Simviation Forum - Landing/flaring

Feb 24^th, 2003 at 2:34pm

Jezz Guest

Could some nice person out there give me some advice on the very last stages of landing. I have the ILS and approach sussed now...... it's just the flaring.

I seem to either flare too early and the plane "floats" for a few metres or I flare too late trying to avoid this floating and smash up the undercarriage!!!

I'm generally pretty sound on smaller stuff liek cessnas and beechcraft. It's the big stuff like the tripple 7s and 747s.

Should I be staring at the altitude guage to get an idea of how fast the ground is approaching or should I look outside and try to guestimate when to flare??

Any help would be appreciated. Cheers

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Reply #1 - Feb 24^th, 2003 at 2:49pm

GreG Offline
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Hello there mate,

Flaring is easy, you should watch the vertical speed guage when you are on short finals, and you should make sure that it's at around 600-900 feet per min, and in the 747 make sure you're at around 175 knots, until about 100 feet, the 777 can approach at around 165. You should get one of those panels that come with altitude callouts, it's a great help, you should flare at 20-30 feet above the runway, by the way to answer your question. Good luck and carry on flying.

Greg

If everything seems under control, you're just not going fast enough.

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Reply #2 - Feb 24^th, 2003 at 4:20pm

codered Offline
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Your attention should be given to your target landing spot on the runway. This is usually the numbers. Focus on this spot until you are about 100ft or so, depending on the size of your aircraft, then put your focus down the runway, almost to the end, during your flare. Practice makes perfect.

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Reply #3 - Feb 24^th, 2003 at 5:17pm

Deltawing Offline
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That's one thing about a simulator that makes ot very difficult. Your meant to judge your height visually when flaring, but you're confined to one tiny monitor, and have little depth perception (unless you have 3D glasses).

Keep the blue side up&& D'wing&&

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Reply #4 - Feb 24^th, 2003 at 5:52pm

fisharno Offline
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I always thought flairing was left to small aircraft where the throttle reaction time is much faster than a larger commercial aircraft.

Large aircraft depend on AoA and slow easy rate of decent to achieve their landings......... Don't they?

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Reply #5 - Feb 25^th, 2003 at 12:56pm

GreG Offline
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As far as I know, all planes flare. Large aircraft flare because they descend towards the runway at an angle, and it's also for achieving a smooth touchdown, especially in the real heavies. Also if you didn't flare, you'd touch down with the front landing gear, then guess what happens to the gear.

Greg

If everything seems under control, you're just not going fast enough.

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Reply #6 - Feb 25^th, 2003 at 2:40pm

FSTipster Offline
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I only know of one that doesn't, and as usual, I can't remember it's name lol.

The reason it doesn't flare is that (apparently) the undercarriage isn't sufficiently strong to bear the weight of the aircraft on the main wheels only.

Wish I could remember what it is... Roll Eyes

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Reply #7 - Feb 25^th, 2003 at 9:12pm

Splash Ex Member

Tipster, Isnt it the ATR42-500 that you dont flare on landing - Full Speed straight in approach? I believe there was some discussion on that one just a few weeks ago. Grin

Splash

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Reply #8 - Feb 25^th, 2003 at 9:34pm

FSTipster Offline
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Quote:

Tipster, Isnt it the ATR42-500 that you dont flare on landing - Full Speed straight in approach? I believe there was some discussion on that one just a few weeks ago. Grin

Splash

Honestly don't know lol.

I read about the fact that there was no flare on a site somewhere, but I can't for the life of me remember which one or what the aircraft was.

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Reply #9 - Feb 26^th, 2003 at 4:09pm

tim l lam 10386 Offline
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Flying isn't dangerous..
CRASHING is dangerous..
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Quote:

Hello there mate,

Flaring is easy, you should watch the vertical speed guage when you are on short finals, and you should make sure that it's at around 600-900 feet per min, and in the 747 make sure you're at around 175 knots, until about 100 feet, the 777 can approach at around 165. You should get one of those panels that come with altitude callouts, it's a great help, you should flare at 20-30 feet above the runway, by the way to answer your question. Good luck and carry on flying.

Greg

175kts is awefully fast for touchdown in the jumbo.. Usually, touchdown speed is around 150kts or lower, depending on the amount of fuel you have left. If you're landing on a full fuel tank, which no 747's do in real life (unless of an abort), then 175kts is a good number.

One thing you must remember, 747's are built for long hauls. I don't know what Air Force One does to achieve the appropriate touchdown speed, by either carrying less fuel on takeoff, or some other method..

Practice ILS approaches in the 747 with an approach speed of around 150 with the tanks at about 60,000lbs, or around 30% left in all tanks. That should achieve the 150kts or sometimes 145kt touchdown speed, and a glideslope of around 700fpm on most ILS approaches..

Flaring should be easier in the 747 with the plane one or two hundred thousand pounds lighter, like real life.

One general rule, if you don't see the runway at all above the cockpit during your flare, prepare for a hard landing Grin

Keep out of IMC in VFR,&&Tim

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