General Flight

Landing Technique

Landing a jet is a unique experience that greatly differs from landing a light aircraft. Unlike in light aircraft where you would generally hold the aircraft off of the ground as speed dissipates, jets are meant to be flown on to the runway in a manner that allows them to be set on a certain spot on the runway at a specific speed. A common misconception in the Flight Simulation community is that a good landing rate is as low as you can get with most people dramatically increasing their landing distances by holding off the flare in attempt to get as close to -1 fpm as possible. In real life, the goal is generally to be down around the 1,000 foot markings at best and within the touchdown zone at worst, on speed. This tends to make real world landings a little more firm than in the simulator. Holding off the flare while speed dissipates in a jet can cause tail strikes or an increase in landing distance to the point where a safe landing can no longer be obtained.

Generally, your landing distance is calculated at you crossing over the runway threshold 50’ above the threshold at VApp. Usually you will have 4-8 seconds between crossing the threshold and touching down on the runway. When your aircraft is around 20-40 feet above the ground you should begin to flare the aircraft by slowly raising the nose just slightly enough to reduce the sink rate from around -700 fpm to around -200 fpm. In most jets the change in pitch attitude for the flare is only 1-3 degrees as you also smoothly reduce the throttles to idle. The specific landing technique differs between equipment types and will take a little bit of trial and error to figure out the exact heights for beginning the flare and should be practiced before “flying the line” with a new jet. See the image below for the normal aiming points for landing on a runway and the markings associated.

Aeronautical Charts

Each airport has its own set of aeronautical charts that provide information to pilots such as taxiways, runways, approaches to runways, procedures on entering or exiting the airport, and more! Charts play a vital role in operational safety and should be used on every flight. vAAirlines recommends buying a subscription to charts through Navigraph which allows you to update the navigation databases of payware aircraft while also utilizing the most up to date information for SimBrief flight planning. By subscribing to this chart service, you also gain access to “Navigraph Charts” which can be used on any computer, tablet, or smartphone to display charts for your simulator. Many developers are also beginning to add Navigraph charts directly to their aircraft for use with the onboard systems/EFBs. If you are unable to subscribe to Navigraph there are other free options that require a little more leg work, but still get you the information needed. Those websites are Airnav.com and FlightAware.com, among others.

Standard Instrument Departures (SID)

Standard Instrument Departures (SIDs) have been created to help expedite and organize the traffic flow out of an airport which usually experiences a higher level of traffic volume or has unique terrain or population constraints. The addition of these procedures allows airports to increase their traffic capacity while minimizing instructions given to pilots leaving the terminal area.

SIDs can be multiple pages worth of information and should be thoroughly studied and briefed before filing for one or accepting one from ATC. If you are unable to comply with a SID for whatever reason, you can file your flight plan with “RMK/NO SIDS” to let ATC know you are unable to accept SIDs. They will usually give you alternate instructions for the climb out that usually closely mimic what the SID would have you do and will require you to read back the entire new clearance.

Pilot Navigation SIDs

Pilot navigation SIDs are ones that give you specific climb and navigational requirements to depart the terminal area to a certain point. For our example, we will use the BLECO 8 departure out of KDFW with a TUL – Tulsa transition. In this example we can take a look at the chart to see that depending on the runway that will be used to depart, we will have a different route to get to TUL. The textual portion of the chart would be found on the following page, but we can take a look at the graphical depiction for a quick example of the differences between that and a vector SID. Keep in mind that it is imperative to read through all applicable parts for your departure procedure and transition as key information may be listed on another page.

Vector SIDs

A vector SID is one that requires you to be vectored to your first point by ATC but usually includes a climb portion that must be considered and flown. For example, the O’Hare 8 Departure out of KORD is a vector SID that requires no navigation but requires a climb gradient to be met. You will not find this departure procedure in your FMC because it has no navigational requirements.

If we take a look at the chart for the O’Hare 8, we see that the only requirements we have to meet are to be above 3,000 feet MSL by 5.5 nm from the GCO VOR (108.25) and above 5,000 feet MSL by 8.5 nm from the GCO VOR. Take a look at the chart and see if you can find where it tells you this requirement.

Obstacle Departure Procedures (ODP)

ODPs may require you to operate your aircraft in a specific way due to some kind of obstacle during your departure. It is the pilot’s responsibility to ensure they research and comply with any ODP for their departure airport and ODPs are required to be complied with unless operating in Visual Meteorological Conditions (VMC) with the pilot understanding that he/she takes full responsibility for any loss of separation from the obstacle.

Standard Terminal Arrival Routes (STARs)

Standard Terminal Arrival Routes (STARs) have the same general concept of a SID in allowing more efficient traffic flow into a busy airport by decreasing the need for ATC instructions and streamlining the routing into a very organized flow of traffic. Like SIDs, STARs are sometimes multiple page charts that describe, in detail, the transition from the enroute portion of the flight to the approach segment.

STARs sometimes include speed and altitude restrictions that need to be met to ensure that the traffic flows remain efficient. Although you should always check these before flight and enter them into your FMC if applicable, you may not start descending until told to either “descend via” or “cross _____ at and maintain ____”. Without a proper clearance to leave your altitude you may not begin to descend.

Below we will take a look at the BEREE 3 STAR into KDFW. Let’s say we are doing the PNUTS transition and you get the clearance to “descend via the BEREE 3 arrival”. By looking through the route from the PNUTS intersection we can see that we have a crossing restriction at MUZZY which is to cross MUZZY below FL300 but above FL240 (that can be seen with the dark line either above or below the number) and at 290 knots. BEREE also has a restriction to cross below FL230 but above FL200 at 290 knots. There are more restrictions on the path but the final one is DIETZ at 12,000 feet and 210 knots which is the final crossing restriction. You would be required to maintain that speed and altitude until given a lower clearance by ATC.

Instrument Approach Procedures (IAPs)

Instrument Approach Procedures are depicted on Approach Plates and will provide you with the information necessary to successfully and safely transition from the terminal area to the landing runway. There are precision approaches such as an ILS, and non-precision approaches such as a Localizer or NDB approach. The approach plate layout is generally the same regardless of whether or not the approach is a precision or non-precision approach, so we will take a look at the basics of a chart to help you find the information necessary.

While all parts of this chart are very important, we have highlighted a few areas that may need a little extra description.

The red highlighted area at the top is what we call the “briefing strip” and gives all of the general information about the approach as well as frequencies, navigation courses, landing information, runway lighting, missed approach instructions, any applicable notes.

Below this section is the horizontal profile that allows you to see the top down “big picture” of the approach. Usually you will also have the horizontal profile of the missed approach (and possibly alternate missed approach) instructions included in a sub box.

The yellow circle is the Minimum Sector Altitude (MSA) that is broken down to give minimum altitudes per sector in relation to a specified point, and should be noted before starting any approach.

The blue box is the vertical profile which allows us to see information about minimum altitudes at specific points, the glideslope intercept point and information about the glideslope itself.

The green box is the approach minima area which shows the minimum allowable approach ceiling and visibility required to legally begin the approach. The ceiling is not controlling however the visibility portion is controlling and must be met before being able to legally start an approach.

To the right of this box we see a small airport diagram for quick situational awareness. This diagram should not be used for surface movement and you should always switch back to the full-size taxi diagram before any taxiing commences.

If we were to brief this approach it would sound something like this; “This will be the ILS to runway 17C into Dallas-Fort Worth. The localizer frequency is 110.3 and the final approach course is 176. Touchdown zone elevation for 17C is 562 and landing distance available is 13,401. Glideslope intercept is at 2300 feet at the JIFFY intersection and we will use that to descend to our minimums of 762. The required visibility for the approach is 1800 RVR. In case of a missed approach we will fly heading 176 to YUPRU at or below 3,000 feet before making a climbing right turn to 4,000 on the Maverick VOR radial 176 to JASPA and hold as published unless we receive ATC instructions for a different missed approach. If we land it will be 17C and we will exit on taxiway ____. MSA on the north side of Maverick VOR is 2,700 feet and the south side is 3,600. Do you have any questions?”

The earlier in the flight that you are able to set up the approach and brief it to yourself, the better. The closer you get to the airport the higher your workload will become and the more difficult it will be to get everything done.

Approach Categories

When looking through an approach plate at the approach minima, you will notice that it is broken down into aircraft categories which sometimes also changes the minimums for an approach depending on what kind of aircraft you are flying. Below is a table that will help you understand how these categories were created, as well as how to figure out what category your aircraft is.

Cat.	Vref	Initial Appr.	Final Appr.	Maximum Circling	Max Missed Appr. (Intermediate)	Max. Missed Appr. (Final)	Typical Types
A	91 kts or less	90-150 kts	70-110 kts	100 kts	100 kts	110 kts	Small single engine
B	91-120 kts	120-180 kts	85-130 kts	135 kts	130 kts	150 kts	Small multi engine jet
C	121-140 kts	160-180 kts	115-160 kts	180 kts	160 kts	240 kts	Normal airline Jet
D	141-165 kts	185-250 kts	130-185 kts	205 kts	185 kts	265 kts	Large airline jet/military
E	166-210 kts	185-250 kts	155-230 kts	240 kts	230 kts	275 kts	Special military

V-Speeds

Definitions

If you have read through any of the AOMs for an aircraft in the vAAirlines fleet, you will have noticed that there are some referenced numbers which indicate a specific speed in relation to another combination of letters and numbers. These are called V-Speeds and include things such as aircraft limitations, operational performance considerations, and more. Here are some of the most common V-Speeds that you will use often;

Abbr.	Description	Abbr.	Description
Va	Maneuvering Speed	Vx	Best Angle of Climb Speed
Vb	Turbulence Penetration Speed	Vy	Best Rate of Climb Speed
Vfe	Maximum Flap Extension Speed	V1	Takeoff Decision Speed
Vle	Maximum Landing Gear Extension Speed	Vr	Rotation Speed
Vlo	Maximum Landing Gear Operation Speed	V2	Takeoff Safety Speed
Vmo	Maximum Operating Airspeed	Vs	Stall Speed
Mmo	Maximum Operating Mach Number	Vso	Stall Speed in Landing Configuration
Vne	Never Exceed Speed	Vref	Landing Reference/Threshold Crossing Speed
Vno	Normal Cruise Speed	Vapp	Approach Speed

Takeoff

During a normal takeoff roll there are three very important speeds that we need to be aware of which include V1, Vr, and V2. The table above gives the description of these speeds, so let’s take a look at the application during a takeoff briefing as well as during the actual takeoff roll.

Application – "80" is the first call (after the aircaft specific callout to set thrust) that you will hear during a takeoff roll and is a chance for both pilots to check that their airspeed indicators are both working correctly and in sync with the other’s. It is also a threshold for criteria that needs to be met to continue the takeoff roll. Between 0 and 80 knots, if anything abnormal happens at all, the takeoff should be rejected as you are still in the “low speed” area of the takeoff roll. Between 80 knots and V1 we enter the high speed reject realm where we generally will continue to takeoff unless we have an engine failure, an indication of fire, winshear, or we fear that the aircraft can not safely fly (failure, fire, shear, or fear). V1 is the takeoff decision speed and is a hard speed that is calculated before beginning a takeoff roll. If the field is a “balanced field” after this speed there will be no protections with stopping distances and you will have no guarantee that you will be able to stop the aircraft on the remaining runway. Once V1 is called, you are committed to flying. Vr is the speed at which you will begin to rotate the aircraft. V2 is the takeoff safety speed and is essentially the best single engine angle of climb speed which must be attained at the 35 feet height above the end of the runway.

Briefing – During the takeoff portion of your departure briefing there should be a few sentences about the takeoff roll that include a plan for what happens if things go wrong. This generally includes something similar to “on the takeoff roll we will reject for anything abnormal below 80 knots. Between 80 knots and V1 we will only reject for an engine failure, an indication of fire, windshear, or if we feel as if the aircraft will not safely fly. After V1 we will plan to take the aircraft into the air and work any issue we encounter.” This would go on to include a plan of action for returning to the airport if needed, who will fly the aircraft (in a multi-crew situation) and who will run the applicable checklists. A takeoff briefing is a vital part of every flight to ensure both crew members know exactly what to expect and what to look out for.