Landing Training Something's going wrong

[Mt5_Roie]

I'm on the latest version. 1.1.1.0. I start the landing training mission. After setting the radio up and calling the Batuni ATC, the instructor disengages autopilot for me to turn to a heading of 232. I make a left bank and get on that heading. Not sure If I am doing anything wrong but when he starts talking again, the autopilot is suppose to engage again. It never does and the plane starts going out of control when I still have to press switches.

 

Also I manage to see the runway on my left. By the time the instructor tells me to turn left, I am already at 2500ft. I make my left but I never line up correctly with the runway. It is always a little to my right instead of in the middle of my plane. What should I be doing? How come the autopilot never re engages after those first set of instructions?

[EnergyFX]

Turn very gently to your ATC heading. Try to stay at whatever altitude the auto pilot already had you set at (8000 I think). Auto pilot should pop back on as soon as you level out.

 

I just tried it. ATC gave me a heading of 234. I waited for the instructor to disengage auto pilot, jabbed the stick forward to compensate for the nose up that happens when coming out of auto, rolled a few degrees to the left staying within 100ft of established altitude. Leveled off at about 232 and auto popped back on before I could shift back to the right the 2 degrees.

 

As for already being off alignment for approach. Try staying at 8-10 degrees nose down on the decent and maintaining 240 knots (min throttle plus about 40% speed break should do) during the dive. Start to gently pull out of your dive at about 3200 feet and slowly return to level flight as you creep to 2500 feet.

 

Not saying these are the only ways to hit the triggers, but it worked for me. I have a saved track file but it is too big to attach to the forum. If you still have trouble with it shoot me a PM and I can try e-mailing it to you or some other option. Maybe watching it will help you see where you are out-of-bounding a trigger or something.

[Moa]

I don't know about this mission, but landing in real life involves the following:

 

1) When you are near the airfield you need to be at the correct approach altitude. Around 1000 - 1500 feet is pattern altitude. You can be higher further away but do not be much higher close (within 5 nm) to the airfield.

 

2) Landing 'reverses controls'. In ordinary flight you point your nose up or down to climb or dive and use throttle for speed. In landing this is 'reversed'. In landing you adjust your nose pitch (aka 'attitude') to control your speed (around 150 knots on approach, slow to 140 knots before crossing the threshold, and flare to get even slower for landing - perfect landing speed is if the stall warning goes off just before you touch down, be happy when you achieve this). Once you have your pitch set use throttle to change your aimpoint (the flight path marker should be on the runway end closest to you). If you are diving at 8-10 degrees nose down it means you have made a mistake and have started your approach too high - never do this.

 

3) You can work out whether you need to turn left or right using the following simple technique:

* imagine there is an arrow that runs along the centerline of the runway from the far end and the tip of the arrow is at the close end of the runway. If the arrow points left then you need to turn left, if the arrow points right then turn right. If the arrow is pointing right at you then you are lined up and only have to worry about speed and descent rate at the moment. If you drift and the arrow doesn't point toward you anymore then turn according to the arrow so it does.

 

4) Your decent rate should be somewhere between 1000 feet per minute (fpm) to 2000 fpm - you can descend more quickly if you are more experienced. At an approach speed of 150 knots that means you are travelling at 2.5 nm per minute. You can easily do the math in your head, such as:

* for 1000 fpm descent rate you must be at 1000 feet above airport altitude at 2.5 nm, and 2000 feet at 5 nm.

* for 2000 fpm descent rate you must be at 2000 feet above airport altitude at 2.5 nm, and 4000 feet at 5 nm.

 

You can also work it out the other way. If you are at 8000 feet and descend at at 2000 fpm you'll have 4 minutes to descend, which means you need to be 4 mins * 2.5 nm/min = 10 nm away if you approach at 150 knots.

 

To summarise:

* get slow early to your approach speed of 150 knots. Approach too quickly and everything happens so fast it is hard to keep up, plus you won't descend at the correct glideslope angle if you are too fast (or slow).

* keep your nose pitch above the horizon (around 5-7 degrees as needed).

* use your throttle to adjust aimpoint (flight path marker).

* use the centerline of the runway to determine whether to turn left or right.

* descend at 1000 fpm or 2000 fpm (depending on how experienced you are).

* work out whether you are at the correct altitude for the distance you are at (assuming 150 knots approach speed).

 

One thing I didn't mention is flying the Angle-of-Approach bracket. I would worry about getting the other things right first: approach speed, line-up, start altitude, nose pitch (trim this!), and descent rate by adjusting throttle. When you get good you'll automatically set line-up, speed, and start altitude without much effort and will only have to vary your throttle with lots of small adjustments (just like real pilots do).

 

Learning do do nice landings consistently in the A-10C is one of the great pleasures of this simulation - and lots to explore mastering one-engine and dead-stick (no engine) landings. IMHO, there is no point in being able to frag endless hordes of enemy armored formations until you have mastered landing your mount. Enjoy :)

Edited December 15, 2011 by Moa

[Mt5_Roie]

Thanks for the great responses guys. I've landed a real plane, smaller size of course and it seemed much easier. The instructor was with me hah so I felt a little less scared. This one is a little tougher. I will deff try to turn slower, and I will try to descend at the right speed so I can have the instructor kick in the next set of directions.

 

I noticed sometimes I make the left toward the runway too late or I turn too much and get unaligned. Plus Im using the logitech extreme pro 3d stick and I have not memorized the button combos yet for the speed break. Is there a guage I can monitor the percentage?

[PeterP]

Is there a guage I can monitor the percentage?

 

No -... not directly... Have a look here: speedbrake

[EnergyFX]

Just play with them on the runway or tarmac while watching. Get used to how long it takes to fully open, fully close. Once you are pretty familiar with how long it takes them to operate you can simply adjust how long you hold the open/close keys. It's not an exact percentage but you will get a 'feel' for it the more you use them.

 

Even with Track IR I have found myself looking out at the wings much less lately. More so now I look out to verify their operation, not so much to guage their exact position.

[Mt5_Roie]

Yeh there is a difference in the noise when the speed brakes are used. Hopefully I will practice the landing a few times. I noticed also if you fast forward through the mission from the beginning it makes the plane go crazy.