FSX Tutorial 1: How to Land a Cessna 172

This is our first, of hopefully many, Flight Simulator X Tutorials! Learn how to land a Cessna 172SP in FSX at the default airport. Here are some of the important details to remember when landing:

- The approach is one of the most important parts of the landing. If you have a stable approach, your landing will most likely be OK. However, if you make a crazy approach, too high or too fast, then your landing will probably be crap. So first piece of advice, fly a standard pattern (or a long straight in approach), and get everything set up correctly.

- As you approach the runway, you want to slow down, because if you carry too much airspeed into the landing you will float for a while during the flare. Too much airspeed can also cause some other issues, such as ballooning.
- As you reduce power, keep an eye on the airspeed indicator. There are two 'arcs' that you want to focus on. There is the green arc, and there is the white arc. The green arc is the normal operating airspeed range for the aircraft, with flaps up. The lower value of the green arc is the stall speed, Vs1 (flaps up), and the upper value of the green arc is the Vno airspeed, which should only be exceeded with cation (and without abrupt control movements). The white arc is the range of airspeeds when flaps are down. The upper value is the max airspeed with full flaps, and the lower airspeed is Vso, stall speed in landing configuration (flaps out).

- On final, you want everything to be set, ready for landing. What does this mean? Well, you want to have your target airspeed (65 knots is a good airspeed for a C172), and you want all your flaps out (this isn't always the case, but for now, just put all 30 degrees of flaps down). The key to a stable approach is continually adjusting power and pitch to get the correct approach speed and angle. A 500 fpm descent works well, with about 1500rpm, and 65 knots. You don't want to dive for the runway, but you also don't want to have to carry alot of power in, just to make the runway. In real life, you want a comfortable approach angle, that would give you the ability to hit the runway even if your engine failed.

- As you approach the runway, you want to pull the power to idle, and start a round-out, or flare. At this point, you want to slow down your vertical speed to zero, and essentially level off right above the runway. Five feet is pretty high, but depth perception is nearly impossible in FSX anyways. To really grease the landing, you would idealy flare less than a foot above the runway. The key idea about the flare, is that you want to PREVENT the airplane from landing. You want to keep it in the air as long as possible, and to do that you pull back on the yoke. After a while you will get the hang of it, and be able to land like a pro!

So that's about it - the beginners guide to landing a C172 in FSX. Fly Safe! Subscribe! And check back for more tutorials!

Thanks for watching! :-D

Category:

Education

Tags:

• fsx
• tutorial
• cessna
• 172
• landing
• how
• to
• land
• an
• airplane
• flight
• simulator
• microsoft
• c172sp
• training

[MRBMYERS25]

too high on approach

[CartesqueFilms]

@MRBMYERS25 Quit whining

[RaNd0m2667]

please take a minute to look at my videos:)please

[CartesqueFilms]

@RaNd0m2667 You got it!

[RaNd0m2667]

what editing software did you use?

[CartesqueFilms]

@RaNd0m2667 FRAPPS...works well enough for me

[dextersheep]

Nice landing, BAD approach, you were way too high

[2011skaterblue]

lol steven hawking

[gserlenga]

Thanks for your response, my technique has improved greatly since my last post and I've moved up to flying the C182 RG II Skylane Carenado model, I appreciate your input though, I have great fun practicing and perfecting my landing technique as much as it can be said to be "technique" in a computer simulation hehe :)

[CartesqueFilms]

@keesvh No

[CartesqueFilms]

@gserlenga Often times beginner pilots have trouble over correcting...instead try setting up far out, and moving the controls as little as possible. If you're bouncing on landing you're most likely flaring too low. A trick some instructors use is having the student fly just feet above the runway a couple times to get a handle on the "sight-picture"....i.e. what you should see out the runway when you're in the landing process. Keep at it!

[CartesqueFilms]

@kevinjamesryan Congratulations on being a pilot, I'm happy for you. As it happens, I too, am a pilot. Please reference the C172SP Information Manual or aircraft specific POH for step by step landing PROCEDURES. Adding flaps is hardly a PROCEDURAL event in general aviation, and is instead entirely dependent on the aircraft, the environment, and the Captain. Blue Skies.

[keesvh]

Approach is too high, and not enough flare for a Cessna.

If you approach with 4 white lights, you need much rate of descend, and that could be uncomfortable for passengers

[SmellsLikeMineCraft]

@CartesqueFilms

well said