decreasing spead

[Amin Halimah]

Hi

I like to fly Boeing 737,747,757,767,777 and so on.But when i try to land, i always come in too fast and crash.I have the flaps down all the way and the throttle is idle so how do i decrease my speed?

Thanks

[Harold Rutila]

Each aircraft has a maximum flaps extended speed. Slow to those speeds before lowering your flaps.

The basic concept of slowing down has to do with raising the nose and reducing power. Pitch for airspeed, power for altitude. It seems a little bit counter-intuitive, but that's how it works.

[Matthew Jessick]

Another thing you can do is deploy "spoilers" - These reduce the lift the wing provides, meaning you have to pitch to a higher angle (angle of attack) which usually causes more drag. Default FSX key is /     Warning, this deploys full spoilers which is "very drastic" - to the point where you can crash yourself.  Better to find the control for your plane and adjust spoilers more carefully (in the virtual cockpit or whatever is required).

Because this adds drag, a purist will scof at using spoilers, since that means you screwed up earlier and thereby cost yourself some extra fuel use.

[Matthew Jessick]

On a related note, how fast should you fly when on a trajectory to land? As a fairly new S3, I am not yet very comfortable with second guessing how pilots fly in my airspace, even when they cause me and themselves heartache.     Like screaming along a downwind leg at 2000 ft and 270 knots groundspeed - will he slow down, eventually? (I hope so.)

I saw these guidelines somewhere which work reasonably well for me when I fly: (These are for a normal transport aircraft. Obviously, they might need to be adjusted for a specific aircraft type and situation.)

• 230 knots indicated airspeed when approaching an airspace,
• 210 knots inside the airspace,
• 180 knots on final approach.
• The Vref speed for my plane is lower than this so I do more slowing on the approach.

In other words, landing usually isn't a race.
Flying too fast might make it hard to slow down. Or I might not turn you soon enough to give you a nice intercept of the localizer/runway centerline (because turn radius is increased greatly with higher speeds), or since I'm expecting you to slow at some point the downwind path I put you on might be too close to the runway centerline if you don't slow down like I was expecting a sane  pilot to do.

Are there other guidelines people use?

[Tim Farrell]

John,

We've all been there done that!  

The 737 is really in a class of its own compared to the others you mentioned.

Typically the 737 final approach speed after the Outer Marker should be about 130 to 140kts. Maybe more if the aircraft is full.

The heavies may require around 150 kts sometimes slightly more on final. Again, weight factors in on this as well. Adjust for weight. Slower approaches can be done in light loads, heavy loads require more speed/lift.

Other factors may also include surface wind. For strong wind or gusty wind conditions, you might shy away from full flaps. You will also want your approach speed to be slightly faster in these conditions too.

Fly it to the touchdown zone, flair prior to touchdown (as you flair speed will dimenish) then retard throttle within 10-20 ft above the runway.

Remember: Flaps are not to slow down the aircraft. Flaps are to allow the aircraft slower flight. Use the speed brakes to slow down.

I make sure I'm 210 kts when setting up the localizer approach. 180kts at the Outer Maker then adjusting for final approach speed. 240kts trying to make a turn will usually cause you to over shoot the turn or the localizer.

 Hope this helps,

[Amin Halimah]

Ok, I got it. But can you tell me how to deploy spoilers in FS9?

[Kevin Copeland]

Ok, I got it. But can you tell me how to deploy spoilers in FS9?

the"/" key deploys the spoilers in FS9 and FSX
I mapped the mixture lever on my flight sim yoke to the spoilers, that way I can deploy them in small increments instead of full up/down.

[Harold Rutila]

Click the Settings button on the main FS9 menu. You can configure the key/joystick assignments there. I'd also suggest reading the VATSIM PRC if you haven't already done so (http://vatsim.net/PRC).

[Michael Martin]

With proper descent planning, you can fly the whole approach without flaps, all the while slowing airspeed by reducing throttle and maintaining level flight.  The aircraft will naturally reduce airspeed as drag gradually overcomes thrust.  Flaps increase lift produced by the wing increasing the angle of attack of the wing, this is also why your stall speed increases with each knotch of flaps.  Your FMS will calculate the apppropriate approach speed depending on which flap setting you wish to use.

[Rahul Parkar]

[!--quoteo--][div class=\\\'quotetop\\\']QUOTE [/div][div class=\\\'quotemain\\\'][!--quotec--]this is also why your stall speed increases with each knotch of flaps[/quote]

Maybe it's just me, or I'm confused, but doesn't stall speed decrease, e.g. you need to be going slower to stall, as you bring your flaps down?

Cheers!
Rahul

[Amin Halimah]

hey

Thanks guys!it worked!I can finally land the right way and DON"t burst to thousands of minuscule airplane parts!


Again Thanks!!!  

[Keith Smith]

With proper descent planning, you can fly the whole approach without flaps, all the while slowing airspeed by reducing throttle and maintaining level flight.  The aircraft will naturally reduce airspeed as drag gradually overcomes thrust.  Flaps increase lift produced by the wing increasing the angle of attack of the wing, this is also why your stall speed increases with each knotch of flaps.  Your FMS will calculate the apppropriate approach speed depending on which flap setting you wish to use.

If you look on a traditional airspeed indicator, you'll see that the bottom of the white arc (stall speed in the landing configuration) is LOWER than the bottom of the green arc (stall speed in the cruise configuration).

It is not true that the stall speed increases with the addition of flaps.