I’ve notice that several of the Single Engine Land (SEL) planes for MSFS have trouble slowing down for landings. Many will float the entire runway with throttle off. On some of them I’ve had to resort to killing the engine on final (dead-stick landings). In this regard they don’t act like real planes. It’s as if the “drag” settings are not high enough, or the throttle-off RPM is too high. This is just a general statement. I don’t want to get into debugging/modifying plane by plane. But are there general user settings or other changes that can be implemented to help mitigate this issue? While I am a retired “programmer” and know how to edit files, I am not a developer, and would rather stick to simple solutions if there are any. THANKS!
p.s. An example of a simple solution: Problem: Airplane taxi’s too fast. Solution: set up a dial type knob on your controller for brakes, so you can dial in “drag” while taxiing.
I have found that a nose down attitude will keep the airspeed high no matter what the throttle setting. This seems to be the case no matter which aircraft I fly, so it’s likely built into the basic flight model
I try to achieve a more level approach or even a nose high attitude to bring the aircraft into correct approach speed. I like to fly the YMF5 which has no flaps or spoilers, so it requires a healthy amount of runway. The Extra has similar flight characteristics.
@rgp1942 What aircraft specifically are you flying that are causing you problems? I regularly fly the C172 and Bonanza G36 in the sim and, as long as you are flying in the correct configuration (e.g. flaps, prop pitch if applicable) at the appropriate speeds, I certainly have not seen any problems. I do not believe there is an inherent and significant problem in the flight models of these aircraft in this phase of flight. But if you are coming in appreciably faster than the specified speeds for the aircraft you will certainly struggle to get it on the ground.
FWIW in real life you will find a C172 floats forever if you come in even slightly too fast: after my initial training on the more forgiving Cherokee 140’s, the 172 certainly emphatically taught me the importance of not carrying too much speed!
I regularly and pretty much exclusively fly taildraggers myself. They need more finesse to get right as you’d know. By default you need to have a more level approach so after awhile it comes natural to approach this way. Loading the trim up a lot helps me out and it becomes more about throttle and minor elevator adjustments. The YMF is great in the sense that it’s actually quite heavy and carries its momentum well, you cant go heavy on brakes otherwise…prop strike obviously, so you really have to work at killing your energy early.
I also fly tail-draggers almost exclusively. Lots of these planes in real world are floaters, so I use the “slip” method to loose altitude on final (like I did when flying them full scale). I watch the airspeed and strive for a full stall landing (3-point), but it seems some of them just won’t stall, perhaps because they are in ground effect.
I’d rather not get into finger pointing on the models, because the next step is “change this or that file and change this or that setting”, which I’d rather not get into. Your responses have pretty much confirmed that there’s no simple “trick”, like lowering the end point on throttle sensitivity settings.
One thing to watch is the AoA or angle of attack indicator. It seems to be calibrated correctly for most aircraft. It measure the angle of the wind hitting the wing. It is NOT the pitch of the aircraft! An aircraft wing only produces lift when it moves through air at a correct angle. If the angle is wrong, the wing doesn’t provide lift and the aircraft cannot fly. What is the correct angle for the wing to fly? This is what the angle of attack measures.
There are four colors on the external view indicator:
Green = normal flight - no drag
Yellow = lift > drag
Blue = lift and drag are equal - pre stall flight
Red = drag > lift - The wing has no lift, aircraft is stalling and will crash if not recovered.
The “sweet spot” when landing is to be between the yellow and blue. The aircraft is descending as the wing is slowing the aircraft. The blue is when lift = drag and should be right before the flare. When the aircraft is a few feet above the runway, removing power and slightly lifting the nose should start showing some red. The drag will slow the aircraft for landing.
It takes a lot of practice. When the speed is too high and the AoA is green when the wheels touch down, the aircraft will bounce back into the air and continue flying. When the speed is too slow, the aircraft stalls and crashes.
Some aircraft show the AoA in their FMC if enabled.
FSX had the same problem. There I was able to increase drag to realistic values where needed, in the aircraft config files. I hope there is a similar fix for FS2020 but have not yet tried it.
Nice bit of info, but I think you missed the OP’s point that some of the aircraft models do not include realistic value of drag. The plane should slow down at a reasonable rate due to air friction. Without enough air friction in the model, you can’t slow enough to land properly.
… if you are landing a Navy fighter on a carrier, or flying a tricycle gear airplane.
I have had a pilot’s license for 50+ years plus have built and flown RC airplanes for 50+ years plus anybody who know me thinks I have an aeronautical engineering degree (which my son has a Masters in from MIT). With an SEL tail dragger you definitely stall on landing. In a perfect 3-point landing you stall 1 mm above the runway. You can’t tell the difference between being airborne and not airborne. This is what every tail dragger pilot strives for. I call it a KMALie (pronounce Molly). It means Kiss My A__ Landing!
This the problem alright. A friend of mine fixed my problems by adding virtual spoilers in flight_model.cfg to the planes in question and now they land like the real thing.
In a light plane it’s normal to hear the stall warning buzz a bit but that’s still a few knots above the stall, you don’t want to actually stall as you land. Larger jets land well above the stall speed.
