Landing (flare)

[siron]

Guys, need some advise here,

Well you see for landing I use A/P ILS approches till abt 200ft then I disable A/P to manually land.

What happens is that then plane when on FULL flap, it will nose DOWN for the landing for A/P ILS landing.

If I do not extend the flaps fully, its a good flare, but I thought we are suppose to land with FULL FLAPS??

Pls advise? Did I do something wrong?

Thank you

[zcottovision]

Full flaps aren't always necessary. For example, if your plane is pretty light, you can land with about flaps 25 (in the case of the 737).

[Matt]

Check your trim. The AP will move the trim to deal with the extra lift created by extending the flaps. Also if the aircraft pitches nose down, you could be flying too fast.

[siron]

Check your trim. The AP will move the trim to deal with the extra lift created by extending the flaps. Also if the aircraft pitches nose down, you could be flying too fast.

Anyway yah....If I do not go on FULL FLAPS, I'll land nicely.
Anyway check the trim? But when its on A/P the trim is auto.... How?

Thanks

[Chris_F]

If you start your flare (pull back on the stick) while the AP is still on then the AP will set the trim nose down while you're pulling back on the stick in order to maintain its preferred attitude.  Once the AP is off the plane will be trimmed significantly nose down.

[Nexus]

Adding more flaps reduces the approach speeds, so if AP are flying "Nose down" it simply means that you are going too fast for that flap setting.

And full flap setting is not always required for a landing, like Zcottovision said. There are usually at least 3 certified flap settings on a Boeing airliner. And the truth is that the final flap setting often only creates lots of drag and very little additional lift =more engine power necessary to maintain speed  :)

[siron]

Thank You Guys, well for me, or my landing styles I put it, I can perfectly land the plane at FLAPS 25%, with a nice flare, touch down on the rear wheels....anymore then that, I'll not have a nice land.

One question, in commercial jets like 747, 737, is it a must to land on the rear wheels first?? Is there any chance that the plane land on all 3?? or even the front wheel down first??

Thanks

[Nexus]

No, like all tricycle landing gear, the aircraft is designed to land on the main  gears first. They are designed to take the load from the aircraft, whereas the nose wheel probably would collapse under the pressure if you'd land nose down.

Just compare the size and structural strenght between the main landing gear and the nose gear.

[Brute]

I think in a plane you can get away with an on all 3 landing. I've seen it done, but a nose down landing is a HHHUUUUGGGEEEE no :-/ unless you wanna make a pancake out of 130+ people

[Craig.]

3 wheeled landings dont work to well, look what happend at fairford/farnbourough? a few years back an italian aircraft tried a steep approach display screwed it up landed on the main and front wheels and the front collapsed. That was just a small prop, imagine a 777.

[Rocket_Bird]

Thats where you pay the mechanics the big bucks to replace your nose gear strut  :P

[Nav]

siron - a few tips that may help smooth things out:-

1.