Landings: Are crash landings modeled? (or, "I never have aircraft damage on landing")

[freddy]

I am not sure if this is a silly question or not.

And, yes, I suppose I could test this myself to find the answer (but don't really wish to do so and blemish a good record). ...

Everytime I land, my plane touches down and rolls down the runway, slowing and then reaching a speed where I can safely turn off. I consider this to be a "normal landing". I am happy with my landings.

So here is my question: Is the sim giving me a "false sense of security"? If I land too hard or too fast, does the sim reflect this with some kind of "crash" or "gear collapse"? Or, will it just land all the time, regardless of this?

Obviously if I really make an effort to push my plane in to the ground at some ridiculous angle of attack etc, then I am sure to get a "crash" result.

But I want to know if I am actually someone who does have reasonable landing skills, or if the sim is just leading me astray by always allowing my plane to land every time with no problem regardless of how I put it down.

For the record I have "Aircraft damage due to stress" enabled and all my realism sliders at max.

[Smiffy]

With realism slider at max, a fast heavy landing should remove your langing gear, try it, its quite comical listening to the metallic scraping sounds as you slide down the runway with out wheels.

[freddy]

Ahh. Yes, this is the kind of thing I am after. I have never experienced this or any other mishap in any of my "Heavy" landings. So I must be doing something right. Hmmm.

The question is still open though. What about GA and planes like the Lear? Can anyone confirm similar things occur for those if you are not quite on the money (so to speak)?

(Smiffy, I must try this in a heavy. It does sound like a laugh.)

[Smiffy]

I managed to rip the main gear off the level d 767 in a 40kt cross wind at heathrow, it was most comical watching the replay. As for GA planes Ive not managed to crash one yet. I have how ever killed the ultalight my putting it in a full throttle dive, presumably I got blown out by the high wind and blended by the prop

[Tim_A]

I've had a few nose-overs and ground loops, but so far never lost the landing gear (except the time the nose wheel didn't come down...)

[macey]

I cant say i have ever had my landing gear break off on a hard landing. Allways get the "crash" and sim resets to start of flight

[freddy]

The fact that I see people here reporting gear getting ripped off or ground loops and nose overs seems to indicate the sim is not too forgiving after all. But I wonder to what degree. Books and texts suggest that landing errors can cause all sorts of problems (yes, ground loops, collapsed gear, etc) if even the slightest thing is not done correctly or isn't quite right. And yet, I have personally not had any such mishaps in any of my landings in the sim. I am guessing if I was to try a real landing in real-life I would certainly have more difficulty than what I am experiencing from the sim. And that is the real crux of what I'm enquiring about in this thread.

I do understand that with most aircraft models, there is less to do in the sim than in a real aircraft. I also understand things such as no peripheral vision on a computer monitor and other limitations. But, those things aside, how do physical landings in the sim compare to those done in real life? Are they easier in the sim, harder in the the sim, the same, more forgiving, less forgiving, realistic, less realistic, etc? If I seem to have no problems or issues physically landing planes in the sim ... no collapsed gear, no ground loops or nose overs, etc ... does that really mean I have aquired some kind of actual skill; that I can really land a plane, or, am I just getting some false sense of security from what essentially is just a "game"?
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[Tim_A]

One thing FS doesn't do is store up trouble. IRL, a nose wheel first landing might not break the nose gear... the first time. But a few landings down the road, and a perfectly good mains first landing will have the nose gear collapse.

Most of what make sim landings harder than real ones is the lack of peripheral vision. Pilots judge flare height from what they see out of the corner of their eye (and in a lot of planes there's little or no forward vision of the runway anyhow), so if you can't see sideways it's easy to misjudge your flare and either stall it on or drive it into the ground.

FS is also notoriously bad at handling the friction between the wheels and the runway (it's one of the worst handled parts of the sim, IMHO) - there's way too little grip, and you'll slide and skid all over the place if you're not too careful.

[Smiffy]

Tims got it spot on there. I much prefer landing in the real world in a C170 than trying to land the FSX 172. You get so used to using that important little bit of info from your peripheral vision with regards when to flair. Best way to get peripheral vision, spend a lot of money and get a tripple head to go with 3 new screens, or alternatively use that x amount of cash and get an hours flight at your local club.

[freddy]

Yes, peripheral vision is a big one as far as sims go. But, logic says that the "lack" of peripheral vision in the sim surely means that if one can land in the sim without it, then one would certainly be "better" in a real-world landing with it.

And, a good point also about "stored up" trouble.

FS is also notoriously bad at handling the friction between the wheels and the runway (it's one of the worst handled parts of the sim, IMHO) - there's way too little grip, and you'll slide and skid all over the place if you're not too careful.

Agreed. Whilst I can land OK in the sim, I often find that if I am not quite lined up on the centre line (crosswind landing), the plane tends to slide a little as I use rudder to straighten it. And, even at a measly 5 knots, one can tend to slide slightly as one turns off toward the taxiway.

I know from real landings as a passenger in commercial jets that you "feel" the grab of the aircraft push/pull your body sideways in your seat as the wheels touch down and any sideways motion of the aircraft is killed off in that instant.
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