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Any heavy is different than a non heavy as to how it flys. They all will have a nose up attitude even when in straight and level flight. I call it the sit down and take it easy approach. I do not want to tell you not to pay attention to the degree that it does go nose up as to much can lead to a stall. I would use the shift Z key to dispaly altitude and air speed at the top. Then start slowing down while trying not to loose altitude at some point in time it will stall this will give you a idea as to what to expect during a stall and the spead it stalled at. Of course weights will make a differance as well and will change the stall speed. A rule of thumb is as weights increase stall spead  will increase as well. Another words the heavier you get the faster you have to go to prevent a stall.
Most manuals will give you stall speads, but the problem is that not all manuals will give you all of the stall speads, and ther are a lot of different situations to consider.
I would suggest you grab your favorite 747 load it to what you expect  most of your flights to be, then take it for a trip. Plan a flight with a lot of turns in it so you see how it handles, remember to set your fuel levels to allow you enough fuel to make the flight and a little in reserve for taxing. This is about the only way you can learn how to fly these planes try not to  use autopilot that much so you can get the feel and learn how to trim the craft as it goes along
 8)

JC...Have you really gone through the Flight Notes for the 747 in the FS Learning Centre?...it seems to me it goes into all the proceedures from startup to shut down in some detail!..There is also a tutorial you can download on the download section here on SimV.

jeremy,

Everything that has been said so far is right on.

But the thing that most of us miss when flying the B747 (and the other big jets) is that approach speed is directly proportional to weight.  No one (not even Microsoft) can say that the approach speed is 140 KIAS without also specifying the weight of the aircraft that goes along with that speed.

For example, my own flight notes for the B747 show an approach speed of 142 KIAS for an aircraft with no fuel remaining (W=470,000 lb).  Fully fueled (W=853,000 lb), the approach speed is 191 KIAS.  In most cases, landing speed will be 10 knots slower than the approach speed.

Please note that your airspeed may vary from those above.  My flight dynamics for the B747 have some tweaks that could make a difference.  Also, the aircraft weights that I've shown could be different, depending on the weight of your payload (PAX, bags, food carts).

The airspeeds I use will bring the B747 down the glideslope in a nearly level attitude.  At about 1000 ft AGL, I'll pull back on the throttle to slow it down by 10 knots.  At the runway threshhold, the nose will be up a little.  Then I simply cross my fingers, attempt to flare the aircraft and usually make a mess of the landing.  I think I need a lot more practice!

Hope we've given you some ideas on how to handle this big bird.  It will be a challenge, but with enough practice you'll get a lot better at it.

Regards,
JerryH

Hey thank you very much for this help iam triying to practice my landings but i still land a little bit strong in the runway, because i land like at 149 i dont know if that is correct, do anyone knows what is the maximum speed for landing with the 747?

Hi JC....here's a chart for you to study.  


VREF - Landing Approach Speed gear down   880,000 lbs (flaps 25)    192 KIAS
880,000 lbs (flaps 30)   184 KIAS

840,000 lbs (flaps 25)    187 KIAS
840,000 lbs (flaps 30)   180 KIAS
800,000 lbs (flaps 25)    182 KIAS
800,000 lbs (flaps 30)   175 KIAS
760,000 lbs (flaps 25)    177 KIAS
760,000 lbs (flaps 30)   170 KIAS
720,000 lbs (flaps 25)    172 KIAS
720,000 lbs (flaps 30)   165 KIAS
680,000 lbs (flaps 25)    167 KIAS
680,000 lbs (flaps 30)   160 KIAS
640,000 lbs (flaps 25)    162 KIAS
640,000 lbs (flaps 30)   155 KIAS
600,000 lbs (flaps 25)  
156 KIAS

600,000 lbs (flaps 30)  
150 KIAS

560,000 lbs (flaps 25)  
151 KIAS

560,000 lbs (flaps 30)  
145 KIAS

520,000 lbs (flaps 25)  
145 KIAS

520,000 lbs (flaps 30)  
138 KIAS

480,000 lbs (flaps 25)  
139 KIAS

480,000 lbs (flaps 30)  
133 KIAS

440,000 lbs (flaps 25)  
133 KIAS

440,000 lbs (flaps 30)  
127 KIAS

.......Work it out from that eh?  Maybe 10 KIAS less for the actual touch down?..commoner

commoner,

Where'd you find that chart?

best,

.........john

Hey Jerry,

My Momma used to say...
If it was so easy, everyone would be doing it!

Take heart, I can't land the 747 either.  I line it up, get it into what looks like a great landing profile and bounce it like a beachball off the runway.  Pathetic!

The preceding posts have helped me, but I think the weight thing was the one thing I have been missing.  I used to not check the fuel/weight option before flying and discovered that I wasn't doing it right.

I finally hard landed a 747 (hope no one was aboard).  I reduced the fuel on board because the flight distance didn't require it.  At least it stopped on the runway.  I know it sounds lame, but big jets are tough.  The speed tables are cool, but it all happens so fast.

I'll stick to what I know, twin engines!  Keep after it, Jerry!

hbshawaii,

Thanks for the encouragement.  I'm sure I could do better landings if only I would stick with one aircraft for a few weeks.  Trouble is, I jump around from one to the other too often.  Haven't flown the B747 for some time; too busy with the DC-6B, B737NG, L-188 and a B-17F.  Every one is totally different!

The "weight thing" messes up many of us because we're familiar with the Cessnas, etc., where the empty weight and the fully fueled weight are nearly the same.  Therefore, the stall speed, takeoff speed and landing speed will never change significantly.  With a flying fuel tank like the 747, knowing your weight status is critical.

Incidently, I'm still trying to figure out the purpose of the Reference_Speeds section in the aircraft.cfg file.  It usually lists flaps_up and full_flaps stall speed.  But it never lists the weight that goes along with those speeds.  There's nothing in the SDK either.  To me it's totally useless and very misleading.  

Regards,
JerryH

...Hi John....the "chart" is from the 747 "electronic kneeboard"...the actual file is in my FS9/airccraft/b747 400 folder..........like most things as you will know,it's all there in FS9 if

commoner,

Thanks.

DUH!

..S'Ok John..I found out long

Jerry, here's a flight plan I use to practice big jet landings:

KTND-KEDW (Point Magu, CA to Edwards AFB, CA).  It's a 15-20 minute flight in a subsonic jet and is great practice.  A straight-in flight, short hop, long runway.  Can't beat it.  Set your target altitude to FL 145 to get over the mountains then descend and land!

Takeoff at KTND on RWY 3 (11,000 ft).  If you use GPS, your target heading is 04.  Here's the runway diagram at Edwards:  http://204.108.4.16/d-tpp/0412/00500I22.PDF   (BTW, airnav.com is dynamite for stateside airport info)

Edwards Rwy 4 is 15,000 ft so you have a big target.  If you want to practice ILS llandings use RWY 22 .

I pretty much use this flight plan  to practice with every new jet I try to fly.  I try to stay exclusively with a new aircraft until I feel I've mastered it.

Enjoy!

Thanks Hawaii,

I'll print your plan for future reference.  Sounds good.

JerryH