On Friday, in article
01c3a4ec$a2ea3140$0400a8c0@soveks-computer
"Sovek" wrote:

ok, first off, I do not have a joystick, thats on my want list, second,
where is a good sight to download a *good* chopper? I did have a steady
hover a couple of feet off the ground, but that fowled up too another
question is, how many of you circle the airport before landing? I never do
and have a good landing record, course some of em were pretty rough :/

There have been, over the years, some good books about how to fly Flight
Simulator realistically, and, apart from helicopters, there have been
few changes. A book covering FS4 can still tell you a lot about flying
a Cessna according to the proper procedures.

Circling the airfield, the "pattern", is a way of setting up the
landing. It gives a chance to look over the runway, and provides a set
of consistent visual cues. Done right, you're flying parallel to the
runway, at the same distance and altitude above the runway, and it
always looks the same. It's a method for visual flying, "VFR".

The other method is the normal way for airliners, business jets, and the
like, flying with radio beacons and, sometimes. without anything visible
outside, what they call "IFR". The specifics differ for each airfield,
and each runway, but involve picking up, and following, a radio beam
aligned with the runway.

Either way, the last part of the approach and landing gets to be
consistent; the speed and the descent rate fixing a line in the sky
which reaches the runway at the same point every time.


Now, you can fly the Cessna well without a joystick, and it can even
teach you good habits. You have to keep thinking ahead, as you can't
easily give a quick flick of full-stick to get out of trouble. But
don't fly with turbulent air.

It's important to get the elevator trim right, rather than just keying
in a bit of elevator, as you would have to re-key that correction each
time you centre the controls.

The basic principle is to get the speed right with the elevators,
remembering to lower the undercarriage and use the flaps, and adjust the
descent rate with the throttle. The throttle will affect the speed too,
and the elevator trim can need a little tweak with a major throttle
change. The pattern can give time to do some of this setting up for the
landing.

For Flight Simulator, Meigs Field is the traditional place to learn all
this. An important real-world point is that the approach patterns for
Meigs had to be over the lake, safely clear of the city buildings. So,
approaching from the south needs right-hand turns while from the north
uses left-hand turns.

It's also important to practise at other airports, so you learn to
recognise when the runway looks right, rather than learning to fly over
some local landmark.

Back in the days of FS4 some people recommended starting out with the
Learjet. Everything happens much faster, and that can be pretty
overwhelming. And it's easy to run out of runway at Meigs. But Flight
Simulator crashes don't kill people.




--
David G. Bell -- SF Fan, Filker, and Punslinger.

"History shows that the Singularity started when Tim Berners-Lee
was bitten by a radioactive spider."