User Guide

Flight Simulator

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2000

Microsoft

Land on the nose gear first and you could invoke the scariest phrase in a pilot’s vocabulary: insurance

deductible. You could also porpoise, which is a bouncing action, not a tuna’s playmate.

This simulated landing is a little too hard for my tastes. I’ll eventually show you how to make softer

landings. But first, let’s see how power can change the flight path.

Playing with Power

1. From the Flights menu, click Select Flight, and choose Tutorial 7, Situation 2.

The wing leveler is also active for this example. Here’s what you’re going to do.

2. Press P to activate the simulation.

3. Trim the airplane for a power-off descent at 65 knots. Maintain 65 knots all the way to

touchdown (which will be short of the runway, but that’s what I want).

4. Land short of the runway.

5. Press P to pause the simulation.

You landed short because I started you at a lower altitude

than in the first example. Could you sense that you were

too low on the approach and wouldn’t make the runway?

You can tell that you’re descending too quickly when you

observe the runway geometry changing as shown in

Figure 3. First, the distance between the far end of the

runway and the distant horizon decreases. Second, both

ends of the runway appear to converge. Finally, you know

you’re too low when desert shrubbery appears at eye level

and you skid your tires on a desert tortoise. Here’s how to

handle this.

Run this simulation again. Don’t worry about being

precisely on the runway centerline in this example. If

you’re off to the side in the dirt, that’s okay for now. And

use the wing leveler. You’ll have plenty of time to practice

without it later.

1. Press Ctrl+; to reset this simulation, then press P to

begin (remember, the wing leveler is active).

2. Increase the power to approximately 12 inches of MP

(which will change the glidepath as shown in Figure

4).

3. Maintain 65 knots as before.

Figure 3

RUNWAY