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Landing Woes....


Minas Man

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:confused:Can anyone here help me? I can't land X Plane 11 to save my life. I've studied YouTube videos...I've even prayed...Can't land consistently. The best I seem to manage is a hard landing. The worst is a complete crash. :mad:

 

The problem seems to start after I shut off the auto-pilot. It's like I have no control. I've turned weather off, so wind should not be a problem.

 

I have CH rudders (love them), CH Yoke (??). I should be able to do this. But I've been struggling for months, now :(

BTW, it's the Cessna 172 Skyhawk I'm flying...The easiest plane in the world....

 

Any advise would be greatly appreciated. After all, even a bad landing is better than a crash. And, believe me, I get plenty of both...

Please help.

 

P.S. I flew FS2004 and FSX for years...I wasn't the best, but I never worked this hard with such rotten results...

Thanks, in advance...

Reginald....

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:confused:Can anyone here help me? I can't land X Plane 11 to save my life. I've studied YouTube videos...I've even prayed...Can't land consistently. The best I seem to manage is a hard landing. The worst is a complete crash. :mad:

 

The problem seems to start after I shut off the auto-pilot. It's like I have no control. I've turned weather off, so wind should not be a problem.

 

I have CH rudders (love them), CH Yoke (??). I should be able to do this. But I've been struggling for months, now :(

BTW, it's the Cessna 172 Skyhawk I'm flying...The easiest plane in the world....

 

Any advise would be greatly appreciated. After all, even a bad landing is better than a crash. And, believe me, I get plenty of both...

Please help.

 

P.S. I flew FS2004 and FSX for years...I wasn't the best, but I never worked this hard with such rotten results...

Thanks, in advance...

Reginald....

 

Speed is wrong: Are you at V1.3?

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The only advice I can give, is the crash model is so forgiving you can pretty much touch down anywhere.

 

The autopilot is a joke, particularly when you resume a flight it is all switched off. The only thing I did note is that if you're doing an ILS approach you need to have both the Loc and App engaged, unlike FS where generally the App function tracks both the direction and glideslope.

 

Quickest uninstall of a £36 piece of software I've ever done.

Vern.
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  • 7 months later...

I have the same problem as well I am now playing with the response curves to settle down the amount of response put into the sim ( what a pain ) I am running a Carenado c177 its a pain normally cant keep it in the air before and after you shut off the auto pilot ( The c177 with retractable gear only ) u tube has some stuff in the response curves .

 

Hope this helps Avitec I wish I never got X Plane sometimes .........

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  • 1 month later...

I've kind of lost track of how long I've been fight simming. Back about 1987 I was flying with the keyboard. Prior to that,

I flew several "stick-figure" flight sims, including one on the Apple and one on the Timex Sinclair.

 

The effort got somewhat more serious around 1989-90 when I added a joystick. Then came pedals, then came a

second monitor, then some hardware to emulate an autopilot, then....

 

Through it all, I suffered crash after crash. One day, back in the keyboard era, I was showing a friend how it worked.

I lost control and somehow, unbelievably, I regained control and landed. My friend chuckled and said that was the

first time he'd ever seen anyone regain control. Well, that was new to me as well!

 

Landing the plane was by far BY FAR the most difficult part of the entire endeavor. I can remember many, many times

lamenting that it couldn't be that hard. There had to be a secret.

 

And then, one day, it dawned on me that I was indeed learning the "secret" without realizing it. That was the practice,

practice, practice part of it. Eventually, I got to the point where every landing was a "straight landing" even though it

might not have been on the runway!

 

Ultimately, I came to the conclusion that it was a multiple factor - not just one specific thing. (1) what was on the

screen that could help me with feedback for my landing alignment? And (2) how could I make the whole process

seem more or less automatic.

 

I've been stumbling at golf for many years. I don't play any more. When I gave up - it's mostly a health issue and

I won't go into details - I had my handicap down to 13 after having been around 18 for perhaps thirty (30) years.

I used to hear people say "...practice doesn't make perfect. Perfect practice makes golf more perfect. Took me many

years to realize they were right. If you practice the same mistakes over and over, you just keep replicating your

mistakes! I went to the local club pro and signed up for some lessons. The six-stroke drop in handicap only took about six months.

 

So, how did I apply this thought process to flight simulation? I came to the conclusion that I was practicing the wrong

things and needed to know what *should* I be practicing and how to improve it.

 

(1) Stay ahead of the plane. What the heck does that mean? That means that you're movements need to be minor.

You can't be jerking the yoke all over the place while trying to align your plane. You need to be making small,

hardly noticeable movements with your joystick/yoke. You will get (here comes that practice, practice, practice

again) used to it and one day realize that you're almost anticipating what needs to happen next.

 

You'll hear this adage (...staying ahead of the plane...") even more if you start flying jets, but it still applies

to props - when you're still very much a beginner.

 

(2) Find something in the cockpit or on the windscreen that will help you aim your plane. Most likely there's something

on your side of the plane (as opposed to the side where your co-pilot sits) can't move around too much - kind of like

looking down the barrel of a rifle, then aligning the sight at the end of the barrel. And now...

 

(3) align your plane, your aiming mechanism and then visual what the runway should look like as you're approaching

it. IT SHOULD LOOK AS STRAIGHT UP AND DOWN AS YOU CAN MAKE IT! If it appears to be sort of wandering

from left to right or vice versa, you're not in the middle of the approach! And therefore, if you keep going perfectly

straight, you won't be in the middle of the runway either!

 

In practicing all this, I started by making my approach from even further out than I had ever done before. On about the

fiftieth pass, it started to click. (Actually, I don't remember how long it took. I just remember it seemed like a long

time and it was still quite frustrating at times!)

 

Back in the good old days when I was still struggling to make decent landings I discovered that making a small arc

turn not too far from the runway threshold was a real bear in trying to line up the plane. In a conversation with a

real pilot, I made a comment about watching a pilot do this one day as we were approaching the airport.

 

This pilot made an almost-180 degree, sweeping turn, gently massaging the throttle and the wheel in what had to

be minute, minor adjustments. He straightened the plane out almost perfectly at the runway threshold and settled

the plane down in a perfect landing. I can't tell you how envious I was watching this professional small-plane

pilot perform this maneuver.

 

My friend said "..and that's not the kind of thing that can be taught by plan. It ultimately becomes a process that

just has to be learned. You do it over and over to you get the feel."

 

That sweeping arc landing became one of the things I practiced over and over. (I practiced this over and over in a

small prop plane - not in a 737!)

 

I moved away from flight simming for several years and recently start up again. It took a few landings to start

getting my groove back but that "...staying ahead of the aircraft..." message kept popping up.

 

Now I've gotta learn how to apply reverse thrust and keep the plane on the runway! LOL

 

Good luck.

 

Art Burke - N4PJ

Leesburg, FL

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Hi Minas Man,

I have a Saitek yoke and with the default cessna the elevator if unbeleivably over sensitive. Its actually the worst aircraft Ive ever flown and the last time I tried to fly it I just gave up (im an ex airline jockey !). Could an over controlling elevator be your problem ?

 

its a bit late for me now to try it again - but in the meantime have a look at this -

I always keep a bottle of stimulant handy just in case I see a serpent - which I also keep handy.....
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Hi mate, I just recalibrated my yoke - first time in about a year ! The Cessna flies better for me now - so it may be worth trying.

 

As a training aircraft for the sim it is quite complicated. Have a look at the Ercoupe - https://www.flightsim.com/vbfs/fslib.php?searchid=84920002

ercoupe.jpg

 

The aircraft was designed without the need for rudder pedals - so thats just one less thing to think about. you can use your CH pedals to steer it around the ground but in the air you dont need to worry about them.

 

I'm into Classic aeroplanes and the Baby B-25 is has always been just outside my grasp in real life. Its decidedly pretty, forgiving, visibility is superb and its very easy to fly. Its got everything you need to start out with.

 

It was designed for an earlier version of XP so when you select the aeroplane you need to open the box "Customise" and tick the box "Start with engines running". You cant start it manually in XP 11.

 

Nobody can just take off and land. It takes a few hours to get into the groove.

 

Make sure to use the two red buttons for trim. The front one for Elevator trim down and the rear one for Elevator trim up.

 

Practice trimming the aeroplane for different phases of flight. This is the most important thing to learn so get it right. The aeroplane should fly level when you let go of the wheel. if the nose drops - press the Up button a few times. If the nose keeps coming up press the down button. Just use a few little taps. Dont hold the button for up or down. Three little taps is usually enough mate.

 

On the right of the panel you will see an instrument "Climb". This is the V.S.I. or Vertical Speed Indicator. Practice fine tuning the trim to keep the needle of this instrument at "0" for level flight with your hands off the wheel. The trimmer needs constant attention to fly like a pro.

 

Now get yourself on the runway. There is a knob on the left of the altimeter. Use your mouse to get both needles to point to zero - then open up the Donkey to full power.

 

Track the aeroplane with the wheel to go straight down the runway and gently ease the wheel back when you get to 50 kts. Watch the V.S.I. and gently move the wheel forward or back to see 500ft/m - thats midway between "0" and the big "1". Now look at the IAS (Indicated Air Speed) and use those red trim buttons to trim to keep the aeroplane at 90 kts when you let go of the wheel.

 

You should find that it Climbs at full power around 6 - 700 ft/m.

Level flight with the donkey set at 2200 rpm gives 90 kts. Again use the red buttons to trim the aeroplane so that you can take your hand off the wheel with the V.S.I. at "0" and the aeroplane flying straight and level.

 

Climb up to about 3,000ft and practice Level flight at 3,000 ft and use the trim buttons until you can take your hand off the wheel and the VSI stays at "0" and you maintain 3000ft

 

Now practice descending.

Remember that this phase of flight changes the function of the elevator and the throttle. The elevator now controls the speed and the throttle controls the altitude.

 

Throttle back to 1,700 rpm and ease the wheel back a little until you see 75 Kts on the A.S.I and retrim until the airspeed stays at 75 kts with your hand off the wheel. This gives you a descent rate of about 400 ft/m on the V.S.I.

 

TRIM TRIM TRIM ! The trimmer is not a thing you set once. You have to keep fiddling with it. As the speed increases the wing becomes more efficient and a little down trim is required. The slower the speed the less efficient the wing becomes and you need to trim back to let go of the wheel and let it fly hands off with the V.S.I. at whichever phase of flight you are flying, climbing, level flight or descending trim trim trim.. Little taps on the red buttons.

 

Once you have the trimmer hacked - now try a few approaches.

 

With the aeroplane trimmed at 1700rpm and 75 kts (hands off the wheel) and start your descent (at 450 ft per minute) towards the runway. Choose somewhere with a good long runway(s) like LAX. This is the tricky bit. You have to keep your head outside the cockpit to see the runway but also you have to get used to glancing at your altimeter, the VSI and the ASI every3 - 5 seconds. If you are over 75 kts retrim with the back red button. If below 75 kts retrim with the front button. Keep the aeroplane straight to the runway and and keep glancing down at the Altimeter.

 

If you think you are too low - add a little power, this will reduce your rate of descent and you will float further.

If you are too fast pull the elevator back 2 millimetres - thats all. Too slow push the wheel forward 2 millimetres. Retrim.

 

When you see the longer needle on the altimeter getting towards the "5" "thats 500ft) you dont need to use the trimmer any more. When you get to between the "2" and the "1" gently ease the wheel back a few millimetres (3 -4mm is enough) and hold the wheel there. Glance at the ASI and you should see the speed decay - we want to see about 55 - 60 kts. You may need to ease back a few millimetres more. Forget about the throttle at the moment mate just concentrate on the elevator and keeping the aeroplane straight.

 

Trim like a pro - land like a pro :cool: - good luck !

Edited by AlyMac
I always keep a bottle of stimulant handy just in case I see a serpent - which I also keep handy.....
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