Simviation Forums

how do you line up with the runway? i keep missing the runway
i am not able to get any liveries

It all depends what you are flying.  If you are flying a big jet you need to fly a much longer approach.  It's best to just get good at landing a cessna 172.  Practice that until you master it and then slowly make your way up to the bigger jets.  

Hawk

A good reference for the 172:

Fly a pattern.  This means taking off from the runway and at about 1/2 mile (give it ten seconds after takeoff) make a 180 degree turn of about fifteen to twenty seconds.  This will put you about 1 mile from the runway at a few hundred feet.

You are going to land on the same runway, going the same direction you took off in.  Continue on the heading you have and then when you press and hold 1 on the keypad, if the runway is in the middle, make a 90 degree turn.  This will set you up for a runway approach.  Once the runway is at about your 11 o'clock (NUM 7) make another 90 degree turn and you will be approximately lined up for landing.  Adjust as necessary and you will be able to land.

If this fails, go to the instruction school and take the "Take-off and Landing" course.  I'm not sure that is the name, but its close.

As for the liveries, do you mean you can't find anything online that you can download?  If so, hit the search button on the SimV main page and you will get a search engine.  Enter the aircraft type and it will give you multiple answers.  Search through those to find what you want and then download it.  If you need help installing, post a question here.

Landing aircraft in the sim takes a lot of practice (just like real aircraft) youll do best if you start your approach a couple of miles out. That way you can make slight adjustments to line up with the center line. Quick, abrupt corrections will get you "killed" every time. Try this: drop throttle to about 35 percent,  hit one "tap" on the flaps. When airspeed settles down, try to maintain approx. 120 to 140 kts you may need to adjust speed to maintain altitude. ALWAYS fly "DOWN TO" runway with your speed constant. Never glide with "throttle off" down to the runway! When your just seconds from touchdown, then back off the power, raise the nose a little, let the speed bleed off until you touch down.Then hit the brakes(and thrust reversers if equipped). hope this helps!!

[quote]Landing aircraft in the sim takes a lot of practice (just like real aircraft) youll do best if you start your approach a couple of miles out. That way you can make slight adjustments to line up with the center line. Quick, abrupt corrections will get you "killed" every time. Try this: drop throttle to about 35 percent,

Take the flying lessons! Get a view of what a correct approach is and read the specs. for your aircraft for approach speeds and flap positions AND when you have the thing on the ground before takeoff taxi it so your nosewheel is on the centreline(use spot view),now look at what lines up inside the cockpit with the centreline. It may be a switch,light or panel edge. Use that as a reference point as well. Good luck and keep trying,you will get there!!  ;)

Cheers

It all depends on the plane you fly. If it is a Cessna 4 miles from the runway is enough to start aligning given that you are not too high (2000-2500 ft is fine) and you are not going too fast (80-90 Kts are fine to reduce to 60 for landing. However I usually reduce my speed more down to 50.

Things are much different if you are flying a big jet. For example 737 needs 7-8 miles at least from the runway given that you are coming from the right direction, you are at glideslop altitude (usually 2000-2500 ft) and a speed not more than 160 kts (which however need ot be reduced to 135-140). Use the autopilot to align from a distance and as you close turn to manual. A 55-60 percentage of N1 power with flaps at 30 degrees is a good configuration to land. Try to aim at a point in the runway of about 1000 ft beyond the end of the threshold maintainging a descent rate of about 700 FPM. When the threshold starts disappearing below your 737 you must have an altitude ideally less than 60 ft. When at 15 feet set the power to idle and raise the nose 2-3 degrees. The plane will land gently.

Practice will make it an easy thing to do.

On a normal 3 degree visual approach you will pass the threshold at 35ft AGL when aiming for a 1.000ft touchdown.

And to clarify things to beginners. You will ideally fly the approach with a pitch up of 2- 3 degrees,(main gear slightly lower than nose gear) then during the flare, just as Poseidon said, raise the nose some 3 degrees more. This will make the aicraft pitch around 6 degrees on touchdown, which is the recommended.

jgc 2090 did not make any reference to the type of aircraft he was flying. my advice was only a "generality".