SurClaro Flight Simulator Resources

[harkonnen]

After watching that pilot bring in that Jetblue A320 with the bad nosegear yesterday at LAX, and so nicely flare it just a hair as the rear gear was about to touch, I wondered how these guys (and gals) know how close the gear is to the runway. Pure experience, I'm guessing. I can land 'em like that in FS2002 but I cheat and have spot view from the side and can see it all so well! Is it like driving a bigger truck around and getting such a feel for the vehicle that you can feed it between two posts with an inch to spare on either side? (my experience) There's not a video feed to the cockpit of the underbelly or anything is there? .....Also while typing this post I began wondering if there were many women piloting airliners and if not, is the number increasing as times change?

[bluetop]

I think its what you said,these pilots develop a feel for the plane. I have a good friend,his sister flies dc9's for northwest. She belongs to a group called the 99's they are the first 100 female commercial pilots. That was about 8 years ago so I'm sure there are more all the time.

[Max]

That is only partially correct. All PAX operations are done with multiple crew members piloting the aircraft. So, in the abscence of a GPWS, the pilot not flying the aircraft would be calling out altitudes above ground all the way till 10ft AGL. So, at either 20 or 10 feet, the throttle would come down to IDLE and the pilot would raise the nose to get the VSI needle to the 0 position....with the aircraft losing speed slowly, it will start descending those last 10 feet, and a nice soft touch will occur.


The GPWS is a system with pre recorded altitude calouts that just plays the correct sound for a particular readout. Making it easier for the pilots to work the other systems.

[skipperdan]

Max:

Do they really set the VSI to zero at 10 feet above the runway or do they keep the nose elevated so that the main wheels touch before the nose wheel? 8) 8)

[Max]

No, didn't mean set it to zero on the autopilot, I meant to raise the nose to make the VSI visually show an approximate zero. The closer the needle to zero the better.

Yes, I am pretty sire the nose wheel is suppsed to touch the ground last....why? The exception would be general aviation aircraft and stold aircraft like the DHC-6 which also does a three point landing like the taildraggers.

[ricktobin]

I think skipperdan's point was if the VSI is at zero, that would imply that the A/C is in straight and level flight, which would not allow the A/C to land main gear first followed by the nose gear. When the A/C finally lost enough airspeed, it would touchdown on all wheels at the same time.

[Max]

Quote: I think skipperdan's point was if the VSI is at zero, that would imply that the A/C is in straight and level flight, which would not allow the A/C to land main gear first followed by the nose gear. When the A/C finally lost enough airspeed, it would touchdown on all wheels at the same time.

Are you trying to say that the aircraft is in a straight and leve flight when it's ATTITUDE is zero (resulting in the nose hear and the main gear being in level), because that is completely incorrect. Have you ever heard of an expression called "high drag, high angle of attack" which is an aircraft in a landing configuration flying in level flight. High angle of attack means that even though the aircraft is flying with it's vertcal speed indicating ZERO, doesn't mean the aircraft will have all wheels level towards the ground.

EDIT: here's an image taken from the Federal Airplane Flying Handbook that should make it all cristal clear :)

http://www.flightsim-pro.com/fig4_1.jpg

[ricktobin]

I'm not trying to say anything...

[Max]

Neither am I... :lol:

[myheadspinsincircles]

in short, having the VSI needle at 0 doesnt exactly mean that the plane is level.

flying level at 100 kts on a commercial airliner would mean the wheels touch first. not saying thats a recommended landing speed though... :wink:

[ricktobin]

myheadspinsincircles wrote:
flying level at 100 kts on a commercial airliner would mean the wheels touch first.

...the wheels touch first as opposed to what, the passenger cabin?

[Captain_Sean]

Ok, This is a very good question, and I dont know the true answer to it either. After reading all of these posts, I am getting confused what you are sopose to do. You know....with the VSI thing. I am a pilot, and what I do know is that you are sopose to fly the airplane down onto the runway (Touching down on your back wheels--unless flying a taildragger), and flare at the last second. From an airliner point of view, I would say that would be 10-20 feet. Also, based on the correct landing speeds of that paticular aircraft, the aircraft will require more pitch to maintain altitude (Like what happens durring a stall) so having the VSI at "zero" somewhat makes sense if you are at the correct landing speed. If any one else could give harkonnen, myself, and any others a clearer explanation, that would be greatly appreciated.

Sean

[myheadspinsincircles]

HAHA! oops. yeah u know what i meant. the rear wheels touch first :D

[Max]

Okay, once more. The landing is one of the trickiest parts of a flight (well most of the time). Timing and coordination between the power, pitch and altitude are the most inportant. So, you will establish a normal (and more important a stable) approach path and get the speed under control. Then as you do below the Decision Height, forget about the localizer beam, and focus on what you see out the window. If you see nothing, go around. If you see a runway centerline (or lights), align your craft to it. As you go down to 50 feet, reduce vertical speed to aim for the designated touchdown zone. As you pass 20 feet, you should be in the rwy centerline, and you shouldn't make any more fast movements (unless hard crosswind). When reaching 10 feet, cut down the throttle, and pull the nose up in the air, take a look at the Vertical Speed Indicator and pull the nose till the needle is almost zero (a little below), and after you hear the main gear touch the ground, verify the spoilers are deployed, and when the main gear touches the gnd, use reverse thrust and hydraulic brakes to slow the aircraft down....(brakes only below 80kts, when the reversers go off)


That should be it.

[myheadspinsincircles]

umm...if ur question was

if its at the correct landing speed and the VSI is at 0, is it level?

then no. In commercial airliners at their landing speed with full flaps and gear down, they will be tilted up a little bit.

if that wasn't u question then.....i didnt get it haha