Long huals

[sonic]

Yea me too, the longest trip so far as been about 40 minutes or so but I am steadily increasing the distance and so larger aircraft as been on my mind. I like the 757 cuase its (frairly) easy to control and poskys got some really good ones though my framerates have suffered some but worth it. What lenght of trip is the 757 usually used for in the real world?

[Nav]

The book says the 757-300 has a range of 3,400 nms, sonic. That means it could comfortably do US coast-to-coast, NYC-London, or (probably) your original trip suggestion, Miami-Frankfurt, but would be a bit short-winded for the longer distances like some Pacific/Indian Ocean routes.

You'll find the ranges/performance of all the default aeroplanes set out in the Learning Centre. For other aircraft, go to:-

http://www.airliners.net/

and click on 'A/C DATA' - that site has just about everything you could possibly want to know about airliners!

[beefhole]

One word of caution if you're using a jet, though; it's best to keep an eye on things. If you encounter turbulence or high winds at Mach speeds, you can very quickly get into an overspeed situation, and the aeroplane will break up unless you quickly get back to normal time and hit the spoiler.

Actually, the airplane would start breaking up around the time you used the spoiler at Mach .78.  As I'm sure any RL pilot will tell you, NEVER use spoilers/flaps when in cruise.

If you do go overspeed, which has happened to me, instead slap ctrl+r (which will disengage SPD hold) and manually throttle down.

To reiterate: no spoilers for you!

[Flt.Lt.Andrew]

No matter what, long hauls will always be a bit boring.
For instance im doing Hong Kong to Heathrow non stop.
I'm breaking it up into hour bursts, which makes it better, and stopping off at different airports along the way.
Its never going to be the most exciting thing, but it gives you a real sense of achievement.

A.

[Nav]

Definitely, Andrew, as you say, there's a lot of satisfaction to be gained from planning and flying a series of trips, and getting everything right. Or even muddling through when things go wrong  :)

beefhole, agree with you about not using flaps at speed - and throttling back, of course. But as far as I know it's OK to use the spoiler - it isn't like the flaps, it doesn't generate excessive lift.  The other word for it is 'airbrake', and that's all it does.

Besides, I'm an ex-glider pilot - you can't take my spoiler away from me! on a hot day here it used to be about the only way you could persuade a glider to go down at all!  :)

Have the same problem with the default 747, and that new 787 of mine - going downhill, because of the weight of the jumbo and the 787's thin low-drag wing, the spoiler is the only way you can keep the airspeed within reasonable limits in a descent.

[Hai Perso Coyone?]

My personal fav for Long Haul: 777
Cheers,
Ashar

[jrpilot]

[quote]

[sonic]

Umm I havent really ever used it forgot  :-/ flaps ive used what is the key command for spoiler(airbrake) and when is the best time to apply it.

[beefhole]

spoilers: "/"

arm spoilers: "shift+/" (when you're on the ground, you CANNOT be at idle thrust when you arm spoilers! They will simply deploy)

Spoilers are used mainly on three occasions-

1) For takeoff, spoilers should be armed(shift+/).  In the event of a rejected takeoff (RTO), the spoilers will automatically deploy once you begin the deceleration.

2) On descent, deployment of the spoilers at very short intervals is an acceptable method to slow the plane down (in real life, you can only set them to the "flight detent" setting, but we don't have that luxury in FS) NOT recommended if it's not necessary.

DEPLOYMENT OF THE SPOILERS IS PROHIBITED BELOW 1,000' AGL OR WHEN ANY FLAPS ARE IN

3) On final approach, spoilers should be set to the armed position (shift+/).  Then, once your wheels touch the ground, the spoilers will automatically deploy.  Spoilers should be retracted at 60 KIAS (the same time you disengage reverse thrust)

Hope that helps

[ChrisM]

What varients are there with the triple 7 ?  There is -300 is that the biggest?  I was just wondering.  And what is the plane with longest range currently in service?

[beefhole]

the 772 and the 773 are the current variants in service.  

Naturally, the plane with the longest range currently in commercial service is the 747.  Not sure about military, because there's the C-5 and then that Russian behometh (the AN-22something), and I'm not sure which one has greater range.

[jrpilot]

[quote]the 772 and the 773 are the current variants in service.

[beefhole]

Thanks for correcing me on the A340, jr.

Yeah, spoilers can be deployed up to a certain point-it's either an airspeed or a certain flap setting at a certain altitude-basic point is, when you have a lot of flaps in, spoilers should not be deployed while in-flight.  I was being lazy and decided to make a generalization

[ChrisM]

Is it possible in 747 to do a Sydney to Heathrow non stop?

[Nexus]

Threw the subject swiftly to a certified NG driver and he said that the speedbrakes should not be operated below 1000AGL and beyond flaps 15.
I checked that against the Aircraft manual and it's correct.

And the speedbrakes should be in the DOWN detent before take-off, or else you'll get loud take-off warnings  :)