Is it considered bad form to use DLC during airfield landings?

[Turd Ferguson]

After finally managing to sort out the performance issues i've been having with the F-14 since upgrading my system and VR headset i've started to get back into the Tomcat.

 

I've been practicing straight in shore landings with a view to then progress onto flying Case 1's (if they're called that on land) until i'm proficient then moving onto Case 1's aboard the Carrier.

 

What i've been doing is getting on speed putting the Velocity Vector on the end on the runway while keeping enough power so the nose rises gently but arresting it with DLC then cutting power as I cross the threshold.

Is this considered bad form? Should I really be adding and removing power to keep the VV where it needs to be?

[AH_Solid_Snake]

Just as an example here is VF-154 landing at Atsugi 

you’ll see the DLC is used repeatedly. The only thing to avoid is holding it out constantly- treat it more like a tap tap process to move your VV to exactly where you want to touch down. Don't hold the boards out to correct large glide slope deviation as you’ll end up with way too excessive sink rates without much time to correct.

[Turd Ferguson]

So glad you've said that. My landings have never been so smooth since I learned to fly on speed. Thanks for the quick reply.

[Jayhawk1971]

107 didn't need no stinkin' DLC...   

...he probably was already on the way to the airlines  

Edited August 15, 2022 by Jayhawk1971

[Turd Ferguson]

That's a really cool video thanks for posting it. Good to know that i'm finally doing it correctly.

[scommander2]

Hope the following video will help.

 

 

 

[Callsign JoNay]

DLC is the greatest invention since sliced bread. I use and abuse it constantly over sea and land.

[Turd Ferguson]

Here's a couple from this evening. It's a pity the replays still don't work though some external footage would've been good

 

[Whistler_RIO]

tomcat is weird in that its not supposed to be flaired at all (must be a navy carrier thing?) and youre supposed to land it straight and level, so the DLC becomes kind of neccesary to do that right

[lunaticfringe]

On 8/19/2022 at 11:48 AM, Whistler_RIO said:

tomcat is weird in that its not supposed to be flaired at all (must be a navy carrier thing?) and youre supposed to land it straight and level, so the DLC becomes kind of neccesary to do that right

 

It's not weird at all.  You're supposed to land it straight and on speed, with a higher descent rate than land based airfraft as to engage the hook with an arresting cable.  Naval aircraft are configured specifically to get the mains in contact with the deck prior to the hook engaging.  Flaring would bring the hook too low relative to the gear arrangement and risk in-flight engagement.

The flipside of this is that for safety the gear require a larger impact force to properly compress at the point of landing.  Failing to get that transition can cause the mains to skate or drift, or risk other issue on the rollout. 

[AH_Solid_Snake]

Separate to it being a necessity to land on a very small area of deck on a (relatively speaking) tiny ship. The entire point of landing on speed AoA is that you are flying and controlling the descent directly.

The other way of landing is akin to driving the jet towards the ground, cutting the power and trying to stall (flare) at the right moment - as counter intuitive as it feels at first, swapping to pitch for speed and throttle for altitude is a much more direct way to interact with the aerodynamic forces of your situation.