A300 Landing Tips

[TxSpur]

So, I've had a blast flying the cargo variant of the A300 and I've made multiple trips in it so far, but I feel like I'm borking the flare somehow. Every landing that I have tracked in LRM has been a firm landing ranging from, 198-254. So far, my technique is to start flaring at the 30' callout and then ease out of the power, but it still feels like I'm smacking the ground. Does anyone have any tips? Do I need to flare earlier? Leave some power in instead of taking it all out before touching down?

[Umi Akai]

200~250 fpm is perfect normal landing, don't get fool to think you have to butter every time. 

Edited February 7 by Umi Akai

[Crabby]

Landing rate is a fake number.  G-load on landing is what counts and that will vary as a function of weight and landing rate.  A landing rate of -50 says nothing about your pilot skills other than you may have a tenancy to float the landing.  There are two big rules in aviation.

1. Sky above you is a waste.

2. Runway behind you is a waste. 

Too much waste of either leads to bent metal and bleeding bodies.

Pilots are taught, 

Firm, no bounce, in the touch down zone.  What you perceive as "butter or grease" in the sim is inaccurate.  If you were sleeping on a plane and it landed at what you think is a bad rate, you would probably not even wake up until you heard the cabin announcement or the guy next to you elbowed you to wake up so he can get at his luggage.  

The two worthless numbers that simmers love to chase are landing rate and FPS.  Firm, smooth, no bumps and most importantly IN THE ZONE.  

 

[Umi Akai]

On 2/9/2024 at 9:33 AM, Crabby said:

Landing rate is a fake number.  G-load on landing is what counts and that will vary as a function of weight and landing rate. 

Well, Both Boeing and Airbus do not recommend using G as a indicator, because 1.the sample rate for G force sensor is not fine enough to get the peak G, and 2.the position of G force sensor might not give the full picture over the whole aircraft structure. And the same apply to sim world too.

Meanwhile, on part25, aircraft is required to withstand a 720fpm landing at MLW and 360fpm landing at MTOW. So I agree with you, no need to chase sub-100 "butter", just fly the aircraft on the runway, in the zone.

[Crabby]

1 hour ago, Umi Akai said:

Well, Both Boeing and Airbus do not recommend using G as a indicator, because 1.the sample rate for G force sensor is not fine enough to get the peak G, and 2.the position of G force sensor might not give the full picture over the whole aircraft structure. And the same apply to sim world too.

Meanwhile, on part25, aircraft is required to withstand a 720fpm landing at MLW and 360fpm landing at MTOW. So I agree with you, no need to chase sub-100 "butter", just fly the aircraft on the runway, in the zone.

I did not mean to infer that one would watch some kind of G meter.  What I meant, as you saw in the part 25, is the g-load is most important.  720fpm at MLW is probably the same or about the same g-load as 360 at MTOW.  Think about jumping off a ladder from the third rung with just you and then imagine doing it with a 50 lb bag of concrete on your shoulders.  The main thing is in the real world they do not chase a landing rate number.  Put it firmly down in the zone and if you did a proper flare and there is no bounce, you will have made a successful landing. 

[Azlog]

Flare at 30ft and pull the power back at 20ft works fine for me most of the time. If you’ve got. Strong headwind you might want to pull the power back a little later and a strong tailwind you’ll want to pull the power back earlier.

In a desktop sim you don’t have the feel and peripheral vision that you’d have in the real world that would let you judge being in level flight by 5ft and then letting it settle onto the runway. So chasing the 100fpm is very hard to do and won’t necessarily make it a good landing.

So the question I have: do you feel like you are floating quite far down the runway in an attempt to chase that smooth landing but then not getting it? The engines should reach idle as you touch down. If they reach idle long before that (because you floated) then the aircraft runs out of energy and falls out of the sky. So you might think it looked smooth but you’ve got a 300+ fpm landing rate. You’ve got to fly it onto the runway - falling isn’t flying. Takes quite a bit to really get the hang of but it’s better to under-flare slightly than it is to over-flare

[TxSpur]

"So the question I have: do you feel like you are floating quite far down the runway in an attempt to chase that smooth landing but then not getting it?"

 

No, it's actually the exact opposite where I flare, and it feels like I immediately smack the runway. I haven't floated any that I can think of, and I realize in the scheme of things LRM numbers don't mean much. Your comment gave me an idea as to what I might be doing wrong though. Generally, I flare at 30ft and pull the power all the way out at the same time which I think in turn was giving me that little drop down to the runway. So I think, as you said, I need to stay in the power till 20' or maybe just pull back way more gradually from 30' vs dumping it. 

 

Anyway, I love cargo ops bc it allows me to take a heavy Airbus into way smaller fields that don't generally see those kinds of aircraft passenger wise. I'm talking KABY (6,600'), KROA (6,800' and 5,800') so there generally isn't time to try to finesse a butter landing. It's more of a, we gotta get down and get into the reversers asap lol.

[Crabby]

1 hour ago, TxSpur said:

"So the question I have: do you feel like you are floating quite far down the runway in an attempt to chase that smooth landing but then not getting it?"

 

No, it's actually the exact opposite where I flare, and it feels like I immediately smack the runway. I haven't floated any that I can think of, and I realize in the scheme of things LRM numbers don't mean much. Your comment gave me an idea as to what I might be doing wrong though. Generally, I flare at 30ft and pull the power all the way out at the same time which I think in turn was giving me that little drop down to the runway. So I think, as you said, I need to stay in the power till 20' or maybe just pull back way more gradually from 30' vs dumping it. 

 

Anyway, I love cargo ops bc it allows me to take a heavy Airbus into way smaller fields that don't generally see those kinds of aircraft passenger wise. I'm talking KABY (6,600'), KROA (6,800' and 5,800') so there generally isn't time to try to finesse a butter landing. It's more of a, we gotta get down and get into the reversers asap lol.

On approach, when you have visual reference to the runway, you should be looking at the aim point markings.  Once you hear the 50 AGL call shift view to the end of the runway as you prepare for the flare.  At 20-30 feet AGL begin the flare with your eyeballs on the far end of the runway.  As you begin your flare, begin to retard the throttles smoothly.  Your wheels should touch just as you throttle comes to idle.  Avoid chopping the throttle.  The best way to gain proficiency is to fly patterns to get burn the movements into muscle memory.