Flight - Lesson Three
- Aircraft Familiarization Course -

Aircraft Familiarization

For reasons described in Lesson 2, before commencing commercial flights with an aircraft type that you haven't flown before or have flown a long time (several months) ago, you should familiarize with its behaviour. Please don't use the autopilot during these exercises! You want to learn how to hand-fly the aircraft and you won't learn it if you don't do it. In case you have difficulties, don't give up! Try again and again! You'll see that with practice, your hand-flying skills will develop a lot. In case you have any problem, feel free to contact GCP Gábor Rucz for assistance.

Hand-flying Exercises

1. Practice flying straight and level! Don't mind your heading and altitude, just try to keep your wings parallel with the horizon. Use the elevator trim to maintain level flight. Change your airspeed between the minimum safety speed and the maximum operating speed, and note the elevator trim settings needed to remain level at different airspeeds. Repeat this exercise at different flap settings. If you change your flap setting, you'll have to change the elevator trim setting as well in order to remain level. Note the new trim settings. Repeat this exercise with various amounts of fuel on board (say, 33, 66, 99%) and observe the difference in the trim settings.

2. Practice climbs and descents! Once you are comfortable with straight and level flight, practice climbs and descents at different airspeeds and climb/descent rates. Maintain a safe airspeed by adjusting the throttle when necessary. Use your elevator trim and note the trim settings belonging to the different climb/descent rates. Note the maximum safe climb and descent rate that you can maintain without the danger of stall or overspeed. Check the spoiler effectiveness. Repeat this exercise at different flap settings and with various amounts of fuel on board and observe the effect of high fuel loads and flap settings on your climb performance.

3. Practice turns! Make turns at different airspeeds. Don't mind your heading and altitude, but try to maintain a constant bank angle. Start with shallow (10-15 degrees) turns, then increase the bank angle - gradually - up to 60 degrees. Observe the amount of back pressure that you must maintain on the stick to avoid the aircraft dropping its nose at different speeds and bank angles. Note the maximum bank angle that you can maintain without losing altitude. During normal flights, you'll have to avoid exceeding it at all costs! Make alternating left and right turns, and observe how fast your aircraft changes turns. Repeat this exercise at different flap settings and with various amounts of fuel on board, and observe the effect of high fuel loads and flap settings on your turn performance.

4. Practice takeoffs! Place your aircraft on the active runway of London Heathrow or any other airport with long runways in a ready for departure configuration, save the flight, and make takeoffs with various amounts of fuel on board (say, 33, 66, 99%). Observe the effect of high fuel loads on the amount of runway needed to accelarate to VR and get airborne. Note the elevator trim settings needed to maintain a good climb profile after takeoff. When you've finished, try making derated takeoffs (with less then normal engine performance), then short runway takeoffs (with higher then normal flap settings) and observe the differences.

5. Practice landings! Position yourself for approach at London Heathrow or any other airport with long runways, save the flight, and make visual landings with various amounts of fuel on board. Don't mind your touchdown point, just concentrate on making nice, stabilized approaches. First use 33, 66, 99% of the fuel belonging to the Maximum Landing Weight specified in the Aircraft Manual. Note the power and elevator trim settings needed to maintain the prescribed airspeed and descent rate. Once you are comfortable, make a few overweight landings, and observe the difference in the power and trim settings, and the increased angle of attack. Large jets will come in with their nose pointing into the sky, limiting your vision out of the cockpit significantly. Just before touchdown you'll have to raise the nose a little, but do not flare too much. Just make sure that the main wheels touch down first and your descent rate is below 500 fpm. When you can make nice stabilized approaches and smooth landings, set the ILS frequency on your NAV radio and practice instrument approaches. Finally: test your brakes. Make landings with various amounts of fuel on board, use reverse thrust as described in the manual and various autobrake settings, and note the amount of runway needed to come to a stop. Remember: Do not apply wheel brakes or reverse thrust until the nose wheel is down!

6. Practice flying the numbers! If you have completed all the exercises up to this point, you already know the aircraft very well and you can start practicing 'flying the numbers', that's one of the most challanging things in commercial aviation. Repeat exercises 1-3, but this time pick a target heading, altitude and airspeed, and try to keep the aircraft within 5 degrees, 100 feet, and 10 knots of these target values. First concentrate on one value only, then try to maintain all at once. When you practice climbs and descents, maintain a target climb/descent rate instead of an altitude. When you practice turns, try to maintain a certain bank angle instead of a heading. If you want to try something really hard, change your airspeed and flap settings while keeping your aircraft within the tolerance limits. If you succeed, you have achieved something!

7. Practice emergencies! (Part 1) As I've told, there are no unexpected emergencies in FS (provided you are less silly than me and never lose both engines due to an empty fuel tank:)), yet I've decided to include an exercise on engine failures here, because our captains' checkrides involve such a scenario. When you lose one engine, the asymmetrical thrust of the other engine will immediately start turning your aircraft around its vertical axis. If you don't compensate, the wing with the faulty engine will slow down and you'll end up in a spin. Therefore you must immediately apply rudder towards the good engine. The problem is that rudder input has a side effect: the aircraft will bank in the same direction, so you must compensate again, now with aileron input towards the faulty engine, to keep your wings level. If you apply the right amount of rudder and aileron, your aircraft will fly fine with a little sideslip towards the faulty engine. This is what you should practice: shut down one engine and find out the right combination of rudder and aileron needed to compensate for the asymmetric thrust at different power and flap settings. Use the rudder and aileron trim and note how much you had to use. Observe the effect of the engine out situation on your climb and turn performance. You'll find that it's easier to turn towards the faulty engine then to turn towards the good engine. Finally, repeat this exercise with various amounts of fuel on board and observe the differences. Read more about one-engine flying in Lesson 5.

8. Practice emergencies! (Part 2) In the previous exercise I've mentioned my affair with the empty fuel tank. This is also good practice. Shut down all your engines and you're a glider. Actually, heavy jets don't glide very well, and if you start too low, your flight will be very short. So start high up, and note how far can you glide. Repeat this exercise at different flap settings and with various amounts of fuel on board, and observe the effect of high fuel loads and flap settings on your gliding performance. Finally, position your aircraft right above the runway, at 3000 feet, with zero fuel, and try to land! Beware, you have but one try!

Now, that you have completed all, or at least most of these exercises, you've become a master pilot. You'll be able to hand-fly your aircraft out of every situation and even when you fly with the autopilot on, you'll have much better understanding of what's happening and why. Congratulations, Pilot!