User Guide

Learning To Fly with Rod Machado
95
7
A Flair for the Flare
1. From the Flights menu, click Select Flight, and choose Tutorial 7, Situation 2.
Yes, the wing leveler is still active and I want you to use it for these demonstrations. (Trust me.
It’s important to do this.) Here’s what I want you to do:
2. Press P to activate the simulation.
3. Make the approach at 65 knots using whatever power is necessary to reach the runway (about
12 inches of MP or so).
4. When you’re approximately 15 feet above the
ground, you’re ready to begin your flare.
How can you tell your height? In the real airplane
you have peripheral vision to help. Here, it’s best
to use the first appearance of the runway at the
bottom of the Spot Plane View as an aid in
determining this height (Figure 7). Since this
airport’s elevation is 2,787 feet above sea level,
you can begin your flare when the altimeter reads
2,800 feet (this is a helpful hint when learning to
land in a simulator, but we don’t use altimeters to
help us flare in the actual airplane).
5. At this position, gradually reduce any power,
then gently raise the nose as shown in Figure
8. Let the airplane settle onto the runway at
this attitude. Remember, left alone, this
airplane will almost land itself.
6. Once you’ve touched down, gently release any
joystick pressure to lower the nose gear onto
the runway (in airplanes, the nose gear
provides directional control after landing).
7. Press P to pause the simulation.
8. Rerun this simulation at least two more times
by pressing Ctrl+;.
Wonderful! You have a flair for the flare. Of course,
there’s somewhat of an art to perfecting this, but
you can do it mechanically until you gain more
experience. At flare height, gently raise the nose to
a 14-degree pitch attitude on the attitude indicator
(for this simulation). At this attitude the airplane will
settle onto the runway. If your airspeed is too high,
the airplane will balloon upward. Now you must add
power, lower the nose a bit and descend to a point
Figure 7
Figure 8