"Kevin" wrote in message
oups.com...
I appreciate all of the help thanks a lot. I have downloaded an A-319
that i have been playing around with. I am having soe trouble
maintaining the correct glide slope and speed. I am not sure what air
speeds the passenger jets approach at.

Good point.

If you know the stall speed for the aircraft, you can calculate a
"reasonable" approach speed. 1.3 times the stall speed makes for a good,
general purpose approach speed. For smaller aircraft and shorter runways,
this can be reduced to 1.2, or even 1.1.

There are aids to help reference the correct glide slope. For visual
flight, most runways have some kind of lighting (VASI being very common)
next to the touchdown zone. The visual lights usually involve two or more
lights, which are red when you are below a prescribed angle and white when
above. By adjusting your glideslope so that half the lights are red and
half are white, you ensure that you are on a standard glideslope (usually 3
degrees). For instrument flight, the ILS of course provides glideslope
information.

You can, of course, fly the approach and land at any glideslope, but the
standard glideslope works well with standard approach speeds to make a
relatively easy approach and landing.

My preference is to use pitch attitude to maintain a constant airspeed
(increase pitch to reduce airspeed, decrease pitch to increase airspeed),
and the throttle to adjust the glideslope (increase throttle to flatten the
glide, decrease throttle to steepen it). However, that works best in
smaller airplanes, because they have less intertia.

For larger, heavier ones the pitch attitude gives good and relatively
immediate glideslope control. The airspeed will change as well, but for
small adjustments, 5 knots one way or the other isn't a problem. If
airspeed changes more than that, you'll want to adjust the throttle to
compensate.

If i am too fast and flare, I obviously regain altitude.

As you come over the runway end before landing, the first thing you need to
do is level out during the flare and reduce power to idle. As long as you
flare properly, you won't regain altitude. You'll simply halt your descent
just above the runway and gradually reduce your airspeed as you raise the
pitch attitude to stay off the runway.

Flare too much, and yes you will start to ascend again (but without enough
power to maintain the ascent, which will eventually result in the airplane
dropping onto the runway). Flare too little, and you simply land, possibly
going too fast, and possibly with too great a descent rate. But there's a
pretty fair amount of wiggle room. You can have a pretty firm touchdown
without breaking anything (and of course, if you turn realism off, you can
land VERY hard without breaking anything ).

The landing flare is a matter of matching the change in pitch attitude with
the change in airspeed. The pitch attitude should be gradually increasing
throughout the flare, as the airspeed decreases.

Once you touchdown, you then need to gradually reduce the pitch attitude
again. If you just let go of the yoke and let the nose drop abruptly, that
is hard on the nose gear, and again -- if realism is on -- may break the
airplane.

But, if i am coming in too slow and flare i
lose the runway view and hit the landing hard.

Frankly, it's much harder in a simulator than in the real thing. In the
sim, you do lose your outside reference. In a real airplane, you can easily
look out the side. However, as long as you don't make a turn during
landing, you should be able to count on the airplane staying over the runway
as you maintain your altitude.

Also, as you've seen if you land a little faster you can touchdown while
still having a view of the runway.

Any pointers wsith this?

See above.

Also, Robert's comment about fuel load is worth looking at as well. For
smaller airplanes, it doesn't matter that much. But for transport category
airplanes, the fuel load is a significant component of aircraft weight, and
does play an important part in the landing process.

Also, how do i engage the ILS?

The ILS is simply a radio. It is active if it's turned on and tuned to the
correct frequency (each airport with an ILS will have a frequency assigned
to that ILS).

Some airplanes allow you to connect the ILS to the autopilot, but that's a
function of the autopilot. You'll have to look at the autopilot to figure
out what setting tracks the ILS receiver.

Pete