How to Land in AH2?

[bustr]

As an aside from observing a thread in the "GamePlay Feed Back and Requests" forum I noticed that some new/old people may not be comfortable with how to land in Aces High but can furball with the best. I know going to the TA and engaging a trainer is the best method for learning this, but, if anyone is willing, a few A-Z pointers might help. A step by step check list perhaps.

Here is a basic for what I do. "Only if you have fuel and power".

A. I set a final aproach of 3 miles and 2000 feet above ground level of the feild.
B. I dump speed and throttel back to achieve this state. Crabbing with opposite rudder and alerons will help.
C. I slow down at final to the point I can drop several notches of flaps. Then drop gear. U.S. planes you can drop a notch of flaps to help slow down at about 300+-.
D. I trim my nose full up at this point and begin a controlled descent. You may have your throttel fully reduced or a bit engaged. As you decend and drop more speed you can lower your flaps all the way. You may need a touch of power to control your glide angle.
E. As you decend your nose may be blocking your view of the runway. It's ok to drop it for a moment to get a view. When you are 1/4 mile out the runway will begin filling your view.
F. As you come over the end of the runway you will need to increase power a bit to make your nose pull up a little and cause you to flare changing your decent to a flight path parallel with the ground. You will be 50ft+- from the ground at this point.
G. By adjusting your throttle a tiny bit and holding your nose slightly up your plane will decend slowly to the runway. With practaice you will be able to use the throttle to keep you from that annoying big bounce on touch down.

[frluk]

Good advice, thank you.

[Schutt]

Here some more points i would like to add.

- keep the sinkrate at about 500fpm at touchdown (on most planes thats between 0 and 1)

- speed slightly above stall speed

- planes with bad stalls want to have a bit more speed and shallow aproach

- after touchdown pull back on the stick to get the tailweel down and locked on taildraggers.

- hit the breaks and keep it straight.

- land with pitch controll set to full rpm (min pitch)

[Redd]

Originally posted by bustr
As an aside from observing a thread in the "GamePlay Feed Back and Requests" forum I noticed that some new/old people may not be comfortable with how to land in Aces High but can furball with the best. I know going to the TA and engaging a trainer is the best method for learning this, but, if anyone is willing, a few A-Z pointers might help. A step by step check list perhaps.

Here is a basic for what I do. "Only if you have fuel and power".

A. I set a final aproach of 3 miles and 2000 feet above ground level of the feild.
B. I dump speed and throttel back to achieve this state. Crabbing with opposite rudder and alerons will help.
C. I slow down at final to the point I can drop several notches of flaps. Then drop gear. U.S. planes you can drop a notch of flaps to help slow down at about 300+-.
D. I trim my nose full up at this point and begin a controlled descent. You may have your throttel fully reduced or a bit engaged. As you decend and drop more speed you can lower your flaps all the way. You may need a touch of power to control your glide angle.
E. As you decend your nose may be blocking your view of the runway. It's ok to drop it for a moment to get a view. When you are 1/4 mile out the runway will begin filling your view.
F. As you come over the end of the runway you will need to increase power a bit to make your nose pull up a little and cause you to flare changing your decent to a flight path parallel with the ground. You will be 50ft+- from the ground at this point.
G. By adjusting your throttle a tiny bit and holding your nose slightly up your plane will decend slowly to the runway. With practaice you will be able to use the throttle to keep you from that annoying big bounce on touch down.

Or   - the  Vulch prevention landing for capped fields



Roar in at 300mph


Slam foot on rudder to bleed speed at the last minute - hold rudder down


Hit runway at 200 / drop flaps if you can


Slam it down  (don't drop gear)

 
Kick rudder again to send you sliding sideways


while sliding sideways open text buffer and type .ef


Hit enter when you come to a stop.


Exit to the sound of pings from the vulchers



Pretty fun way to land actually when you can't be bothered doing it nicely

[Schatzi]

lol

Thats when you get the 'You crashed sucessfully' message?


As for speed reducing... on some planes - i.e. Spit or Hurri - you can do a 360 with as little trhottle as possible at the beginning of RW. If you come out alsmost stalling, you have the perfect landing speed...

[Soda]

There have been several threads posted in this forum in the past on landings but it never hurts to bring it up from time to time.  Most people have problems because they rush themselves, don't get configured properly in time (gear out, flaps, etc) and are trying to bleed off excess speed.  This is especially an issue if you have been cruising back some distance as you have probably picked up quite a bit of speed.  Establish a strong start to your landing by bleeding any excess speed/altitude early and get your gear/flaps out, then turn in for the landing.  You don't want to be too shallow as your view of the runway can be obscured (let along hitting a tree on the ground) nor too high as the diving tends to produce excess speed that's difficult to control.  When you get to the runway, reduce power and let the plane settle onto the runway with a gentle back-pressure on the stick.  This helps get the tail down as most of these aircraft are tail draggers and it adds to the stability. Continue to hold back-pressure as that locks the tail-wheel and will help keep you straight (ie, not ground-loop).  Brake as necessary, you can even pull back on the stick to add more drag from your elevators once you are under the speed at which you might take back off again.

Hope that helps

[bustr]

Hey Redd by any chance did you teach my CO Nomde how to land. That sounds exactly how he lands under all conditions. First time I did a ride along with him I almost loaded my shorts.

[Schaden]

Aim your gunsight pipper at the far end of the runway as you approach, throttle back till you speed is around 150, drop your flaps and continue to fly holding you pipper on the end of the runway.

Drop gear and if you keep the pipper at the same end of runway point you will have created a perfect glide path and touch down.

As you are about to touch cut yr engine and raise the flaps quickly - apply brakes.

The follow the gunsight thing btw was how the Royal Navy invented the MeatBall landing system for modern carriers.....

[StarOfAfrica2]

One more note to add.  Obviously when you are trying to land a beat up bird, all bets are off.  But if all you have (or at least all you are worried about) is a hit to the oil, and  you are having trouble even SEEING the runway through all that mess, make sure as  you come in for the landing that you pick out a marker.  Something that is easily visible as you come down, like the water tower or radio tower; or in the case of a carrier landing, the bridge (or the flames above it if she's on fire lol).  Keep the picture in your head as to where that marker is in relation to the runway, and bring it in.  I almost managed this last night on a carrier, using the flames as a marker (couldnt see anything else anyway).  I made a perfect 3 point landing on the deck.  Or would have been perfect, if I hadnt been so wrapped up in bringing her down right that I forgot to drop the tailhook.  

[Redd]

Originally posted by bustr
Hey Redd by any chance did you teach my CO Nomde how to land. That sounds exactly how he lands under all conditions. First time I did a ride along with him I almost loaded my shorts.

lol , yeah it's a good idea to praftice it a lot , ya never know when you might need it  

[RedTop]

Theres wheel on these planes?

[RSLQK186]

I seem to get alot of oil hits in f6f-my standard CV ride. The slicks perticularly nasty in them but I've found that ajusting my head possition on aprotch to a clearer spot helps. It was a little scary the first time but after I convinced myself that I was still looking stright ahead it got easier. Been useing page up to land buffs for a long time. Not much different.

[stantond]

Practice offline.  

All the planes basically land the same.  Get airspeed at 100 ias or just above stall speed with full flaps, gear down and decending < 500 fpm as contact with runway is made.  While it is not trivial, once you understand what is needed, the setup doesn't change.  Once landed, tail wheel lock (for tail draggers) is not automatic and you need to have the stick > 1/4 deflection.  Practice applying brakes.

Dead stick, damaged plane, capped field landings are further refinements.  The landing system in AH lets you 'land' a controlled crash.  You must be on the runway for this to count though.

If you want to just get credit for landing, never put your gear down and keep the <500 fpm decent rate.  You can't rearm but most planes land easier that way.  If the plane is damaged, no gear landings may be the best choice.


Most importantly, have fun!


Malta