Calculating Minimum Landing Speed?

[smsmasters]

Hi everyone, I just bought FsPassengers 2004 and it really makes FS much more interesting Well worth the £22 I spent on it.

Anyway, is there a way to calculate the minimum landing speed without stalling, based on the total weight of the airplane? Also, how do
you find out the current total weight of the airplane?

Thanks

[omarza]

The problem there is that one needs to know which aircraft you are using, weight, flap setting etc. Usually when I fly an aircraft in FS i try to get
hold of the performance charts for that particular aircraft.

I know this post probably isnt much help but we need more info.

[DBE]

The minimum landing speed is based on your flap settings and the weight of your aircraft.

For most aircraft, you should be able to use to find the relevant charts.

As for the current weight, on my A320 it is displayed on one of the panels...

[nem]

Landing speed: For GA aircraft this is generally a fixed value. For airliner you will either need to have Landing Speed table to look it up, a
working FMC which keeps track of your weight and suggests the speed accordingly, or try find a rough value above stall speed and go
with that (FS is not really that accurate when it comes to flight dynamics).

Current weight of your plane: either look it up in the fuel&weight manager of FS, or keep track of your fuel used and subtract it's weight
from the gross weight. Or - once again - use the FMC if available.

[SaVas]

Unless the aircraft in the sim uses a flight management computer, I just figure minimum speed on something like a 737, DC9, small
Airbus lands around 145 to 155 kts (never had a problem in the sim landing with this speed). Medium jets 757, 767 I land around 160 to
170 kts, and big jets 747, A340, A380 I land around 170 to 180 kts.

Only a handful of times have I overrun the runway (landed too late) as I normally manually land any aircraft - I find this more entertaining
than having the computer do it for me, and within the above speeds I have plenty of room to spare.

Now the PMDG aircraft I have - 737 600/700, 800/900 addon, and the 744 I program everything in the FMC, however I dont normally fly
these except on weekends or when I have plenty of time to sim since it takes too long to program the FMCs

[SWAFO]

Woah! Hold on a minute! Landing a 737 (depending on the version) at 155KTS is about the FASTEST you'd ever land a 737. I find the
typical landing speed to be around the 135KT range. Reference charts, or the FMC for a correct landing value. Hard to give a guaranteed
number, since I don't know your fuel/pax/cargo load, etc.

[nem]

The sad (virtual) reality is though that you can land the 737 in FS at 155 kts without problems...

But of course, for "as real as it gets" one should search for reference charts or use addons with FMCs. Even though FS flight dynamics don't really
take those things into account too much.

[SaVas]

SWAFO wrote:
Woah! Hold on a minute! Landing a 737 (depending on the version) at 155KTS is about the FASTEST you'd ever land a 737. I find the
typical landing speed to be around the 135KT range. Reference charts, or the FMC for a correct landing value. Hard to give a guaranteed
number, since I don't know your fuel/pax/cargo load, etc.

Well I dont know a lot about being a pilot, and I just enjoy tooling around in the sim. I honestly dont worry about realism except when it
comes to looks such as a very detailed plane or landscape, weather feature etc.

I cant ever be a real pilot so I dont worry that in life I cant land a 737 at 155 kts, but as nem said, I can in the sim which is all that matters
to me *grins*

[Jetflyer]

You can land a real 737 at 155kts without problems.....it just isn't the "done thing".

[SWAFO]

Yeah, you could land a 737 at 155KTS with no problems, and if you're heavy and have windy conditions, this might actually be a
computed landing speed. Even a light 737 could touch down around that speed, it's just that you've got the long deceleration period, etc.
Might be easier for novice's to land faster... allows quicker changes in the rate of descent so that the flare is commenced a hell of a lot
easier.

[olseric]

Wanna know an easy way?

Open your aircraft.cfg file and find the full_flaps_stall_speed entry. Take that number and multiply it by 1.3. That will give you the aircraft
Vref, or minimum approach speed.

[smsmasters]

Thanks everyone for the replies