by beaky » Mon Mar 21, 2005 7:43 pm
Just getting the hang of these semi-automated approaches, but one thing I've learned is: if you're using auto. thrust on approach, you've gotta pull your joystick (or keyboard) throttle down to idle, so when you turn off the AP (including autothrottle) at touchdown, then apply and release reverse thrust, it won't start speeding up again. If you have auto braking, use it- it'll usually do a smoother job than you can.
If you're not using autoland (many aircraft don't have it), you might just be landing long. Using the ILS or a GPS approach won't take you
all the way to the runway, unless you have autoland, so you may be too high "over the fence", which uses up a lot of runway. In a big jet, you should be flaring before the numbers, and touching down on the numbers or just after.
As far as spoilers/slats go, I believe they're not meant to be used on approach, but rather are armed then deployed automatically when reverse thrust is applied. Maybe in a dire emergency they could be used in flight, but normally if you have full flaps and the right pitch and power settings, you should be coming in plenty slow enough, without too high a sink rate.
