Author Topic: stupid to you guys but (Read 587 times)

discopants · « **on:** January 12, 2007, 01:49:07 PM »

just joined and having big trouble landing in the offline practice area!! any help much appreciated cheers guys!

Dichotomy · « **Reply #1 on:** January 12, 2007, 01:59:19 PM »

what kind of problems?

discopants · « **Reply #2 on:** January 12, 2007, 02:01:20 PM »

well im approaching and (using a mouse aswell) just seem to blow up and crash obvioulsly ima newbie and its all practice etc but hellfire its doing me head in lol

Dichotomy · « **Reply #3 on:** January 12, 2007, 02:07:23 PM »

okay first think is do a forum search on this board for 'mouse'. A couple of weeks back in the help forum is how to set up and use your mouse.

Second of all I'd strongly recommend that you go get yourself a relatively inexpensive stick to start out with. I bought a Saitek 290 for $20 bucks for my first month or so.

After that just post questions in here and the real experts will get an answer to you pronto.

good luck

here's a good link for how to set up and use a moust

http://www.slowcat.de/

BaldEagl · « **Reply #4 on:** January 12, 2007, 02:59:59 PM »

Make sure you are coming onto the runway at between 80-150 mph indicated air speed (white needle on your speedometer). Slower you will stall, faster you will crash.

As you approach (@ 150 mph), drop gear, then drop full flaps letting the speed slow slightly (to about 120 mph).

You'll likely have to throttle up slightly during this to maintain minimum speed.

When you are just above the runway (like 1-2 feet) pull the stick back, cut throttle and let the plane settle on all three wheels (now at about 80 mph).

Hit the brakes (spacebar), pull back on the stick to lock the tail wheel and use rudder to adjust your path down the runway.

I know you dont have a stick but I've never flown with a mouse so whatever substitutes as a stick for you is what I mean.

Hope that helps.

discopants · « **Reply #5 on:** January 12, 2007, 05:52:56 PM »

well thank you very much guys its nice to be in a forum where there are no nobheads just good help and advice cheers very much

Dichotomy · « **Reply #6 on:** January 12, 2007, 06:22:28 PM »

that would be the O' Club

Seriously though I'd say a good portion of the people who frequent these boards will be happy to help a new guy learn the ropes.

Benny Moore · « **Reply #7 on:** January 12, 2007, 06:33:24 PM »

How I did it when I was learning was I gradually throttled back the closer I got to the runway, with throttle closed as I crossed the numbers at the beginning of the runway. Don't forget to flare; a second or two before your wheels are going to hit the ground, pull up on the nose slightly to make sure that you don't hit your propeller or your front wheel first. You should actually be in a slight climbing attitude when your wheels touch down. It's called a three-point landing. If you're too fast when you flare, you'll stop doing down; if you're at the right speed, you'll stall a few feet above the runway and drop nicely onto it. If you're too slow, you won't be able to flare and it will be a very rough landing.

Fianna · « **Reply #8 on:** January 13, 2007, 01:17:12 AM »

As others have already said, getting a stick will probably be the easiest and fastest way to make you better.

VermGhost · « **Reply #9 on:** January 13, 2007, 02:54:41 AM »

practice flaring also, with idle throttle only. The nose will come up and impede your forward view, but whats the sides of the runway on either side passing by for symmetry. To add to this, don't go in with full flaps, go to idle throttle, bleed speed of by doing flat scissors, gear down and 1-2 notches of flaps down at about 150-200 knots (depending on aircraft)

Flaring, from what I understand, is the action of being near stall speed so that the airplane basically glides in controlled and slow preventing a hard/rough landing with a lot of bounce that can make an inexperienced pilot overcorrect and crash.

To make your landing skill better, you can take more time and practice on narrow spaced gear planes like the spits or the 109s, they tend to be the hardest to land.

Good luck! Practice makes perfect

Benny Moore · « **Reply #10 on:** January 13, 2007, 05:47:14 AM »

While not all pilots do it, a traditional flare is actually stalling your airplane a foot or two above the runway. A three point landing is made at such an angle of attack that the airplane loses lift.

discopants · « **Reply #11 on:** January 13, 2007, 06:28:25 AM »

how do you flare then using a mouse controlled plane??

Schatzi · « **Reply #12 on:** January 13, 2007, 06:51:53 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by discopants
how do you flare then using a mouse controlled plane??

Hi again discopants!

So youre using mouse

. Make sure you mapped your mouse fully in the OPTIONS > CONTROLS > Map Controller Menu. Instructions on how to do that can be found here or on the page Dicho pointed you at.

Landing: To learn how to land, take a plane thats easy to land - like the Hurricane Mk2 or FM2 or P38. Make sure you dont have any rockets, bombs or external fuel with you, as the additional weight and drag makes landing more difficult.
Make sure you know where the speed indicator, the climb rate indicator and altmeter in your plane are. You need to monitor those gauges for landging (at least untill you got a feel for speeds and sink rate - after the 500th landing or so

).

Set up your approach from far enough out. Give yourself time for adjustments. 6000 yards (thats basically icon range) is a good start - you can use the drones overhead to judge distance. Start your lineup at an altitude of about 1000 feet above ground.

Then chop throttle (mouse wheel) to iddle to slow down. start descending in a straight line towards the runway. As your speed drops below 180 mph, lower gear (G) and flaps (Q, if the plane has more then one notch of flaps, press repeatedly). This will help you loose speed even more (drag!) but also push your nose up and make the plane a little wobbly at first. Get used to that "new feel".

Now you should be approaching towards the runway at about 120 mph and roughly 200 feet. Do NOT aim for the runway - if you do, you usually hit it hard. Aim your nose towards the far end of the runway. Keep your nose high.

At this point, your just above stall speed (you might hear the buzz sounding already). Your controls will "reverse" - that means: Speed control is actually your elevators (mouse). Point nose down - gain speed, point nose up - slow down. To control your altitude, keep nose up and use the THROTTLE. throttle up - lower sink rate, throttle iddle - higher descent.

Monitor your sink rate at this point... it should be under 1000 ft/min (ie needle between 0 and -1). Let the plane "fall" onto the runway, nose high. Throttle up a little to "soften the blow" and lower sink rate at last moment.

When your down, throttle idle immediatly and pull back slightly on mouse to lock the tailwheel. Let the plane just roll for a second or two and loose more speed. Then carefully apply wheel brakes (Space).

Now, do not worry about 3-point-landings, flaring, or even landing on the runway at first. That are things that will come with experience and practice. Whats important is the approach, speed/sink rate and that you get the plane down undamaged! You can always taxi (with the help of rudder and wheelbrakes) onto concrete for a "landed successfully".