Well I will have to reevaluate my understanding of pitch angle. I don’t want to say you are wrong but I will have to do some more studying before I can change the understanding I have had for 30 years. I doubt the definition has changed since flight school, but it is entirely possible that my memory has deteriorated in that time. Just one of the joys of getting old. LOL. And these old grapes probably aren’t helping my reasoning much right now either.
BTW, I am enjoying this discussion. Some might think it is an argument, I prefer to call it debate. The difference being mutual respect and absence of anger. I hope this is also how you see it. These days I can’t assume everybody does.
You are correct sir. I was confused, or maybe inebriated. But time and education have relieved me of both. Now I will try to get the feel for landing this thing.
This is amazing, thank you! As I play with a controller I have really no way to handle the aircraft with this precision but at least I now understand why it behaves so strangely when I slow down for landing. However, as this is a military aircraft I don’t really bother with trying to land as smoothly as possible. As long as I walk away from it, it’s good.
Hi @Raynen, thanks for your whole clear and easy to follow tutorial, I really learn a lot of good advice today through your post, like actions to perform, to bring the aircraft stable and levered.
Just wondering if there’s not a small typo here, where “red” could be potentially replaced by “green” seeing the picture and what we get in the cockpit ?
I am new to this forum, MSFS, as well as to the F/A-18E, so thanks for the landing guide.
One thing that I struggle with is trying to find the On- Speed AoA when in full flaps. It seems like in Powered Approach mode, the AFCS “does not” automatically trim pitch to maintain the target AoA.
When the AFCS changes to PA mode the Velocity Vector (VVS) never will “catch” the E bracket and the aircraft always like to descend even though the speed is around 125 knots (almost like the full flaps does not come out although the screen says 40 degrees…).
I have to change AI auto trim setting to Off and manually elevator trim up (nose up) to 40%.
Please support me if this is the correct settings and way to do it or if it can be done when AI auto trim is set to On.
If you watch this video you can see how the Powered Approach mode “takes over”. At around the 15 second mark, you can see that I start adding pitch trim and retarding the power lever to bring the E bracket down to align with the VVS and illuminate the amber circle on the AoA Indexer. You can see the nose of the aircraft pitch down as the Powered Approach mode takes over from pitch trim and I catch it using the power lever by increasing thrust. At this point pitch and therefore climb and decent is controlled using thrust and the aircraft automatically adjusts AoA using Powered Approach mode.
Thank you sir. I have no trouble with stick and rudder landings, but I’m not used to fly-by-wire or AFCS. I can grease a landing if I get configured, but around 240 kts the…flaperons I guess start going crazy, and I lose control, go inverted. I’m guessing what I was experiencing is from not deploying gear, flaps, then setting to idle in sequence. I’m still getting used to auto trim and flaps. Haven’t tried it yet, but I suspect this will fix the sudden loss of control and subsequent inversion. It helps to know the AFCS will try to maintain a given AOA. That helps a lot visualizing what’s going on to help me transition to fly-by-wire, AFCS and A/P. Thanks again.
Never have problems with any other plane. Every time I land this thing it acts like the right landing gear isn’t there and wing strikes. After four failed landings today I’m about to throw my computer through a window.
It likes to be driven into the ground in a three point landing.
It can be touchy with greased landings on the mains, needs a gentle touch and very level.
Land it like you just stole it!
