HI Guys

Hope you are well.

I have been really enjoying Xplane 12 and now have a few purchased aircraft including the FF 757/767 and Tollis Airbus A319 and A340.  

I actually managed a complete manual approach and landing in horrible weather yesterday without giving my passengers whiplash :), I really want to improve my landings and I thought how about something to rate my landings?  Can anyone recommend a way for me to do this? I thought maybe some sort of plug in would be able to rate my landing.

Would love to hear an recommendations.

 

Kind Regards

Daz

 

 

 

 

https://forums.x-plane.org/files/file/43586-a-new-landing-rate-display/

https://forums.x-plane.org/files/file/45734-landing-speed-plugin-xgs-reloaded/

Keep in mind that a "falling feather" (or "butter") touchdown is only done for showing off and can be dangerous, especially in wet conditions. Any touchdown that doesn't loosen fillings, crunches spines and keeps the landing gear and airframe straight is acceptable. Better a firm one in the touchdown zone than a very soft one halfway down the runway.

https://forums.x-plane.org/forums/topic/271887-stableapproach/

This gives a overview from approach gate (1000' or 500') until roll out, not just a touchdown.

Martin Landau FTW!!!

On 5/10/2026 at 9:50 AM, Bjoern said:

Keep in mind that a "falling feather" (or "butter") touchdown is only done for showing off and can be dangerous, especially in wet conditions. Any touchdown that doesn't loosen fillings, crunches spines and keeps the landing gear and airframe straight is acceptable. Better a firm one in the touchdown zone than a very soft one halfway down the runway.

THAT... For all the nonsense about Ryanair pilots on the internet, they are actually doing it right. For one, a 737 likes to be planted down firmly. This comes from several 73 pilots I talk to every day - all the systems that are responsible for braking are dependent on the main wheels touchdown, so it's important to make that happen rather than risking floating half way down just to "butter" it and then have no room to stop. Especially, considering some fields that bird flies into (MDW, DCA) that don't allow luxury of long runways. So, it turns out that the Ryanair pilots are actually doing it right - consider the company's impeccable safety record. 

Thank you for the input guys ,have some awesome things to try out!

On 5/9/2026 at 10:54 PM, Dazkent said:

HI Guys

Hope you are well.

I have been really enjoying Xplane 12 and now have a few purchased aircraft including the FF 757/767 and Tollis Airbus A319 and A340.  

I actually managed a complete manual approach and landing in horrible weather yesterday without giving my passengers whiplash :), I really want to improve my landings and I thought how about something to rate my landings?  Can anyone recommend a way for me to do this? I thought maybe some sort of plug in would be able to rate my landing.

Would love to hear an recommendations.

You won't become good at landings until you first become good at approaches 🙂 👍

I.e., the key to a good landing is establishing a Stabilized Approach: you're runway aligned, on-speed, properly configured, at the correct AoA, and at the proper descent rate.

If you get THOSE correct, an acceptable landing is almost guaranteed (at least in-sim! 😉 ).

IMHO, the best way to practice/learn this, particularly in-sim, is to shoot ILS approaches. May seem counter-intuitive since ILS is an "advanced" IFR skill, but it is also a great way to get INSTANT feedback on whether you've established a Stabilized Approach. And when you're flying ILS on a clear day, you'll eventually learn the proper sight picture and it'll get even easier. And setting up an ILS approach, even in the Big Iron jets, is usually quite no more than a handful of button clicks.

What's a Stabilized Approach? Aside from Line 2 above, you should theoretically be able to take your hands off your controls and have the aircraft remain more or less stable in the descent. This pretty much never happens IRL due to atmospheric effects near the ground, but it's the goal.

Biggest thing I see is flight simmers not using Trim. Trim is your Best Friend - in all phases of flight. You should use it so often that it's the first button to break on your joystick 😁. If you're contstantly pushing and pulling on your joystick, you're likely Out of Trim, and it'll be well nigh impossible to establish a Stabilized Approach.

Now, if setting up ILS is too much of a hassle, or you don't have the ILS freq, then it's likely the airfield (esp anything large enough for airliners) has PAPI lights of one sort or another. Use those and if you have a Stabilized Approach, it should be relatively easy to get down to the runway in good order.

Once you're on Short Final, the most important aspects to focus on are nailing your touchdown right on the Aim Point bars, definitely in the Landing Zone, and preferably right on the runway centerline. The first two will result from following the ILS/PAPI, the second is really up to YOU, particularly when there are crosswinds (which is practically always 🙂 ).

Finally, and as already stated: You're not looking for a "butter landing" of -10fpm, you're looking to put your aircraft down exactly on ONE point on the runway. Anything up to around 300fpm is okay. And again, if you're flaring out of a Stabilized Approach (which is around -500fpm), -300fpm or less will happen almost automatically.

One final thing: make sure you look for IRL info on touchdown. Each aircraft has it's own Best Practices. E.g., some aircraft need a little power on all the way to touchdown, while others want a full cut prior to the mains touching, etc., etc.

 And p.s., for my money, a hand-flown long approach is one of the most fun things that can be done in flight sim. Watching the computer perform a CAT III approach for you...might as well be watching a YouTube 😆

 

 

A great way to learn in an Airbus is to set up an ILS then let it perform an autoland. Observe what the aircraft systems do especially around the flare and try to replicate it the next time you do a flight. 

Also make sure your view is set up correctly otherwise you'll get a warped view of what the aircraft is doing and you'll end up fighting an illusion of the ground coming up too quickly - there's a video by Easyjetsimpilot that illustrates this perfectly:

 

Edited May 13May 13 by FPVSteve

On 5/13/2026 at 5:17 PM, FPVSteve said:

A great way to learn in an Airbus is to set up an ILS then let it perform an autoland. Observe what the aircraft systems do especially around the flare and try to replicate it the next time you do a flight.  

My boss asked Boeing to explain how autoland works so it can be use as a flare temple for initial training, and Boeing reply: "no, don't try to imitate autopilot"