Hi All, I have the sim on xbox and pc but this is related to either platform flying the stock A320 Neo.
I can’t for the life of me get my landings below 500fpm and most in the 600-700 range.
I’ve tried with just the xbox controller on xbox and pc and also my Hotas Warthog stick on pc.
I’m managing to land on the centreline and within the touchdown zone and don’t bounce but the back wheels always land very hard.
I’m starting the flare at around 30-40ft and almost at the same time putting power to idle but always get the same results.
Maybe it would be easier in the FBW or Fenix which I have and will try but is there something I’m doing wrong using the stock A320 or is it just simply known for not having soft landings? Any tips would be greatly appreciated as no matter what I try such as flaring earlier or later or flaring more or less it’s the same outcome. Thanks in advance.
If you have selected the proper landing speed in the MCDU, and the aircraft is configured properly, you should be good.
The FCOM recommends to flare at 30 feet, and retard the throttles at 20 feet, depending on the situation.
One thing to remember is if you start the flare too soon, you will lose speed and thus lift while you are still a bit high, and you will touchdown harder, likewise with retarding the throttle.
The degree of the flare can also be a cause of this as too much flair angle results in the same effect as the above.
Flair should be a max of 10 degrees, I don’t normally use near that.
And it takes loads of practice, and even then landing can be “interesting”!
We may do in different ways . I personally start the flare at 20 fts and I put the thrust to idle at the threshold.Then, pracrice,practice,practice.
Cheers
EDIT : my landing speed is usually 145 knts and may vary a little upon wind speed/direction.
Thanks very much and I was just reading all your posts in the tips and tricks section and was glad to hear from you 
From what I’m experiencing would you say I’m flaring too early then as it’s always a hard thud on the back wheels? For sure I can see it will take lots of practise but for now evertything I try is the same result }} On the stock A320 Neo I don’t think you can alter the speed can you? I’m coming in at 140knots and 7=800 fpm.
Well, maybe a wee bit, and it may be a combination of a bit too early and a bit too much flair angle!
I can’t overstate this when I say mastering flairs doesn’t come easily.
My apologies, I should have phrased the speed thing better.
Landing and approach speed is indeed automatically calculated in the MCDU, depending on the flap config (what you have selected for a landing config, full or flaps 3).
I should have said to ensure that you follow that MCDU speed when using the speed knob in the FCU to control speed, or are manually controlling the throttles.
No problem and yes I’m configured for a flaps full landing and everything is in managed mode so it has to all be down to my flaring technique and I do believe I’m flaring a little too early as when it gets to 50ft I’m thinking I wont have time to flare and idle the engines )) I’ll have some more practise as at least now with your help I have some idea of what I could be doing wrong and will concentrate on flaring later and not so much and hopefully it can improve. I’ve just joined a virtual airline and they will only register flights if the fpm is below 700 so need to get this better although I’m just scraping in for the time being
How much fuel do you have on board when you land? Before I started using realistic fuel burn and only loading up what I need for the trip, I found my landings to be hard.
With the A310 and using Simbrief with the proper amount of fuel, I generally land with about 10% left in the tanks.
That’s a very good point actually and just recently when I’ve been practicing and just setting up a flight on final I’m probably fully loaded with full and had not even given this a thought. Having said that when I’ve been flying the Fenix for my virtual airline I’ve been filing the flight via simbrief but still have around 4-5tons of fuel left in the tanks. I will try again now with just the bare minimum in the tanks and see if it’s any better and thanks a lot for pointing this out!
OMG I just got a 95fpm I’m sure the fuel load helped but first attempt with less fuel it was still around 500fpm but I think I was not flaring enough and give it around 5-6 degrees and it floated down. Now just for more practise but thanks all for your help!
The C of G is very important too at landing - too far forward and you’ll likely hit hard. Also the pitch angle - real pilots always talk about power and pitch - it’s what they mean when they say. “Fly the airplane” so if you notice that your ‘bus is coming down with +5 degree of pitch up at 130 knots, your flare at touchdown will likely enable a bounced landing - worth adjusting the speed to keep the pitch about level.
Lots of things to consider and every landing is different, just that the more hours you spend trying them, the better you get at anticipating the issues, so the number of hard landings does drop - but youlll still get a few First Officers Landings… At least in the sim we get to walk away from our bad landings though…
You can alter the approach speed by using selected speed. I find the MCDU speeds are too fast so I select a slower speed. I find the yellow Vls line on the speed tape difficult to see on my Xbox / TV but if you zoom in a bit to see it, the approach speed should be five knots faster.
The stock Airbus also targets the wrong speeds when the approach phase is active. It should move the target to Vapp immediately but maintain green dot when clean, S speed with flap 1, and F speed with flap 2 and 3, only reducing to Vapp with landing flap. I find it most realistic to just select the speed to 160 or 170 knots, select flap 1 as you pass green dot, flap 2 as you pass S speed, fly the approach in this configuration and speed until about 2000’ then wind the speed back to Vapp, select gear down, flap 3, then flap full. Fully configured by 1500’ and stable on speed with engines spooled up at 1000’.
I’ve gotta say practice makes perfect. When I first started I was slamming the mains up through the wings. But on my last flight, I didn’t even think I’d landed.