Flying help needed - slowing this plane down for landing

A Living Legend
new reply
User avatar
Styggron
Master Sergeant
Posts: 1031
Joined: 30 Oct 2015, 14:28

Flying help needed - slowing this plane down for landing

Post by Styggron »

Hello everyone,
I recently started flying this beautiful plane again but am running into a few issues.

1. I understand there is still a bug with it in where you can repair a broken landing gear link in the hangar but when you take off the issue returns. I was told the fix is you need to fix it in the hangar, quit the sim, then return. Well I fear that when I played it last week, I fixed the broken landing gear and quit, but when I returned today, I checked the maintenance hangar, all ok there upon taking off landing gear was broken again and would not retract. Anyway when I landed I again repaired it as it was in the hangar and I quit the sim. I really hope this is going to get fixed, I know it's an old plane but it must have been a bug that was also there when this plane was not as old.

2. What is the best way to slow this plane down for landing. I always overshoot the runway. There are no reversers on this one.
What I do is this so far, please correct me where I am going wrong. I only use flaps when the needle is un the yellow portion of the airspeed not when it is in the green postion.

a) I put the turbo dial to 8 because the checklist says to do so
b) I take control of the RPM because if I leave it on auto they are too high
c) I use the black levers (prop) and set it to around 55-60% to get the RPM down a bit
d) I reduce the throttle to approx 50-60% as well
This plane is so remarkably stable really...

From here I descent slowly but if I am too fast, I just point nose up a bit and reduce throttle even more to get that speed down. Generally though, I am always waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too fast and overshoot the runway, go through the fence and trees almost everytime........ so at least there is consistency there.

Yes I have read the manual but I would like to hear from some experts on settings for slowing down and descending.
I'm trying to figure out how to use the turbo dial........ I'm still unsure after reading the manual contents sadly.

Thank you all in advance.

Oh wait forgot one last thing

3. Engine 4, fuel pressure is not the same level as Engine 3 as the needles are not directly on top of each other. How does one rectify this? This isn't with the turbo pots is it as it's not an RPM issue here.

Thanks everyone.
Accufeel V2, C172 , B377+L049+COTS, B17G, Piper Cub,Commanche,Cherrokee,Spitfire,Bonanza, P47,P40,both Mustangs
Aircraft Factory Avro Anson, Albatros DIII,Heinkel He-219, F4U Corsair, P51H Mustang, Avro 504, BF109
Watch my incompetent flying Twitch

User avatar
WB_FlashOver
Technical Sergeant
Posts: 946
Joined: 10 Jun 2012, 18:23
Location: (S05) U.S.A.
Contact:

Re: Flying help needed - slowing this plane down for landing

Post by WB_FlashOver »

Hello Styggron

On your fist issue I cannot speak to it. I may have had that years and years ago but do not remember for sure.

On slowing the plane down for landing I can only speak to how I do it. When first flying the B17 I had this same trouble. I did learn quickly NOT to pull props below 1600 RPM. Somewheres around 1500 all your props will feather, not good. My descent usually is not done by the book so take it at face value. I slowly pull throttles back to 21" and props to 1900 as I close cowl flaps so as to not super-cool the engines. Start descent early enough to maintain around 700 fpm to control the speed and early enough to get a few miles of level flight at airfield pattern altitude. I know the manual says to increase turbos but I never do unless I'm having carb icing issues. However, it is good to have them up just incase you need full power for a go-a-round. Around 4,000-5,000 AGL I tend to bring RPM up to 2,300. I start to lower flaps in stages (top right gauge screw is first stage) at 140 IAS and gear at 130-135 during level flight at pattern altitude. Keep a sharp eye on the engine temps this whole time. I make final approach at 110 IAS. Depending on fuel load/weight I will touch down around 90+/-, leave flaps down for a bit as I apply brakes and pull back on yoke. When speed decreases some I retract flaps to help keep tail on the ground. With my time at the yoke in the B-17 I am able to get down safely on a <2000 ft runway providing there are no obstacles on approach.

On the fuel pressure item I would not worry about discrepancies in pressures. So long as they are all in the acceptable range your good to go. Each engine has it's own personality.

Merry Christmas
Roger

EDIT: Apologies, I've been in the P51 for several weeks and was going off memory. Descending from FL200 is typically 700-800 fpm with turbos at 4.7ish, 26-27" MP and 1900 RPM. This keeps me around 200 IAS, keeps engines warm, and keeps carbs from freezing under average conditions. Very cold weather will require a lot of turbos to keeps carbs from icing. For the issue of landing just make sure to have some level flight at pattern altitude to get gear down and flaps extended prior to final approach.
-- Fly Well, Be Nice, Have Fun ! ! !

Z390 FTW | i9 9900K @ 5.2 | 32GB 3333 CL14 | 3080 Ti FE
970 Pro 512GB (OS)| 970 Evo 1TB | 850 Evo 500GBx2 Raid0
3TB HDD | Define S2 | EKWB Dual Loop


P51civ - T6 - P40 - B17 - B377 - L049 - Comanche - Spit - Bonanza

User avatar
Styggron
Master Sergeant
Posts: 1031
Joined: 30 Oct 2015, 14:28

Re: Flying help needed - slowing this plane down for landing

Post by Styggron »

WB_FlashOver wrote: 23 Dec 2022, 22:24 Hello Styggron

On your fist issue I cannot speak to it. I may have had that years and years ago but do not remember for sure.

On slowing the plane down for landing I can only speak to how I do it. When first flying the B17 I had this same trouble. I did learn quickly NOT to pull props below 1600 RPM. Somewheres around 1500 all your props will feather, not good. My descent usually is not done by the book so take it at face value. I slowly pull throttles back to 21" and props to 1900 as I close cowl flaps so as to not super-cool the engines. Start descent early enough to maintain around 700 fpm to control the speed and early enough to get a few miles of level flight at airfield pattern altitude. I know the manual says to increase turbos but I never do unless I'm having carb icing issues. However, it is good to have them up just incase you need full power for a go-a-round. Around 4,000-5,000 AGL I tend to bring RPM up to 2,300. I start to lower flaps in stages (top right gauge screw is first stage) at 140 IAS and gear at 130-135 during level flight at pattern altitude. Keep a sharp eye on the engine temps this whole time. I make final approach at 110 IAS. Depending on fuel load/weight I will touch down around 90+/-, leave flaps down for a bit as I apply brakes and pull back on yoke. When speed decreases some I retract flaps to help keep tail on the ground. With my time at the yoke in the B-17 I am able to get down safely on a <2000 ft runway providing there are no obstacles on approach.

On the fuel pressure item I would not worry about discrepancies in pressures. So long as they are all in the acceptable range your good to go. Each engine has it's own personality.

Merry Christmas
Roger

EDIT: Apologies, I've been in the P51 for several weeks and was going off memory. Descending from FL200 is typically 700-800 fpm with turbos at 4.7ish, 26-27" MP and 1900 RPM. This keeps me around 200 IAS, keeps engines warm, and keeps carbs from freezing under average conditions. Very cold weather will require a lot of turbos to keeps carbs from icing. For the issue of landing just make sure to have some level flight at pattern altitude to get gear down and flaps extended prior to final approach.
Thank you so much. Merry Christmas and also Happy New Year.
I will try everything you wrote above. Thank you for all that. So Throttle 21" and props to 1900 gotcha. Will try that.

It is a very very stable plane to fly but I struggle to slow the thing down :)
Accufeel V2, C172 , B377+L049+COTS, B17G, Piper Cub,Commanche,Cherrokee,Spitfire,Bonanza, P47,P40,both Mustangs
Aircraft Factory Avro Anson, Albatros DIII,Heinkel He-219, F4U Corsair, P51H Mustang, Avro 504, BF109
Watch my incompetent flying Twitch

new reply

Return to “B-17 Flying Fortress”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: Amazon [Bot] and 9 guests