Tiger_Walts

This is a limitation of the lighting engine in FSX coupled with there being no separate textures for night-time. What you are looking at are daytime textures that have been darkened in a manner that results in a banding effect. Similar colours have been darkened into the same colour, The landing lights then lighten those colours in the same fashion (in a separate pass) and the banding gets even worse. The ENB Series mod can also worsen (or improve) the result depending on the settings you use. FSX may be rendering at a 32 bit colour depth, but the textures it is working with don't have the fidelity to withstand the colour manipulation, Games from the same era as FSX would just have used different textures for different lighting conditions to minimize this as most don't have day-night cycles. Today, lighting engines are much better. Take ARMA 3 for example, a far cry from ARMA 2 which also suffers from colour banding.

I eventually did it by landing before the boat starts to zig zag.

I happen to have some 3D glasses beside me and I can confirm that this is anaglyph 3D.

I don't actually know what the real operating procedures are for speedbrake use during flight, but here is where I use it: Descending at cruise speeds When you command the autopilot to fly at a lower altitude, it will typically choose a descent rate that adds about 10kts to your target airspeed. Before initiating the descent, set the target speed down 10kts and then use a little speed brake to bleed off that 10kts before retracting the speed brake and descending. If you aren't in a rush, then don't use the speed brake, maintain level flight until the speed has dropped off. If you are controlling the descent manually you control your airspeed with pitch changes and can fly a lot smoother. Descending to Approach/VFR airspace ATC will give you altitude changes that require you to descend at a much faster rate (giving 20-30kts extra airspeed) and you will need to comply quickly. You may not have time for the engines to reduce thrust and even at idle you may still increase airspeed in the descent. Initiate the descent as before but this time don't retract the speed brake, continually monitor airspeed and change the brake setting if necessary. When leveling out, retract the speed brake. In VFR airspace you will need to fly below 250kts, and even slower if you are maneuvering for approach, you will need to slow down during your descent. In this case, modulate the speed brake during the descent to slow down gradually as you descend. Approach and Landing First check that the speed brake is retracted. Don't apply the speed brake in level flight at approach speeds. Arm the speed brake to deploy on touchdown ( shift + / ). Visually check that it is armed (One of the displays may announce it and the lever will move to 25%). On final, check that it is still armed. On landing check that the speed brake deploys and retracts automatically, intervene if necessary. Emergency Situations The only emergency situation I can think of is if you are overspeeding at very high altitude. Normally an overspeed can be corrected with a reduce in thrust and nose high pitch. However, jet engines react slowly and at high altitude pitching up is at a greater risk to stall. I'd use the speed brake in such a case. Use of the speed brake should be a proactive affair. When you have planned to use it, you have far better control and understanding of the craft. If you have to re-actively use it, then you can expect things to not go so smoothly.

Airport landing triggers can be runway specific. Landing long or landing on the reverse runway may not activate the trigger,

I've seen this problem on a number of missions in FSX and Flight. If you land a little too long (or on the wrong runway, including the reverse of the target runway) then the next stage in the mission can fail to trigger. Even taxiing through the TDZ can fail (but sometimes works). You may have to take off and land again. I had this very problem on this mission with the landing on the strip where the Maule is located. There are trees right up to the runway so an approach in line with the runway will always be long. I took off and flew around for a second landing, I slipped it in through a gap and landed much shorter and the mission could continue.