Landing attitude

[Scottler]

Oooh, speaking of emergencies, you just reminded me Nex.

I'll post it in the general forums.

[Nexus]

*feels like an a$$ already*


Sorry Rollerball.

[jas490]

hey guys remember:
if you have been in a cockpit at least once (big or small)
you will notice that it is very tight on space in most cases. this means that the the lack of depth and small windows make the position of the pilots head critical.  by moving only a matter of inches back and forth the view changes quite a bit.  not being able to simulate this in a 2d environment makes it necessary for the shift up and down thing.  imo the 2d view on the computer screen cannot approximate this shift in view and therefore the view will never "act" like it does in real life.  when landing with what i know to be a correct attitude in fs, i still cannot see the runway as mentioned before, thus i don't think it is a bad attitude (ha ha)
-jason

[gjans]

Thanks to you all guys for the advice...
So I have make FDE changes... But what does FDE mean, and how do i carry out those changes ??

Geoff

[PH_AJH]

I don't really understand all this FDE stuff either but to be honest: wouldn't it be easier to use shift-enter, thus simulating raising your head a bit? Just as a real live pilot would I suppose, if he is sitting to low to see the runway he'll stretch his neck or raise the seat.
When in my car I don't really consider cutting the roof of just because I cant see the lights, I'll duck.
That's my opinion, don't have to agree.
Cheers
AJ

[RollerBall]

No, don't do that.

Just add more flap (sighhhh....30 or 40 deg  depending on your persuasion - tell you what, start with full flap and when you've cracked it go to a bit less ) and/or up your approach speed. If the Lear's a bit lively for you practise on the default 737 which has a lovely stable approach mode.

Aim for say 180 kts at the top of finals and 155/160 at the flare - it'll go slower but at those speeds you should keep the runway in sight until you get the hang.

[RollerBall]

wouldn't it be easier to use shift-enter

The problem with shft-enter is that it doesn't achieve a change of view by increasing the seat height - it does it by swinging the runway up towards your nose from approximately the nose gear for a tricycle undercarriage aircraft.

What that means, if you've ever flown in real life, is that the visual cues place you too high compared to your true height over the ground or runway. This is actually the last thing you want if you're trying to do a 'proper' landing because you're hitting the deck when you judge you should be flaring.

If you want to know what I mean, grab the Sopwith, Corsair or DC3 (all tail draggers note). You can't see the runway - hit shft-enter a few times and you'll see how the view of the runway that you do get changes.

That's what happens when you do it on final approach. When you learn to fly for real your instructor will at some stage ask you about judging the correct glideslope path for a good approach and you will have to tell him how you you interpret the view of the runway at different heights. Hold a sheet of paper up in front of you just below face height, flat with an edge towards you. Raise the far edge , you see more of the paper (runway) - you're too high. Lower the far edge yu see less of the runway, you're too low. See what I mean? That's the effect of shft-enter (but OK, it's the only way to do it I guess)

[Travis]

Well, its not the ONLY way . . .

I have noticed this problem before, but just put it down to bad mechanical issues with the way FS was set up.

But recently I downloaded a program that gives you the ability to set preprogrammed views in the VC, so that you are able to move around in the VC and sit potentially anywhere in relation to the aircraft.

I figured out how to use this very effectively for landing when I tried flying the Spirit of St. Louis I downloaded from some site or another.  Since the Spirit has no forward view, I couldn't land very well in cockpit mode.  Then I programmed the VC views and realized I could effectively stick my 'head' out the window by moving the view out to the side a little.

Now when I try to land something like the 747 or Lear, I just switch to VC and hit two buttons on the keyboard and the view will switch, moving up or forward or whatever.  Extremely handy for landing.

BTW, the name of the program is Active Camera 2002.  Make sure you get the version that specifies the operation I outlined above.  This program is phenomenal!

[PH_AJH]

Roller I absolutely agree with you. For lesser gods like myself however changing FDE's is a bit....well to much really. Changing the pitch by setting more flap or flying at slightly higher speeds (and should the need arise a quick shift-enter for a moment) is a lot more practical then editing FDE's methinks.

I use Active camera as well and it is brilliant indeed.

Cheers
AJ

[RollerBall]

Noooo

I wasn't suggesting that people should start playing around modifying FDEs - I was merely saying that I've modified quite a few to give a more correct approach setup. And that includes one or two pretty well know planes that I'm not gonna mention that I think have rather poor FDEs eg I was flying a well known 737 today that was HOPELESS on ILS approach - as soon as you turned either left or right on the autopilot it dropped like a brick.

I still think the answer with this one is to use more flap and keep the approach speed up a bit.

[packercolinl]

I'll go with Rollerball. I've found that I use a higher speed than is recommended but it keeps things manageable and seeable(?) It also showed up errors in my approach setup---- so back to school I went!!