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**Mxsmanic**

writes:

I have found that flying a normal rectangular pattern in the sim is
significantly more difficult than in real flight. In the real plane,
I compare my actual position to my desired position by frequently
glancing at the desired touchdown point on the runway. I find this
very difficult to do in the sim, I think because of the difficultly in
getting realistic view of the runway from the various legs of the
pattern (?).

I had tremendous trouble seeing the runway for a long time. Finally, when I
got a joystick with a twist axis, I eventually assigned the twist axis to the
pan function in MSFS, so that I can "look" in various directions by twisting
the throttle as I fly. It works pretty good, and I'm better now at patterns
than I used to be. I don't know how much of this modest improvement is due to
practice and how much is due to being able to "turn" my head, though.

However, once established on final approach, I think the
sim is quite good in reproducing the sight picture of the approach.
In a light plane, the standard technique is to hold airspeed constant
(usually by trimming to that speed), and then fine tune the flight
path angle with small power adjustments.

Unfortunately I tend to be impatient in the sim and I'm often still not
aligned even as I cross the threshold, unless I planned to land at that
airport well ahead of time. I usually come in fast because I'm making rather
risky turns on the approach and I don't want to come too close to a stall.

In a stabilized approach, though, I'm better.

How do you trim to a speed? Especially when you are adjusting power?

In a normal approach, started from downwind in the traffic pattern,
once the initial power reduction is made, I make the rest of the
approach mostly without looking at the instruments, except for several
checks of airspeed. The descent to the runway is done visually.
Also, don't forget that in the real plane your attention will be
mostly devoted to looking for and avoiding other aircraft.

What airspeed do you choose for landing?

If you want to be realistic in the sim, then you should try to fly the
traffic pattern for most of your visual approaches. (This includes
instrument approaches to small airports in visual conditions; break
off the approach a few miles out and join the pattern normally.) I
agree about the difficulty of setting up a good approach from the
pattern in the sim. You need to find a set of zero-wind numbers that
works for your sim aircraft, e.g., power setting on downwind, initial
power reduction, time until you turn base, position where flaps are
applied, airspeed on final, etc. (Timing your turn to base may work
better for the sim than the real-life technique of waiting for 45
degrees from touchdown point). You may have to find them by trial and
error, but once you have them, they become your starting point for all
subsequent approaches; fly by those numbers, and then make adjustments
for wind, and other factors of the specific situation.

Hmm ... I had not thought of working out numbers that I could reuse. Each
approach has been trial and error but I haven't been noting anything. I guess
I'll have to write stuff down (or at least try to remember it). I do have a
few things memorized for the Baron, after hundreds of hours in it, but not as
much as I probably need or could use.

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