Gear down approach and power settings

[RedPenguin]

I've had the Connie for a few months and am having a great time flying it around. One thing I'm struggling with is how to adjust the power settings on approach after lowering gear.

After descending to the ILS approach altitude I level off at about 15" / 1500RPM to bleed speed to the 1st flaps position. Then I extend the gear and things start going wrong. The airspeed falls off a cliff (I guess because of the drag of the huge gear) and I have to quickly increase to 35" / 2300RPM to maintain 120mph+. I usually lose a chunk of height and have to spend time correcting it until I get on the glideslope at a good speed - very messy and probably not much for the passengers.

How are other people doing it? Is there a better procedure to follow or do I just need to practice the power management to smooth out my approaches?

While the manuals for A2A aircraft are very well written and great at giving history and flavour for the planes, I feel like they're missing practical instruction on how to actually fly the planes - compared to say the PMDG addons with their excellent tutorial flights.

[WB_FlashOver]

I find it's all in timing. ATC does not do well with the Connie. They will wait to start you downhill until you are around 1100 to 1200 FPM descent. At this point you're panicking trying to slow her down. I request a cruising altitude of 5,000 AGL when I'm at 800 FPM distance from airport. This gives me a comfortable descent that can be adjust easily depending on the approach they give you. Once in latter stages of approach I try to get down to around 165 IAS and hold it there until I'm getting close to 250-300 FPM descent to runway. Then I drop first stage of flaps which slows you down pretty quickly and requires more power. I set for 2000 RPM and maintain 120 IAS until at a 500 FPM final at which time I drop gear. Now I need more power at 2200 RPM maintaining about 110 IAS. Flaps to approach now. Once I get clearance to land it's full flaps and I adjust power to cross the fence around 100 IAS.

It really does take practice and each approach is different depending on winds, weather, and the approach they give you. Terrain will completely screw this all up. If landing in mountainous areas you'll want to cancel you IFR and make your own approach.

Cheers
Roger

[flapman]

This is excerpted from the handling notes of the "Team Connie" freeware L-049:

Holding
Plan 4 * 300 = 1200 lbs/hr at 80,000 lbs and FL050
[ ] Low Blower
[ ] Mixture 10% Lean
[ ] 1400 RPM
[ ] 156 kts
[ ] Set mixture to Auto Rich when beginning approach

In Range / Arrival Phase
[ ] Review landing speeds
Max landing weight 84,500 lbs. gross weight (L-49E).
Vapr above the following gross weights in lbs:
85,000 - 111 kts.
80,000 - 108 kts.
75,000 - 105 kts.
70,000 - 101 kts.
65,000 - 97 kts.
60,000 - 95 kts.
55,000 - 92 kts.
Threshold Speed Vat is 10 Kts. less than Vapr.

[ ] Mixtures AUTO RICH
[ ] Fuel tanks to Landing tanks
[ ] Carburetor Air COLD and RAM, if no icing conditions are present, else use ALTERNATE air
[ ] De-Icer boots off
[ ] Auxiliary Fuel Pumps HIGH
[ ] Mixtures AUTO RICH
[ ] Low Blower
[ ] Cowl Flaps 20%
[ ] Landing Lights ON
[ ] Auto Pilot OFF
[ ] Airspeed REDUCE POWER for 130 Kts.
[ ] Wing Flaps 60% at 150 kts
[ ] Propellers 2100 RPM

BEFORE LANDING / LANDING
[ ] Throttles for IAS of 130 kts by downwind or landing-approach fix

On turning Base Leg:
[ ] Propellers 2400 RPM
[ ] Airspeed 130 kts.
[ ] Landing Gear DOWN and LOCKED

On turning Final or intercepting ILS Glide Slope:
[ ] Airspeed 120 kts.
[ ] Wing Flaps 80%
[ ] Slow to Vapr.

When landing assured (at about 200 ft AGL):
[ ] Wing Flaps 100%
[ ] Reduce power to reach Vat (Vat is 10 Kts. less than Vapr.) over threshold
[ ] Touchdown
[ ] Close throttles
[ ] No hard braking before nosewheel on ground
[ ] Lower nosewheel, then steer with nosewheel
[ ] Propellers FULL RPM
[ ] Cowl Flaps OPEN 100%
[ ] Auxiliary Fuel Pumps OFF

Keep in mind that minimum MAP is RPM/100 (in the case of descent, the minimum MAP is 18" because minimum recommended RPM is 1800)

You can see how power changes are handled in each phase of flight, including after gear extension. To further understand these procedures, I highly recommend the 2008 Propliner Tutorial available at http://www.calclassic.com/tutorials.htm

[maddz]

Its been a while since i last flew the connie but i recall a BOATLOAD of up trim required WHILST dropping gear...give it a go

Also have to agree about the manual....its not a manual, its a history lesson, all very well and a good read, but not much help when you're trying to find info on how the plane handles in certain phases of flight...

[CAPFlyer]

If you're looking for a handling guide, no airplane manual will actually give you that, including the real manuals for the L-049. Procedures were taught in person, during training flights. Even at that, most procedures were taught from the time you started flying and remained the same up into the "heavies" like the Connie. It was a wholly different way of doing things back then - much more art than science.

If you search back through this forum, I've addressed on a couple of occasions the proper descent and approach procedures for this (or any) propliner. In short, you want to keep the power constant as much as possible during the descent and approach and use the flaps, gear, and rate of descent to set the speed. As such, you should be around 18"/1800 RPM during descent, then once you level off to begin slowing, you transition to 23" and 2300RPM and begin putting out flaps on schedule. Once you turn final, you should drop the landing gear just before beginning your final approach on the ILS or visual glidepath. This will help pull the nose down and counteract the 3rd stage of flaps you should be feeding in about the same time. Once you're assured of landing, lower the final stage of flaps and hold power until you cross the end of the runway where you ease off the power as your flare.

I can't suggest enough the FSAviator Propliner Tutorial available on www.calclassic.com for a great tutorial on how to handle propliners correctly.

[Lewis - A2A]

Yes remember the manual is within context. Its not until relatively recently that the manuals you are use to with 737's etc where common place. Hell what is thought of as the modern manual wasn't even invented until the 40's when the USAAF pioneered them to helping get the youngsters up in the Fly fortresses etc. It wasn't until many decades later they became what you see today.

Seat of the pants and experience with a skimpy checklist edited from experience is what its all about back then.

thanks,
Lewis