Hi,
Here is a reply from FSAviator:
This topic crops up here about once a year so I suppose it is time to point everyone to the sources of information again.
<<My initial landing problems with the Stratocruiser in FS were due to the fact that I was too fast.I can touch down now at about 100 knots on the mainwheels first without problems. I had made some research on the net for the correct landing speed of the Strato >>
The necessary reference speeds and how to land the B377 Stratocruiser is cunningly concealed in the Calclassic 2008 Propliner Tutorial.
www.calclassic.com/tutorials.htm ********************************
LANDING THE STRATOCRUISER
Nothing in any download from calclassic.com calls for any aircraft to be landed nosewheel first. The B377 handling notes call for it to be flared to zero pitch since, as I understand it, which was the recommended real world technique. However for this technique to work we must calculate and achieve Vref with precision.
The B377 handling notes disclose that maximum landing weight is 121,700lbs which is associated with Vref = 100 KIAS, but having conducted appropriate fuel planning the approach is more likely to be flown at around 102,000lbs. Vref depends on SQR(W).
At 102,000lbs B377 Vref becomes 100 * 319/349 = 91 KIAS.
Any faster and the aircraft will be so nose down that we need to rotate many degrees nose up to reach level pitch and prevent a nosewheel first landing. If we increase AoA rapidly in that manner we will promote ballooning, and when the mainwheels make contact the sudden increase in lift from the suddenly much higher AoA will promote bounce.
We must use the Windows calculator, or some other means, to calculate Vref during flight planning after we have calculated the payload and the fuel load for the flight using the methods set out in Part 6 of this tutorial. We can then predict the approach weight with ease since it is expected to be take off weight minus route fuel. We could create our own Weight versus Vref cross reference tables.
Landing a B377 at 102,000lbs it is necessary to nail 91 KIAS at 50 QFE. The B377 requires very precise energy state targeting. In stable descent on the minus 3 degree glide path, at 91 KIAS, passing 50 QFE, in landing configuration, close the throttles, and *very carefully* over the last five seconds of flight, bring the nose up to barely positive pitch. Due to the high inertia of a 102,000 pound mass the aircraft will not suddenly fly level, it will impact the runway slightly nose up, but if PF nails all the numbers it will do so with only slightly negative VSI and the propensity to bounce will be small.
No one should expect to get a greaser in a B377. It didn't happen. There is however nothing in the release flight dynamics that will cause unsatisfactory bounce from a touchdown at just under 91 KIAS, at slightly negative VSI, at just positive pitch, below maximum landing weight. Failure to meet the critical demands of this deeply flawed real aircraft will however be demonstrated. Don't beat yourself up if it takes a lot of practice to land a B377 well. Work your way up to really difficult, badly designed aircraft, like the B377 via aircraft which had fewer real life flaws.
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The supplied handling notes (last updated March 2008) say;
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ON descending
GEAR DOWN
FLAP - STAGE 3
REDUCE < 120 KIAS
FLAP - STAGE 4
Cross airfield boundary 100 KIAS (@ 121,700lbs)
FLARE to ZERO PITCH
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When 'Strat' said in his post;
<<Flare to 0 degrees on approach will therefore guarantee a nose wheel touching first.>>
He is correct. That is how BOAC did it. Other airlines required their pilots to land nose up and mainwheels first. The Calclassic on screen handling notes reflect BOAC technique and the Calclassic 2008 Propliner Tutorial explains and recommends the alternative.
Ideally that module of the 2008 PT would begin;
<<<Nothing in any download from Calclassic.com calls for any aircraft to be landed with negative pitch>>>.
The real elevators had more than enough authority to pitch the aircraft up at Vr or Vref. As we can see in the earlier photo on page 1 the real crew have not yet initiated the flare manouevre. The elevators are still neutral.
When operating from long enough runways, in aeroplanes very prone to engine failure after take off, some real aircrew like to hold the aeroplane down on the runway accelerating beyond Vr. It's a choice, but it risks tyre blow out. The real elevators had sufficient authority to pitch the nose up from at least Vr onwards. However in MSFS they will only do so if the aeroplane was correctly trimmed and configured for take off.
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TRIM 20% full range NOSE UP <<<<<<<
FLAP - STAGE 1 <<<<<<<<
CALL for TOGA POWER (3500hp)
PROPS FULLY FINE
Slowly apply FULL THROTTLE
ROTATE at 115 KIAS (145,800lbs) <<<<<<<<<
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As 'strat' indicated attempts to use more than 15 degrees of Flap (FLAP 1) for take off will indeed cause the B377 to wheelbarrow if held down beyond Vr, which never exceeds 115 KIAS. Both Vr and Vref vary with square root of weight, which is why Calclassic handling notes always state worst case for both weight and Vr/Vref. We must use those values during comparison to our actual weight when calculating our actual Vr and Vref as explained in the Calclassic 2008 Propliner Tutorial module above.
<<Using the Strat.air file dated 03 December 2006 (Avsim download kc97g04.zip), the KC-97G will take off nosewheel first (not last) at max weight of 175,000lbs at listed Vr of 130 kias. >>
No one should use B367 Stratotanker FD or its handling notes to simulate operation of a B377 Stratocruiser. Their performance envelopes are very different, but the same KC-97G Stratotanker and other relevant FD are more readily available from Calclassic.com anyway. More to the point the latest B377 aircraft.cfg was uploaded by Tom in September 2008 and my most recent B377 air file update was in February 2007.
www.calclassic.com/b377.htm No one who knows about Calclassic.com needs to search far and wide across the internet for the most up to date B367 or B377 flight dynamics, handling notes and tutorials. They are all right here.
FSAviator.