FSX TUTORIAL - How to Make Smooth Landings 

Smoothness - 10/10 Center Line - 8/10 Technique - 10/10 Score: 9.4

I always come back just to see that touchdown

That landing was just... BUTTER.

for some people, the main problem will be the descent rate than the speed/flare.

A couple of facts you should get right: 1.In calm conditions, flaps 25 landings are never done. 2. Landing gear is extended before intercepting the final approach. 3.Landing flaps are extended when intercepting the final approach path. 4. A high or low approach is not a pilots choice, it's a 3 degree glide path unless otherwise stated in the airport charts. 5. Your approach speed is WAY too high 6. The flare is NOT a controlled stall in the 737. It is in the cessna but not in the 737. Moreover you need a certain pressure on the wheels upon landing to deploy auto brakes and spoilers. A 10 feet/min landing simply won't do the trick. All in all that was a really good landing.

You should participate in AF95's landing competitions.

When it comes to real world airliner landings the "smooth & charter landing" is in fact not a "good" landing. When you take your type rating you get to learn that you are supposed fly the aircraft onto the runway with 2-5fpm and accomplish the landing roll. This is because the aircraft will use up a lot more runway that necessary if you float out and make it ultra smooth. The shock absorbers are there to be used.

Best tutorial I've ever seen on landing. Most people flare on approach by reducing their speed drastically, and lose control of the plane, then bump it on the runway or even get a tail strike.

I'm an idiot and always try to use the ILS :)

Also what many people may want to do is save your flight about 5-8 minutes before touchdown (I know its not very realistic if that's what you're going for, but it helps to get great practice). That way you can take as many attempts at it as you want without having to go all the way around and set up for the approach again.

It's so.. Satisfying..

Now that's a smooth landing! Good job. I always try my best to land as smoothly as possible.

well I have been playing FSX since I was little...I'd say about 12 years :) Ive just learned to have a steady hand I guess!

People on that plane probably wouldn't even notice that they landed! Smoothest landing I've ever seen and really nice video. Thanks!

Landing speed is calculated by the FMC from putting in your gross weight...he landed with 25 degrees flaps at 165 kt. If I could have a ballpark estimate of that aircraft landing speed, it would be from 120kt, all the way up to 150 kt with different flap variations, all calculated by gross weight of the aircraft and the reference speed and flaps that you get from the fmc. Also it's not usually 9 to 10 miles out, it is however far your STARs have you turn. For example, the CLARR2 arrival at KLAS will have you lining up with the runways at around 25 miles. Good flight control and all but soft landings don't need to be that soft, it should be about a second and a half or 2 seconds after you get the 10' GWPS warning that you actually touch down. Happy landings!

yes in the FSX display settings, and the dark clouds come with REX when you set the sky to overcast

BEST LANDING EVER ;)

I came to this when I was still learning how to fly when I played FSX for the first time in late 2015. Good old memories!

What degree should the flare be at?

Wow! That was 100% best flaring I have ever seen.

It so hard to get the aircraft right at the centerline... :P

You can even make a tutorial look spectacular! Awesome!

What happens if you go too slow

That is the best smoothest landing ever i've ever seen!

My pc is better, yet it can't handle the pmdg 737 without lag :(

I’ve been watching this video frequently since the first time you posted this video 😫 Nostalgia 100 🥶

dude i watched ur video and now I'm landing smoothly 24/7 thx man

I perform my approach at 135/145 knots and land very smooth after the approach. I think the most important is to handle a good final and use the flaps correctly to not have too much or not enough lift during flare. The flare is also the moment to float low above the runway.

I am applying to aviation academy (wish me luck) and due that I started to fly more with FSX to "test" theoretical things with simulator. And this looks damn good.

This video is sooo satisfying...

Lovely video sir! I have seen so many on you tube and it appears most citizens of the USA cannot speak English. All you hear is: Erm, Um, pretty, etc. you give a very good composition and excellent video tutorial...Outstanding, well done!

Great landing! I'm an airline first officer and I couldn't spa any better my self

well honestly it comes with experience. Once you make a bunch of approaches and landings you will start to do it like second nature. But to start off, I would just practice landing in the cockpit while monitering your airspeed and altitude and pitch. Once you get that down you will be able to do it on your own!

exactly what i was thinking. erm i usually use the glidescope to decent down ,but now practising on doing manual decents down to the runway.

One of the better tutorials here. Thank you.

A very smooth landing, I have never seen similar results on any other simulations on RU-vid.

The landing was the sickest I ever saw!

There is calculations for rate of descent and distance , and there is specific speed to lower your landing gear and flaps

haha i love it too! one of my favorite aircraft!

I believe the default key for activating spoilers in fsx is "/" (the key with the question mark and slash) Pressing shift + / will arm the spoilers in most jets so that they automatically extend when your wheels touch the ground. You can also program different key assignments for almost anything tin the game by going into settings and then controls.

Great vid man. I fly a 747 Business Jet in fsx and I land almost perfectly everytime. I do it by feel. Speed and flaring, flaps etc, I adjust them based on the feel of the flight and aircraft to suit the weather and airstrip. Now, because of you, I have a base to work with. So again, thanks for the vid...oh and I usually line up with the runway about the same distance as you but at four thousand feet; It gives me room to play with.

this is the best landing tutorial for beginners and experts

When you are a wings span away from the ground the plane will experience the "Ground Effect" where the air bounces off the ground back under your wing making it easy to maintain altitude and making the flare hard to accomplish without the right airspeed.

This helped me ALOT I needed this to my private flight in an Boeing 737 simulator that I will DO in 1 year from now so in 2018.

Thanks for this, Matt, I look forward to viewing more of your crystal-clear tutorials.

Just a tip, approach speed will very depending on your payload, for a correct height follow the ILS or Papi lights, if it's PMDG set your appraoch reference before starting decent, increase your flaps gradually as your plane slows down to your reference speed in which it should be with flaps 30 or 40. As far as speed, if you didn't calculate it with an FMC, rule of thumb you should be able to maintain a 5 degree nose up while following the proper glide slope and a 2.5 degree nose up with flaps at 30, if you're too fast or nose will be lower and vice versa if you're not at the correct speed. Try lining up from 5,000 feet, this should give you enough time to set up your plane for landing.

Very well done great smooth landing and also great graphics no lag makes that much difference!!!

A 200 fpm landing is what you should be aiming for if you want to be realistic. 737 pilots usually start the flare at around 15 ft above the runway, and never pull back the throttles before doing so. They aim for 2-3 degrees of nose up pitch while keeping their eyes 3/4 of the way down the runway to judge their descent rate. Most flight simmers are "afraid of the ground" and flare too early/too severely in the 737NGX, thus causing them to "float" past the midpoint of the runway and having to conduct a go around. When flaring, do not focus on your descent rate, focus on finding that 2-3 degrees of nose pitch upward and holding that nose up attitude while cutting the throttle to idle. I used to focus on my descent rate, and I used to float severely. Now with that technique, my landings are almost always within 100-200 fpm and extremely satisfying to watch in replay mode. Note, this applies to the zibo 737 3.31g in XP 11.30b4

The problem with low approaches is that its harder to line-up with the runway and do small adjustments. Its much easier to line-up from an above point of view with the nose down. And to be honest, in FSX I personally never really gave much attention to that textbook airspeed for landing (Its just to low, it can hardly be maintained, it can stall and its a terrible landing) and I've done fine. Regarding flaring I don't think airspeed matters that much. If you're going faster you pitch up less, if you're going slower you pitch up more. Just do it intuitively, its easy.

Best landing I've ever seen. Well done, man!

Idk why but your landing is so satisfying lol

i liked the flare more than the approach.because his flaring was perfect.if he had done a higher approach it would have been a great landing.however its worth the time.i liked it

thank you! but actually this was a visual approach! :)

The best FSX landing i have ever seen!!!

use your flaps and keep a good eye on the airspeed.dont mess with the throttle too much.if the speed increases use your flaps.before applying the landing gear just give your throttle a tiny boost.but the main thing is youll have to use your flaps all the time.(if an airliner)

The exact approach speed, Vref, can be calculated based on your weight. The PMDG NGX does this for you if you have initialized your FMC correctly.

what I call smooth landigns is MONEY!!! and you did MOOOOONNEEEYYYY!!!

The most common procedure to configure the acft for landing : On the intercept hdg : extend the flaps to flaps 5 Once on final, one dot below glide (precision approach) or 2Nm before FAF: select gear down + flaps 15 Reduce speed on the glide to about vref +5 (in most cases) and select flaps 30 or 40 (precision approach). Or select flaps landing .5Nm before FAF

thanks! and I get good performance because my computer is fully devoted to FSX, so it is still pretty smooth!

If your trying to fly the plane like they do in reality, you can't "cheat" and fly a lower approach. They have a glidepath on that approach for a reason, obstacles. Look at your weight and balance and see what the approach speed should be for the desired flap setting. (It should be provided calculated by your fmc) Fly that speed (+5 to 10 knots depending on the airline's guidelines), typically the plane will be 3 to 6 degrees nose up. You want to be stabilized in that position several miles out before you commit. I know many turbo prop planes have an approach that is typically a few degrees nose down. So with a nose up a few degrees on approach it will actually make conducting the roll-out or flare easier. You won't have to pull back as harshly, ground effect will help you a lot, and the thrust blast against the tarmac will actually slow your rate of descent all on it's own. Airline pilots have told me they just fly it onto the runway, it's not like landing a 172. Yes they flare but they aren't trying to achieve 0 fpm at the perfect moment. Anything less than 200 fpm is really good. The gear, especially on landing gear like the a330 a340 747 and 777 will soak it up at a nice rollout starting somewhere between 100 and 50 ft above the ground. When I'm flying the 777 in xplane, I start a slow rollout and start retarding the throttles once 100 ft is called. I might pull back just a touch more when 20ft is called. It depends, if the weather sucks, just get it on there safely. Most airliners don't even detect a hard landing unless a certain g reading is met, and the pilots aren't even aware of what it was until the airline calls them and tells them it has to be inspected. That's usually going past 600 feet per minute. You're flying a lower approach because your going too fast, it makes achieving a softer landing easier... but again you're lowering your approach so you don't overshoot the touchdown zone. In IFR conditions, how are you going to safely fly a lower approach. What your teaching here is just not how it's done in the real world. But hey, it's just a game. FSX has perfectly flat runways too, even more unrealistic.

Yes, that is exactly how I land too, I find it very easy that way. Great video !!!

Thanks I have never landed so smooth before

I think smooth landings are something you have to get a feel for. Especially the flare. But great video!

I am a very new fsx player and i will for sure try this out

On the MD-80 at 5 miles you should have full flaps, gear down, and about a 5 degree pitch up and flare at 50 feet above the ground.

thank you Im happy to hear that! And I will certainly try!

Thanks very much dude, Made a successful landing with my A320 in KSAN!

the video edition is really great, well done

Dude, this was an awesome video! I don’t play FSX so it wasn’t really “helpful” I bet it would have been though if I played FSX lol. I just wanted to say good work because of how straight forward and clear it was! Good work dude!

Man, this video hits different...

A little tip, in the real world you get the gear down at 2000radio feet ;) and at 50 you start the flare and at 20 you set the thrust du idle. You can read that in the PMDG flight manuals

gorgeous color correction and video editing, very nicely done

my first attempt at a landing in this game was a 20 foot bounce in an extra 300. I've decreased my bounce hight since then but I'm still working on it. I haven't even attempted anything in an airliner yet since I'm still a noobs.

you are right.there is also a theory for landing.youll have fly your final approach by maintaining the speed just above the white arc.the white arc means stall speed. so when the aircraft becomes heavy the stall speed also increases.and as you said the 747 lands also in 145-150 knots.that is correct.according to the theory 145 knots may also be a stall speed for any aircraft.and on 737 160 knots means toooooooooooooo heavy.

The plane looks so good because he has a custom texture on it (It's name is in the description) and you put the thrusters in reverse by holding the "F2" key.

thanks im glad you think so!

You have to activate reverse thrust. Just pull the throttle back as far as you can but the further you pull it the quicker you will have to put it on idol after you reach 10-15 kts

I'd probably check the kneeboard (shift+f10) before final approach on the reference tab, that should have approach speeds

ONE OF THE BEST LANDING I HAVE EVER SEEN great landing:-)

ryanair pilot: caught watching this his boss: your fired!

Thank u. This helped. I thought flare began 5 NM out!

I have it installed here. But these graphics are perfect. Very good video.

180 is about right for approach. ATC usually says to maintain 180 knots to the outer marker in real life.

At 0:50 he is lowering flaps and at 3:29 he is applying speed brake. Speed brake is a brake lever on the right of the throttle and flaps are to the right.

@farrasezra you should flare at around 140, depending on your weight. Remember, you need less lift= less airspeed when you are close to the ground, say within one wingspan, because of ground effect

The landing was magnificent!!

i agree with the low approach it just feels safer too

Best damn landing I've seen on FSX man good jobs and keep up the good work 😄

That is really good tutorial for a smooth Landing.

Great video and really smooth landing, but pay attenction, the recommended vertical speed for touchdown is from -50 to -180 feet per minute. If you'll land with a v/s greater than -180 your landing won't be so soft, if you'll land with a v/s lower than -50 your tires will melt or explode for many reasons, too many to explain the here, but you can find something on Internet.

Thanks! This helped alot! These tips stopped my sink rate on landing :)

It depends on what speed you come in on final approach. If your a Boeing 777-200 ER, your gonna need a lot of speed, like 160-120 knots. But like the PMDG 737-800 NXG, it has not as much weight as the 777. So, every speed is different, depending on your aircraft or weight. Good luck on all your approaches and take my advice to make a grease (Smooth Landing) landing! :)

Reverse thrust. On the average joystick you can't do this so you have to go into controls and set a button for it. Or you can go into cockpit mode and push the thrusters all the way back past the red safety pin things.

Sick landing I don't have fsx but my friend does.

Subbed, you were very good at explaining and the video looked awesome at the same time!

Corrections: Purpose of flaring is not to stall the aircraft in transport category but to raise attitude to slow descent. You are correct, the proper airspeed contributes to a stabilized descent but all landings should be made per the glide slope or VASI/PAPI and not haphazardly. Also, do not reduce throttle from a stabilized descent until the wheels touch the runway. Premature throttle reduction causes accidents, descent below glidepath, and, in my case I put the Captain Sim 707 into the sea wall on runway 33L at Boston doing that.

thanks! I will take a look at your channel now!

Basically flaps/slats are used to fly smoothly that low speed. They are mainly used in fighter jets

Nice landing but for speed when you approaching just follow the instrument on PFD the airplane itself would tell you at which speed the flaps should on which level is much better. Just trust the FMS cos PMDG did great job on it.

Thanks for this tutorial I made an smooth landing in my pmdg 777 -80fpm I apply it based on the video