After years and years of making what I thought were perfectly ok landings in my flight sim airliners, I bought FSI Panel which tells me most of the time that I’m so far off the centreline that I’d be a danger to myself and others. Straddling the centreline won’t cut it. Even 9 feet deviation is a serious matter it seems. And 19 feet is basically a catastrophe. 

Anyone else similarly humiliated? Or is it just me? What precision is actually typical in real life? 

6 minutes ago, tfm said:

FSI Panel which tells me most of the time that I’m so far off the centreline

It seems to be a problem of detecting the correct runway, remember:

Warning: : always reselect the runway, even if automatically detected by FSiPanel!

19 feet off centerline would be multiple “centerline” calls on the approach and if it wasn’t sorted out it would be a go-around.  
 

9 feet off centerline is a pretty terrible landing IRL.   On a normal runway, with normal centerline markings, if the nosewheel isn’t IN the centerline, I’d be saying something to the other pilot after we’re off the runway.   

11 minutes ago, tfm said:

After years and years of making what I thought were perfectly ok landings in my flight sim airliners, I bought FSI Panel which tells me most of the time that I’m so far off the centreline that I’d be a danger to myself and others. Straddling the centreline won’t cut it. Even 9 feet deviation is a serious matter it seems. And 19 feet is basically a catastrophe. 

Anyone else similarly humiliated? Or is it just me? What precision is actually typical in real life? 

I try to get the nosewheel to come down right on the centerline. 

5 minutes ago, polosim said:

It seems to be a problem of detecting the correct runway, remember:

Warning: : always reselect the runway, even if automatically detected by FSiPanel!

LOL BRILLIANT 🤣 

But no, I haven’t ever actually missed a runway I was aiming for :))

My point is that FS Panel sets much more exacting standards than I have been used to settling for and I wondered if I’m alone in this / what happened in the real world.

3 minutes ago, ATRguy said:

19 feet off centerline would be multiple “centerline” calls on the approach and if it wasn’t sorted out it would be a go-around.  
 

9 feet off centerline is a pretty terrible landing IRL.   On a normal runway, with normal centerline markings, if the nosewheel isn’t IN the centerline, I’d be saying something to the other pilot after we’re off the runway.   

Thanks - that’s what I was afraid of 😕 

3 minutes ago, Bobsk8 said:

I try to get the nosewheel to come down right on the centerline. 

Ouch 😕 

3 minutes ago, tfm said:

Ouch 😕 

Fairly easy to do in the PMDG 737, the Fenix is another story . 

7 minutes ago, tfm said:

Thanks - that’s what I was afraid of 😕 

It’s a sim.  It’s harder than in real life. 

So, you guys are saying that you hit the centreline every time, even with strong crosswinds? If so, you should be signing up to be real world airliner pilots......or disabling auto landings.

Edited April 7, 20242 yr by Christopher Low

2 minutes ago, Christopher Low said:

So, you guys are saying that you hit the centreline every time, even with strong crosswinds? If so, you should be signing up to be real world airliner pilots......or disabling auto landings.

I think these guys already fly actual aeroplanes! 

In the rw sometimes you may wish to be off the centerline. Example a slippery runway(ice, packed snow, lots of standing water) in a strong crosswind it can be advantageous to be off the centerline into the wind. Smaller communities in the north or the arctic for example have only one runway and no shortage of wind. North of the tree line in relatively flat terrain the wind can be strong but at least somewhat steady. One of my last trips north flying a SF340 the wind was 50' to the right gusting to 48 knots onto a 6000' runway. Moving a little off centerline into the wind gave some wiggle room. Definitely a solid arrival but no passenger complaints.

Edited April 7, 20242 yr by dbw1
spelling, again

2 minutes ago, dbw1 said:

In the rw sometimes you may wish to be off the centerline. Example a slippery runway(ice, packed snow, lots of standing water) in a strong crosswind it can be advantageous to be off the centerline into the wind. Smaller communities in the north or the arctic for example have only one runway and no shortage of wind. North of the tree line in relatively flat terrain the wind can be strong but at least somewhat steady. One of my last trips north flying a SF340 the wind was 50' to the right gusting to 48 knots onto a 6000' runway. Moving a little off centerline into the wind gave some wiggle room. Definitely a solid arrival but no passenger complaints.

Good grief, sounds dramatic! 
 

No such excuses for me sadly lol. 

1 minute ago, tfm said:

Good grief, sounds dramatic! 
 

No such excuses for me sadly lol. 

When you operate a lot in that environment you get to know what the aircraft can do. Plus i spent +/- 1000 hours in the right seat with some great teachers so when i made capt I had a decent foundation.....plus I got another 100 +/- hours of good line indoc. Crosswind limits in flight manuals are usually mentioned as "demonstrated crosswind". Should be mentioned that the company had an excellent safety record. You pick and choose your days with doing this.

25 minutes ago, Christopher Low said:

disabling auto landings

In fact, with crosswinds greater than 20 knots, the autoland function is not allowed due to limitation.