If you're going to use the FS lessons, be sure to
not remain at pattern altitude until you turn to final- I've never heard of such a thing in real life; when flying a standard rectangular pattern you begin descent on the base leg. I have no idea where they got that, and I keep forgetting to contact MS or Rod Machado and ask "What the hek is that all about?!" :-?
Also, when I tried the lessons, there was a lot more that didn't make sense. But it's OK- you will get a good idea of how to proceed by flying a little with the mildly retarded virtual CFI in FS9.
But in general, the key to landing any plane is to understand its slow-flight characteristics, and from there how to descend in that configuration while holding a heading.
You can study up on the speeds, etc or you can just experiment, at altitude, with some random altitude selected as "ground". Start 1000 feet above that, with the plane configured for landing, and try to maintain a speed a little above stalling speed with no more than a 500 fpm descent rate. Speed is critical here- you cannot expect to land well if you randomly dive at the runway. Things need to be stable as you begin to descend. Slow, but not too slow. Sinking, but not too much. You should be able to level off, then stall (on purpose), without going past your selected altitude. Once you manage that, try it from 1000 feet above the runway, and try to flare (pull back) so that you hear that stall horn just as the mains kiss the runway. You will find that if you have the plane set up for a stable airspeed and descent rate, it will be like magic.
Your visual target should be the place you want to flare (not touch down) on the runway: the numbers are fine, usually. Use aileron, elevator and rudder to keep that target where it is. That's "all there is to it".
The other general advice I always give is: if you are not one of those "FS9 is a grt game woot- I wnt 2 lnd a 747 in ths game how I play it land OK wot key 2 press plz?" sim pilots but instead someone who
wants to learn how to fly in the sim, do NOT begin your lessons with a jet airliner or some high-performance type. The default C172 is OK, but if you like that you will love the (free) RealAir 172; it's much more realistic (I say this as a RL pilot with about 200 hours in C172s). The basics apply to every plane, but if you start with something fast and complicated, you will not get the basics down without some real struggle.
So anyway: fly the lessons a little, practice on your own a little, and be sure to follow Brett's flight training threads in the Flight Training forum.
Posted: Fri Dec 21, 2007 9:50 am
8-)