Improving Landing Techniques

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Hi everyone,

I hope you’re all enjoying your flights! I wanted to start a discussion on improving landing techniques in our flight simulators. I’ve noticed that while my takeoffs and cruise phases are quite smooth, my landings often feel less controlled and more stressful than I’d like.

Here are a few points I’d love to get your insights on:

  1. Approach Planning： How do you plan your approach to ensure a smooth and precise landing? Do you have any tips for using ILS or visual approaches effectively?

  2. Speed Management: What are your strategies for managing speed during descent and final approach? Are there specific speeds you aim for based on different aircraft?

  3. Flare and Touchdown: How do you execute the flare and touchdown? Any specific techniques or practices that help you achieve a softer landing?

  4. Weather Conditions: How do you handle landings in challenging weather conditions, such as strong crosswinds or low visibility?

  5. Practice Routines：Do you have any specific practice routines or exercises that have helped you improve your landing skills?

I’m looking forward to hearing your experiences and tips. Let’s help each other become better virtual pilots!

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When approaching my last turns onto final, I always keep my speed below 200 knots no matter what aircraft I fly. Any speed faster at this stage of the approach can make it harder to establish on final and may result in a go around.

Once on short final and 1,000 feet above the ground, I always disengage the autopilot and hand-fly the rest. I feel like I can land the plane smoother than the autopilot.

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On ILS, at the start of the localizer I am always at 4000 feet and adjust my altitude and heading according to the diamond.

For visual approach, I am still at 4000 feet at the start of the localizer and swing my flight path marker to the start of the runway

When entering the approach localizer , I start reducing my speed from 190 knots to the best speed for my aircraft. Here is a list of aircraft’s and their landing speeds:

CRJ-200/700: 135 knots

CRJ-900/1000: 140 knots

Airbus A318: 125 knots

A319: 130 knots

A320: 132 knots

A321: 140 knots

A220: 125 knots

A330: 145 knots

A340: 150 knots

A350: 145 knots

A380: 145-160 knots

717: 140 knots

737-700/800: 130 knots

737-900: 140 knots

All 747 versions: 140-165 knots

757-200: 140 knots

767: 140 knots

All 777 versions: 140 knots

All 787 versions: 140 knots

All versions of the MD11/DC10: 135 knots

Fighter jets: 110 knots

All GA planes: 55-100 knots

Once the “30” callout is heard, I slowly flare from -400 FPM to -150 FPM. Caution: if you flare too early, your plane could “float” over the runway. This is bad, especially on short runways because it will touchdown farther away from the touchdown zone.

If you flare too late, your plane could slam on the runway. If this happens and your plane is bouncing, go around as it is an unstable landing.

In strong crosswinds, there are 2 ways to make a safe landing.

First way: During the entire approach (as soon as established on the localizer), you need to use your rudder. When crossing is coming from the right, slowly move your rudders to the left, and use ailerons to stabilize the aircraft if needed. Same way for left crosswinds but just that you need to move it to the right then.

Second way: When flaring, slowly move your rudder in the need position to make the nod Eger touchdown on the centerline. (Flight path maker might needs to be a bit in the side of the runway for this to work.

For low visibility, the ILS system is a good thing. If you follow the markings of the diamonds, you’re gonna land safe. For runways with no ils system, a landing in low visibility is very dangerous and if this happens, it would be best to divert to an airport with ils system.

You can practice your landings on solo with any aircraft, on any airport. For a long approach, there should be a green/orange/red dot a bit away from the runway. Click on it and then click on the fly button.

I hope this helped. Good landings!

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I always set the waypoint before the ILS cone to 2500-2900ft AGL and at IAS no more than 200kts

I use this website for descent and this thread on final approach. However I find it quite tedious and summarized everything in my logbook, which looks something like this, but usually if there is no ATC available or the ATC says nothing about my approach speed, I would reduce my speed from 200kts to 160kts until 4NM final, then reduce my speed to VAPP (approach speed), apply medium autobrakes + lower the landing gear at 1000ft AGL, then reduce to VFL (flare speed) at 500ft AGL.

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Just do a pattern work for several laps with any aircraft at any airport.

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Straight in. No turns no nothing just beeline for it

100% throttle

What these “flare” and “softer” things

As much wind as possible, no visibility

Watching people on casual server at (insert big airport name here)

pls no one take this seriously

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You bring up a great discussion! One that is unique to Infinite Flight due to the portability of the simulator. Meaning everyone will have slightly different inputs on techniques (such as the flare) depending on their device. Since everyone holds their device slightly differently, this could make each flare unique to the pilot.

  1. To address your first point, the planning for a good approach in Infinite Flight begins with knowledge of the expected descent profile for a given aircraft and usage of the SIDS and STARS available. Enough practice and familiarity and these will usually set you up well enough to be within 500ft (more or less) from optimal glide slope intercept altitude or at least achieve your desired visual approach altitude.

  2. I like to use the auto-throttle and let the autopilot manage the speed until I decide to hand fly. Right before the ILS intercept or after visually identifying the airport, I’ll disconnect the autopilot entirely and hand fly. This allows me to maintain superior control and make faster adjustments, which is very useful especially when flying in a busy airspace.

  3. I like to use YouTube to learn more about a specific aircraft as well as specific techniques and flare timings. It is important commend the developers for their extensive work on the physics of each aircraft as I have found the flare/landing techniques mentioned online by real-world pilots and PC flight simmers to be just about on par with Infinite Flight which is downright awesome. Plenty of great videos out there and I’m happy to point anyone in the right direction! The videos I’ve referenced have all done the landing from the cockpit view in their respective sim which also helps with building the sight picture for those who like to use that same view in Infinite Flight.

    Taking the 737 for example, or any Boeing in Infinite Flight, I begin the flare at 30 ft, close the throttle levers at 20 ft, and hold the flare at 10 ft to fly the aircraft onto the runway. Check, close, hold. Simple as that. Always aiming for a safe landing first and foremost but this technique has made for plenty of smooth landings. Smoothness mostly depending on the speed of the pitch attitude change.

  4. Nothing to add here other than lots of practice! However, during each flight, it is important to check the conditions at your arrival airport to ensure that you are prepared for the weather. Poor planning will lead to poor execution.

  5. The most common “practice” I’ll do is flying an approach in solo mode, in various aircraft, under varying weather conditions. But nothing compares to flying on the live server and debriefing a full flight!

Plenty of more stuff I can dive into but this is a start. I’m interested in hearing others’ thoughts and personal techniques!

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That is tooo late you should be doing that at maximum 2000ft agl

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Not really if I go slow enough. 2000ft AGL is too early for me and that could slow down my aircraft as the traffic behind me (if any) gets closer. Well, it really depends on the wind but typically it should take about 200ft of descend time on final, so there’s still plenty of time to do so. Furthermore, if you’re doing a pattern work, which is usually done at 1500ft AGL, your argument won’t be valid.

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Your welcome!

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  1. Use STARs whenever possible, and be established on the visual/ILS/GPS approach early if possible. Best to intercept the ILS at a 30 degree offset or less from runway heading.
  2. Descend at 250 knots until about 5,000ft AGL (or higher if you are more conservative), then start reducing speed gradually - an example would be 220 knots, then 200 knots, then 180 knots, then final approach speed.
  3. The landing technique including flare varies by aircraft. For some aircraft such as the 737, it is best to cut the throttle and start flaring later (i.e. 20 feet or so) while for the 747 or A380 you should flare earlier (i.e. 30-40 feet). Practice makes perfect, and so does getting the feel for each aircraft type and variant.
  4. Again, practice makes perfect in the case of crosswind or gusty/turbulent conditions. Try practicing landings in strong crosswind and turbulence in solo mode for a start. For low visibility, as others have said, ILS and Autoland is your best friend.
  5. The best way to practice landings is to either use the final approach mode in solo, or perform circuits. Another way is to take off, turn left or right by about 30 degrees, then turn back and be aligned on the same runway you took off from (but opposite direction).
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Pattern work is something different altogether 🙂. In pattern work you get your self aligned with the runway into ILS and gear down the runway almost half of what you’ll be doing. Well during landing in real life pilots, gear down at 2500ft agl and I have seen that many many times. If surrounded by terrain they gear down at typical 6-8nm from the destination. The argument about patternwork can not be comparable because it’s a totally different. It would be comparing a Boeing 777 gear down to a tbm-930. Two different things.

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However this depends on the ILS because ils descent can be as low as -400ft per minute or as high as -1000 fpm in London city airport.
So it’s safe to say all airlines lower their landing gear from 6-8nm from destination

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You said it all, PRATICE, I don’t count how many hours I passed in solo mode and taping the “Short Final” button.

It’s hard, but if you’re dedicated, and PRATICE, you will enjoy everyone of your landing.

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Planning the approach is the easy part. I generally know which runway I will be using before departure. But I like to extend my approach out further to ensure a stable approach.
Speed management is tricky at times but I gradually lower my speed down to 270kts at 18000asl and at 250 at 10000asl.from there I lower speeds as required to be at approximate approach speed by 4000asl.
Landing, I just let the autopilot handle the approach and flare and touch down while I handle the directional control and reversers on touchdown.
Fly weather like any other approach, as I only use ILS
Just get out and fly.

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