Landing practice

[SVFlyer]

To me the most fun, dynamic, and challenging thing you do while flying, is landing, which I’m lousy at. To that end, I’d like to just practice landing, over and over until I can obtain some kind of proficiency. So my question is: Is there any way I can start a flight “on final”, so that all I have to do is land the beast, instead of taking off and circling the field to get into the pattern?

[sfojimbo]

You'd be missing out on the most important part of landing: setting up the approach. That's where landings usually go wrong. You should forget about landings and just work on arriving stabilized, at a certain place, at a certain altitude, at a certain speed, on the correct heading which will be the place where you can cut power and float over the runway threshold at 65kts or so for a 152/172 type.

 

You'll nail the landing every time if you do that.

 

You do have to have a good yoke or stick that has sensitivities set to give you smooth control of pitch and roll: and pedals.

[neilends]

What sfjimbo said.

 

And just to add: before I finally got my joystick (HOTAS) I was playing the sim on a keyboard and mouse. This was almost a waste of time, because the simming "skills" needed to land were so distorted by the artificial distractions of hitting keyboard keys to maneuver the plane into position and land it. The joystick finally allowed me to at least somewhat pretend that landing in the sim resembles landing in real life.

 

The same is definitely true of VR headsets. I find that the ability to only use my head and eyes to situate and position myself relative to the runway vastly improves the realism of actually landing. And that actually makes it easier. In 2D mode, you are unrealistically stuck staring at 1 or 2 angles at best in the final minutes and seconds, and you have to use up your fingers to change those angles when they are supposed to be busy with the throttle and pitch of the plane. VR headsets still have some progress to make but it's something to think about in the coming year as MSFS works on this technology (we hope).

[g7rta]

What they said.

 

If you wanted to start in the air though.. while flying..press escape so the menu screen pops up.. press space bar & save / load the flight.

 

Regards

Steve

[mikeblom13]

For what it's worth, this is a suggestion.

Load up a flight on the ground at KEUG 34L.

No crosswind

Set your heading bug for 340 deg. This gives you a quick reference

close enough to a cardinal heading to achieve completing your turn.

Crosswind 270

Downwind 180

Base 90

Final 340

 

KEUG has some close proximetry roads running N-S, E-W

nearby for some visual reference.

Don't forget on Downwind to have the runway about halfway on your strut if practicing on a C-172

 

This has helped me in the past.

[neilends]

Just thought of one more suggestion:

 

The official MSFS "landing challenges" will also automatically set you up for landings. Each time you just hit "restart" and you're situated right in the air. There's a different landing for different airplanes, so you can choose the Cessna 172 challenge, or the different challenges for larger planes if that's your preference.

[marcroussy]

I haven't tried it, but I've heard if you only chose an arrival airport (no departure), you'll automatically spawn on final. I'd suggest immediately hitting active pause while the plane stabilizes and you set your controls where you want them for landing though.

[dashort3]

I don't know of a freeware app but if you want to do landings check if FS Instant Approach is available for MSFS yet. I use it for X-Plane and it gives approach setup for any runway at the distance and altitude desired, you choose the aircraft.

[HornetAircraft]

another good tip for the pattern in a 172 or 150 is the 75,70,65 rule. 75kts downwind, 70kts base, 65kts final, and short final reduce to 60kts for the flare. the 150 is almost the same. learn to land the light planes before moving to larger ones.

[DaddyTim]

You could try this product. I used it a lot in FSX and it was great for just preparing and lining up for a landing. I believe the airplane types are already selected and you can't change them.

https://www.simulshop.com/product/fs-approaches-pilot-in-command-msfs/

[davidc2]

You can also select Approach from the ingame drop down menu (or whatever phase of the Flight Plan you are in)