final landing speed on airfields

Hi,

what is the optimal speed when landing on an airfileld. I mean the speed JUST before touch down.

Of course it depends on your weight, but try helping me one step further.

Could not find any hint in the EA manual

Fly AOA centered "e" , maintain glideslope with throttle , speed takes care of itself .

The important part of landing is descending along a stable -3 degree glide slope while holding the correct nose-up attitude so that the main gear touch without striking the tail. You will not find the exact speed required to hold this attitude in the manual because it changes depending on how much the aircraft weighs, due to fuel load, external stores and so forth.

If you are holding the 5 degrees nose up while descending at -3 degrees, your AOA will be around 8 degrees. Whatever speed you need to travel to achieve this is the correct landing speed.

Fly AOA centered "e" , maintain glideslope with throttle , speed takes care of itself .

:thumbup: What he said...you'll see that your indicated airspeed may vary slightly if flying AoA no matter what your weight and config is...although your ground speed will vary greatly. Always try to land into the wind when there is wind.

To put a number to what I see most often in the provided missions I am at about 135 when on AOA w/ full flaps and gear down. Once in a while I fly something different that didn't really have landing as part of the mission, but I chose to land anyway. Then the plane is usually heavier (since I have unlimited ammo set which includes missiles) and then I will see more like 140-145. As mentioned above, speed is not a goal in landing, it is a result of AOA, weight, etc. But I find that noting it sometimes helps when things don't seem quite right, it may give a clue as to what is going on. The other day I was on an approach and things were not going well. I noted speed was not right so started looking around. Turned out that the day before I had switched my flap control to a different switch which works a little differently, and I was at only half flaps.

For an airfield landing I fly AOA 'e', place the velocity vector on the threshold at -500fps [+-100fps], maintain with throttle.

For carrier, 3 wire at -600-700 fps.

Pilots.....

Just to expand this a little. Jello (of fighter pilot pod cast fame) recently released a YouTube video showing hornet descent through cloud to o/head break and landing.

On touchdown he held the nose up momentarily (as we would for the viper). Before gently lowering nose to floor a few seconds later.

Flying e bracket results in carrier style slapdown.

Is it normal to hold nose up on land based hornet ops (is it even possible in DCS).

Suggestions please.

The video posted was for a Super hornet iirc. Hornets aren't cleared to do aerobraking because of the stabilators hitting the deck, superhornet on the other hand are cleared for aerobraking.

Pilots.....

Just to expand this a little. Jello (of fighter pilot pod cast fame) recently released a YouTube video showing hornet descent through cloud to o/head break and landing.

 

On touchdown he held the nose up momentarily (as we would for the viper). Before gently lowering nose to floor a few seconds later.

 

Flying e bracket results in carrier style slapdown.

 

Is it normal to hold nose up on land based hornet ops (is it even possible in DCS).

 

Suggestions please.

It is possible in DCS, but only if you use Half flaps. This may very well be the case in the real jet, as well. Full flaps moves the center of lift significantly aft. The main gears are well behind the aircraft's center of gravity, so there isn't much aft longitudinal control margin below rotation speed anyway.

You can still fly on-speed AOA on final, but around 50' AGL, crack some power out, shift the flight path vector to just below the horizon line, hold about 8 degrees nose up until you touch down on the mains, and bring the throttles to idle. (If you go to idle before touchdown, the engines won't spool down from flight to ground idle, and this will extend your landing roll). Hold that same flare attitude as you decelerate; if you go full aft stick immediately, you'll lift off the runway slightly. The nose gear will come down on its own below 110 knots (clean, typical landing gross weight).

I tried to aerobrake following this guy. His AOA was 1. :huh: so...

Nothing to do with F18, but if you wanna see smooth landings, here's the video:

What I see on MP servers is most people should learn first how to land in the middle.

What I see on MP servers is most people should learn first how to land in the middle.

Many MP servers ask players to land to one side to deconflict with possible departures going out on a reciprocal heading.

Many MP servers ask players to land to one side to deconflict with possible departures going out on a reciprocal heading.

nope, not those, off the middle and no deconflict (besides taking off from the taxi way which I started doing occasionally because I don't have all day either and its funny to be dumb, but not bother anyone)

The NATOPS makes mention of the minimum descent rate landings (AKA with a flair), it allows for landing at a higher gross weight, but the plane is designed for carrier landings, and if you follow the max trap weight and descent rate limitations the air frame will be fine.

Fly a normal approach, round out before touchdown and pull your velocity vector level with the horizon. FCS is probably going to fight you a little bit, trying to maintain on speed but if you're trying to grease it on, that should get it done.

Thanks man.

Success achieved just using auto flaps. You were right......a little too much back stick or throttle and she'll unstick sgain real easy.

Remarkable really. Ive been so used to flying patterns on full flap, throttle only, centred e bracket and AOA. You lose the skill of stick flying her in (sort of Viper like)

Approach Speeds

Approach Speeds if you don't want to use the E bracket.

Fly On Speed.

:smilewink: He has spoken...

The video posted was for a Super hornet iirc. Hornets aren't cleared to do aerobraking because of the stabilators hitting the deck, superhornet on the other hand are cleared for aerobraking.

Not true, it's not totally recommended, but its not due to the stabs hitting the deck..

Mover said he flared the legacy all the time

Not true, it's not totally recommended, but its not due to the stabs hitting the deck..

 

Mover said he flared the legacy all the time

He wasn’t talking about flaring. He was talking about aerobraking. Those are different things.

You can aerobrake in the rhino but not the hornet. Either aircraft can be flared.

He wasn’t talking about flaring. He was talking about aerobraking. Those are different things.

 

You can aerobrake in the rhino but not the hornet. Either aircraft can be flared.

Its very easy to aerobrake on the Hornet with HALF flaps and keep the nose up. But with full flaps, its almost impossible. But, I see in airshows that they do aerobrake the landing with full flaps, especially those Finnish and Canadian pilots doing it in some airshows.

Skip to 4:35

Its very easy to aerobrake on the Hornet with HALF flaps and keep the nose up. But with full flaps, its almost impossible. But, I see in airshows that they do aerobrake the landing with full flaps, especially those Finnish and Canadian pilots doing it in some airshows.

 

 

 

 

Skip to 4:35

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm sure there's no reason it physically can't be done. The Rhino NATOPS offers it as a valid technique. The Hornet NATOPS does not.

I'm sure there's no reason it physically can't be done. The Rhino NATOPS offers it as a valid technique. The Hornet NATOPS does not.

Sigh....I am not talking of NATOPS procedure and its rules.

The vids clearly show NON Navy pilots doing the aerobraking format landing. They aren't Navy pilots, and obviously they seem to be able to do it.

Those were NOT Super Hornets. Its in the video...even with full flaps on, they can keep the nose high for a while after the main gears touch the ground.

The thing I am pointing out is, In DCS you cannot do with full flaps and hold the nose high kind of aerobraking. But IRL...It is shown that IT CAN.

Sigh....I am not talking of NATOPS procedure and its rules.

 

 

 

The vids clearly show NON Navy pilots doing the aerobraking format landing. They aren't Navy pilots, and obviously they seem to be able to do it.

 

 

 

Those were NOT Super Hornets. Its in the video...even with full flaps on, they can keep the nose high for a while after the main gears touch the ground.

 

 

The thing I am pointing out is, In DCS you cannot do with full flaps and hold the nose high kind of aerobraking. But IRL...It is shown that IT CAN.

Your video is showing them doing a touch and go, not aerobraking.

I have attached a video showing the same thing.