I am a hopelessly inconsistnent flight simmer
I will perform 2 or 3 perfect landings and then completely botch the the next one. I am
currently First Officer on Dash-8-300 using "Airliner Pilot" and "FSPassenger". I find i am better at VFR approaches for some reason as
oppose to instrument procedures (regardless of Wx). Is there any words of advice any one can give me to get better at my landings or is it
just something i have to plug away with till i get better? meanwhile my airliner pilot profile keeps getting his points taken from him for
killing the companies passengers... lol. fair enough i guess....
Well, my advice is to practice a lot. Get yourself an airport picked out that has a nice IFR approach, take your Dash-8 up, and without using any
ATC, just practice touch and gos using IFR. Make sure the touch and gos are large enough to cover most of the approach (unlike VFR touch and gos,
which are pretty small in size). Don't turn on FSP, ATC, or anything, just practice as many touch and gos as you can.
thanks - i'll give that a go
also, whilst on the subject, does the APProach feature on the autopilot land the Dash-8 or just bring it to
minimum(DH) or something. I've had experiences in the past where i've tested the Auto Pilot on APP and it does crazy stuff at the end
usually resulting in a go-around.
My skills are most frustrating cos just when i think i've got a handle on greasing some beautiful landings, my next flight will be horribley
awful.
You're not supposed to land the plane only on IFR unless the equipment is so-called "category 3" (cat 3). Otherwise, you're still supposed to go
visual at the decision height (as far as I know). FS 2004 doesn't simulate cat 3. Probably what's happening is you're getting too close to the
transmitter, and getting a significant angular error when you're taking the approaches almost to the ground. Just a guess here on my part.
Personally, I only use the IFR equipment if I can't see the runway, and I almost never have to wait until reaching the DH to go visual.
yer that's right regarding the cat thing i think... i just didn't know how accurate MSFS was and thort it probably used a pretty standard AP for
all the standard aircraft. (ie.I didn't think MSFS was smart enough to simulate different autopilt modes and cats and stuff lol
) I was just
curious cos i'd like to watch MSFS do a few landings itself to see if it does anything differently. I fly Cessna 152 in the real world and
generally use that example on other aircraft but don't know if that's correct. I figure the basic approach for most aircraft would have a
similar profile with variables on speed and AoA and all that.
I have used the APR to land on the rwy but it works on some and not others.
cyvr you can land on the rwy and not touch the plane. Airbus 320 is one plane that i know works.
learjet not sure but it might.?????
most aircrew seem to ( if they use it at all ) disengage it 300' or when they can see the rwy.
practice practice practice.
remember you have to pick up the glideslope UNDER it. another words fly into the glideslope then the APR button will engage.