autobrake AFTER gear is down and flaps are in landing condition. So the before landing 'gumps' checklist, if you will, is:

-speeds set in airspeed indicator window
	(set by selecting the speed card and then right or left clicking on the airspeed indicator, depending on if you want flaps 28 or flaps 40 landing speeds)
-gear down - 3 greens
-flaps set (28 or 40)
-spoilers armed
-autobrake set and armed
-lights on
-ignition BOTH
-EPR Mode to GA

To answer your other questions:

1) no, it isn't more sensitive than other planes really, or not hugely so, so there's still something amiss. In my video, I'm guessing I'm not that precise 😉

2) with autobrake low, no reverse and no spoilers, you will use 5000'+. But the only way to know if it is braking is to enable the message text that shows whether it is braking or to look at the brake pressure gauge.

 

Edited June 17, 20205 yr by cwburnett

Okay I armed the autobrake before take off! Does that mean it probably switched back off during flight? Thanks again for all of these suggestions, it is greatly appreciated.

Cheer, Pete

Edited June 17, 20205 yr by PilotPete99

Yes, you need to do the before landing checklist that includes arming spoilers and selecting, then arming the autobrake after flaps are at least at 28 and the gear is down.

2 hours ago, PilotPete99 said:

Okay I armed the autobrake before take off! Does that mean it probably switched back off during flight? Thanks again for all of these suggestions, it is greatly appreciated.

Cheer, Pete

You might be on to the problem there.

If you try and arm too early, the switch just flicks straight back down, meaning the autobrakes are NOT armed. As CW says, you need to perform the arming step as part of your landing checklist, once the flaps are down at 28 or 40 degrees. Visually check that the arming switch is actually in the up position before you land. 

As you have deduced, the Long Beach Sewer Pipe is not a Boeing!

Edited June 17, 20205 yr by OzWhitey

It worked! Set auto-brake properly and had near perfect landing! Thanks for all of the help! What would I do without this forum!

Cheers, Pete

Well for me I also made my first reasonable landing. Anyway no weird behaviour anymore at touchdown. Followed strickly the landing procedures now in correct order. I only haven't  found out yet what I did different than the previous landings, but it definitely  wasn't something wrong with my hardware setup.The Maddog is a challenging aircraft, very different than the FSLabs airbus which I'm flying most at the time.  Thanks for all the support!

 

Edited June 18, 20205 yr by 7neophyte7

I was wondering if any of you have the MD-83/MD-88 expansion and can recommend it. I have searched for a while and can’t find much information about this. Is it worth the extra $25?

Cheers, Pete

25 minutes ago, PilotPete99 said:

I was wondering if any of you have the MD-83/MD-88 expansion and can recommend it. I have searched for a while and can’t find much information about this. Is it worth the extra $25?

Cheers, Pete

The basic airplane is the same, the expansion adds a few airframe-specific features for the MD83 and 88 variants. This can affect things like passenger seating layouts, max gross weight etc.

Unfortunately, not many real-world MD80 operators are left, but if you wanted to precisely emulate former Delta operations, you would want to use the MD88 for example.

Edited June 18, 20205 yr by JRBarrett

2 hours ago, PilotPete99 said:

I was wondering if any of you have the MD-83/MD-88 expansion and can recommend it. I have searched for a while and can’t find much information about this. Is it worth the extra $25?

Cheers, Pete

If you find you want more range, that'd be the biggest reason to consider it.

Also we did publish procedures, they can very helpful. After that, flying Shared Cockpit with a very knowledgable MD-80 simmer or pilot is priceless. You will easily learn x10 faster and retain more than reading.

 

On 6/17/2020 at 5:38 PM, PilotPete99 said:

It worked! Set auto-brake properly and had near perfect landing! Thanks for all of the help! What would I do without this forum!

Cheers, Pete

Can you elaborate on what you did?  I take it from this thread that you need to set autobrake only once your are at flaps 28 (or 40), but I'm really not sure based on the above. 

Also, what do you do if your MD-82 aircraft isn't equipped with autobrakes? (that is one landing I tried, a/c was configured with no autobrakes).  I suppose in that case, I improperly applied the brakes?