747-400 flight dynamics

[canman88]

Either I don't know how to properly fly a 747, or there is something wrong with it's flight dynamics.

While cruising at say 30000 ft and mach .88, the engines are at almost full power keeping it level, and the nose is still pitched up a little. On approach, as I slow down, the nose pitches up a lot and staying at about 150 knots it is on the verge of stalling, even with full flaps. The plane also leaves vapour trails basically wherever it goes.

Just to quell any theories, I am not performing any ridiculous manoeuvres and everything I am doing is relatively standard.
I know some people were complaining about the FS2004 default 747 and an unofficial flight dynamics patch was released.

Could someone please offer some insight?

[loomex]

The nose will be pitched up while in flight as most larger aircraft do. As far as landing, it will pitch to about 10-15 degrees. Try to increade you landing speed about 5-10 knots. The vabor trails I believe are triggered by a gauge that reads the water content and g-forces with-in the simulator

[canman88]

Sounds alright. I think my problem is weight. I'm always flying with default payload. Is that heavy/medium/light?

[Brett_Henderson]

The default payload is heavy. And unless you've flown 1/2 way around the world.. you still got lotsa fuel on board.

Anyway.. a 747's approach speed can be as high as 195kias if on the heavy side; so you're 150kias is way too slow..

And cruise speed at altitude is closer to mach 0.84.

[canman88]

That helps a lot, thanks.

[ashaman]

Speaking of 747's, the normal landing speed is between 140 and 160 kias, more or less, depending by weight and other factors. If you have to keep a higher speed, then something is off in your landing configuration.

If you want to fly from EGLL to RJAA a full tank can be acceptable, but if with the same plane you only have to go as far as LIRF all that fuel is only a waste.

In your shoes I'd try and use as much a fuel as really necessary. Fuel calculations with a default can be an exercise in futility, but approximating a little can allow you to fly more realistically.

Pax weight too. The default figures are WAY overweight sometimes. Playing with these values too can give more realistic responses.