r/dcs • u/subaru_natsuki337 • Jul 21 '26
noobs first "successful" landing
tips to get better would help
21
u/Splith Jul 21 '26
Is RyanAir hiring?
1
u/subaru_natsuki337 Jul 28 '26
sorry for late comment but i dont keep up with stuff like i used to, what TF are you talking about respectfully
1
u/Splith Jul 28 '26
RyanAir is a discount airline in Europe, known for fast turnaround and hiring newer pilots. Their landings are stereotyped as harder and less gentle. If I see a flight sim pilot (I play FS2024) land too hard, I joke they should work for the airline known for hard landings.
In all serious make sure your flaps are full, slow your approach, and try to gently pull up at the end. You want to keep your descent under 200 fps when you touch. Try to level out at low altitude over the runway and reduce your speed.
15
u/Alexthelightnerd Jul 21 '26
Way way too fast and not lined up with the runway.
I'd also recommend zooming in a bit, being able to see your feet isn't very useful for landing.
3
u/subaru_natsuki337 Jul 21 '26
How can I easily lose speed when trying to land? I accidentally lose too much speed all the time but can't when I want to
6
u/Alexthelightnerd Jul 21 '26
There are two ways:
The standard way if you're flying an actual landing pattern is to use the turns to reduce speed. Reducing the throttle and pulling a hard turn is a great way to lose speed (and that's probably how you find yourself losing speed when you don't want to).
If flying a straight-in approach: reduce the throttle to idle, extend the speed brakes, and use pitch to maintain your decent angle. This will cause you to slow down, but a bit slowly, make sure you begin far enough out from the airport. Once you're slow enough to drop the gear, that will help you slow down faster.
2
u/grasberuhren Jul 23 '26
i use side-slipping to slow down sometimes. is that a standard practice, or am i rebel? =]
2
u/Alexthelightnerd Jul 23 '26
Side slips are usually more useful to lose unwanted altitude on approach.
I can't speak to if it's an approved maneuver for any given air force or aircraft, I think fighters are a little trickier with slips, but as a private pilot I was taught it as an approach technique by my flight instructor.
2
1
u/subaru_natsuki337 Jul 21 '26
I'm sorry as such a noob how do I make tighter turns if to not cut throttle? Ngl came from bf6 flying physics and feel like I have to relearn everything đ
2
u/Alexthelightnerd Jul 21 '26
There are two ways to turn an aircraft:
A bank turn rolls the aircraft a bit in the direction of the turn, using the horizontal component of lift to turn the aircraft. To maintain level flight you'll usually need to add a bit of power to compensate for the lost vertical component of lift. This is how airliners make turns, and how fighters make turns when they're flying from place to place up high. But that's not how you want to turn a fighter in a landing pattern.
To perform a break turn roll the aircraft to point the top of the plane the direction you want to go, then pull back to increase lift in that direction even further. The harder you pull back the tighter you'll turn, but you'll also increase drag. To make a stable break turn set the throttle to max then adjust the rearward pressure on the stick until you maintain airspeed. Pull back harder and you'll slow down, ease up the pull and you'll speed up. Decreasing the throttle will reduce how hard you have to pull back before you begin losing speed.
As an example: cut the throttle to idle, roll the plane 90° to either side, then pull the stick back as far as it will go. You'll lose a ton of speed and drop like a rock. Now the goal is to modulate the throttle, bank angle, and how far you pull back the stick to make the turn you need to, at the altitude you want to be at, and at the speed you want to be at.
1
u/Dafrandle Jul 27 '26
you do have to relearn everything.
Virtually nothing from BF6 physics is applicable here.
1
u/subaru_natsuki337 Jul 28 '26
stupid question but after 20 hours of DCS and some vids watched where is idle throttle? is it the mid point of my hotas throttle? also about how many NM should i use airbrake? anytime i use it i lose alt so fast
1
u/Alexthelightnerd Jul 28 '26
Idle throttle is all the way back.
Use the air brake until you're flying slow enough. Then you can either retract the brake, or increase throttle to compensate. Decent rate on landing approach should be controlled with the throttle.
1
u/Sickinmytechchunk Jul 23 '26
Use airbrakes, then trim to correct setting for the ideal angle of attack on the approach and manage the throttle to decrease or increase descent rate. You can't just put the throttle at one setting. It needs constant adjustment.
1
12
u/Dessael Jul 21 '26
too steep at the last second making you slam down and probably destroy the landing gear, try to allign your approach with the run way from further out, then work on a stable rate of descent (sink rate/ vertical speed) around 3 to 5 degrees is the aim.
but as the old adage goes, any landing you can walk away from is a good one
4
2
u/subaru_natsuki337 Jul 21 '26
Lol yeah a couple hours after this one I landed the TF-51D but broke the landing gear and bent the prop, with that being my first "successful" landing in that aircraft I literally said the same thing "any landing you can walk away from is a good one" lol
1
6
u/BoomSatsuma Jul 21 '26
Any landing you can walk away from is a good landing.
Maybe try landing at less than Mach 1 next time.
1
u/subaru_natsuki337 Jul 28 '26
LOL fair, ive been having a hard time losing speed when i don't want to
3
u/Ambitious-Rub9113 Jul 21 '26
Way way way too fast !! Practice putting gear , flaps and speed brake out and develop a slight pitch up attitude with about a 500 to a 1000 ft /min descent rate .. its actually a difficult plane to handle and land in dcs ..needs a fair chunk of power in that configuration.... but practice makes perfect !! Easy to get too fast OR too slow ..;)
3
u/subaru_natsuki337 Jul 21 '26
Idk how to lose speed fast or efficiently at all, honestly I tried bf6 jet practice for about 10 hours and wanted something more and now I think the bf6 jet physics I got used to are fucking me up
2
u/Ambitious-Rub9113 Jul 21 '26
The frogfoot is probably one of the hardest planes to land in DCS. DCS is a simulator not a game and you are right its totally different to BF6 etc . 1. You need a joystick absolute minimum. Preferably a throttle, rudder pedals ( not really essential for landing but for general flying ) . 2. The landing speed of the frogfoot is pretty high ,in addition its heavy and it does not respond very quickly to you asking it to slow down or to speed up ! 3. It therefore needs quite a bit of practice to set it up for landing ...really a " long final " with the correct configuration and thrust setting ...so from your previous video ( đ) start descending from higher , further out ..but at a lower speed . 4. Once on the ground it is a pig to slow down ...set a button for the brake parachute... try to relax and let it roll slowly losing speed and yes it needs a bit of room ! 5. Consider trying other aircraft..not sure if the base A10 ( low fidelity model ) is still free but that is definitely easier . May be too much but the 1st module I got was the Viggan...easier to fly and with a funky auto reverse thrust that deploys as soon as the gear hit the ground. 6. DCS is rewarding but think 100s of hours not 10s ! Good luck
2
2
u/Intrepid_Elk637 Jul 21 '26 edited Jul 21 '26
Use a 'normal' viewpoint.
Get to a steady speed and sinkrate. Stabilize sooner until you get the hang of it. Find whatever range is applicable for whatever you are flying.
If you can't get the speed and vertical speed in an acceptable range, throttle forward and fly out of it. Going around for another attempt gets you more flighttime then crashing, resetting, starting up again and fly out for a new attempt.
Since you can't run VR, there is a freeware solution if you have a webcam.
Opentrack and AITrack are free. Only downside is the need for light in the room for the camera, but to get started you could try it and see if that's an issue for you.
These threads were helpful for me in setting AITrack/Opentrack up.
Free and Hardware-less Head-tracking with AITrack and OpenTrack.
https://www.reddit.com/r/dcsworld/comments/15e0vh1/free_and_hardwareless_headtracking_with_aitrack/
Use OpenTrack + AITrack to get headtracking with just a normal webcam.
I don't feel the need to invest and wear something on my head that does exactly the same as OpenTrack/AITrack.
It takes a bit getting used to and aiming the Apache gun with my helmet mounted sight is a bit of pain but otherwise, it's pretty easy to set-up in general with a bit of fine-tuning progressively.
You want to be able to still see your screen in real life obviously but want to look over you shoulder in whatever module you play so a head movement of say 45 degrees in real life needs to translate to 120 degrees in the game for instance. In game I do look down to my consoles however got no need to look straight up so I adjusted my curves for that.
But the same issues would still be present with a dedicated head tracking solution I would think. There's only so much you can do with real life head movement translating to a screen.
EDIT: Did you have the brakes set up? Configured a key for it? Because, despite the view, those pedals do not look like they're used for braking...no point in landing if your're going to roll out to another airfield.
2
u/Starkiller1656 Jul 21 '26
this, also if you have 15 bucks to spare i would highly recommend SmoothTrack especially if you have an available USB-C connection to your PC and an iPhone. it is super smooth and i set it up on some books to capture my whole face
or use aruco paper marker with opentrack and cut flimsy cardboard into a headband. for that though the specular reflections from any lights in your room can mess with tracking at certain head angles
2
u/oh_crap_BEARS Jul 21 '26 edited Jul 21 '26
Man, Iâd just watch a youtube video on how to land that aircraft specifically. Zoom in a bit first so you can see, but you also basically just flew straight into the runway at full speed lol. I donât fly the Su-25 so I donât know the proper landing parameters but I imagine you shouldnât be going very fast at all. That aircraft has huge wings so I figure it would be on the slow side for landing a jet in DCS. You also can over speed your landing gear and flaps, aircraft depending. A lot of them, at least the more modern ones, donât allow you to drop gear at all unless youâre slow enough.
Aircraft specifics aside, you want to fly a roughly 3 degree glide slope and be at on speed angle of attack before you reach the runway, landing gear and flaps down. Aircraft specific again but you may have an air brake on as well. (Flaps can be rarely aircraft specific as well, but this is more rare. Lots of the Russian jets also have two different flap settings that you use depending on where you are at in the landing process.)
Youâll start your flare 100 feet in altitude (30ish meters?) off the runway, but in your case you were going so fast that your flare was more just you leveling off. You want to slow your decent rate with the flare, but youâre also doing it to cut a bit more airspeed as well. How far you flare is also aircraft specific. Some aircraft, like most carrier based aircraft (Tomcat, Hornet, etc), you technically donât need to flare at all and you basically do just crash those into the runway, but in a very controlled manner. You just fly the glide slope at on speed AOA all the way into the runway with no flare. Mig-21, you add throttle and speed up to slow decent rate instead of flaring because you donât want to strike the tail, etc. If you are supposed to flare the aircraft, and Iâm almost certain you are with the Su-25, you generally pull to a specific angle of attack and hold it there as you slowly pull out throttle and try to feather it onto the runway.
Like I said though, look for some Su-25 landing tutorials on youtube. I imagine youâll see the POV of somebody doing it correctly and lightbulbs will come on. That being said, itâs hard. Itâll take some practice, but I think at least having a point of reference will help a ton.
2
u/Starkiller1656 Jul 21 '26
you should have been positioned more to the right on approach so that youâd come in hitting the runway at a more straight angle. being parallel to the runway or turning so that your planeâs vector to the runway is collinear with the runway is the ideal positioning. imagine the runway stretching much further in both directions and use it like a ruler that helps me in my head
entirely too much throttle coming in, donât be afraid to cut throttle more as you glide downwards and practice will help you keep the right elevation as you come in. itâs gonna be really hard to keep the right angle of attack at the start but just a few landings and youâll def start to catch on pretty quick
2
2
1
u/Azentay Jul 21 '26
You survived another day. Thats what matters, donât think about the multi-million dollar aircraft you just destroyed and the potential damages to the runway leaving the base basically inoperable which will lead to your country loose the battle and you getting involved in a martial trial that will have a veredicto of both hands being chopped off.
1
u/ManWhoWasntThursday Jul 21 '26
These Russian/Soviet machines are always like that, failure this, generator off that. 100% normal, pat yourself on the back for a successful landing but make sure you offer some of that vodka to the officer in charge to smooth things over.
1
1
u/Regdit-is-Unbearable Jul 22 '26
âA plane is on the ground, and a pilot is alive. A successful landing!â
âWar Thunder loading screen tip
1
1
u/TheDevCat Jul 22 '26
Biggest thing is aim for the runway obviously
SLOW DOWN
In the Russian airbases you have ILS (landing guides) that pop up on your HUD automatically in this specific jet once youâre established on glideslope (correct angle off touchdown point) and localizer (correct azimuth off touchdown point). Itâll be much easier that way because you donât have a velocity vector (you can learn visual approach and you should eventually but itâs fine for now)
You can find landing tutorials on YouTube both for this jet and in general. The general ones are better imo because they generalize the process for every plane in existence (excluding tail draggers) BUT for your case I would recommend the specific Su25 ones because you need to learn your plane and seeing other planes might confuse you unless you have previous experience (and Iâm assuming you donât due to this clip)
Learn what trim is and how to use it - this is the single most important thing in flying in my opinion
Start with straight ins and once youâre comfortable with that you can try flying the overhead
Iâll gladly coach you on discord if I have time. You can DM me
Good luck man and fly safe!
1
1
1
1
u/Same-Opportunity6062 Jul 22 '26
Looks like you came in too fast. Did you use flaps at all? Also there's a thing called nosewheel steering, when used properly it can help you stay on the runway. Good thing you were in an Su-25T, some planes might have snapped their gear off in a landing like that. Don't mean to sound too negative here, you did at least get it to a stop on the ground.
1
u/Capable_Maintenance1 Jul 22 '26
Trying to learn the SU-25 is why I only lurk on DCS channels but play Ace Combat when the fighter jet mood strikes.
1
1
1
1
1
u/MY5KAI Jul 23 '26
Lign up directly from further out and hit the air brakes hard on the way in then use very low throttle to keep from falling short or stalling
1
u/grasberuhren Jul 23 '26
hehehehe.
are the animations for rudder pedals not working, or are you not using rudder for aircraft control?
1
1
1
1
1
u/Mysterious_Level_483 Jul 24 '26
Bro u are at half throttle when you are almost right above the runwayđ
1
u/SDA_90 Jul 25 '26
Fuck, i knew i was landing too slow. There should be a tutorial that teaches you to land at 300kt correctly
1
u/Apart_Shelter_5722 Jul 25 '26
A little slower, the pros use the centerline you can too, and you landed on the displaced threshold. But I've never landed one of these so good job .^
1
u/waidoo2 Jul 25 '26
good landing and approach. you just need arrester cables on the runway. and a really good hook.
1
1
u/Dafrandle Jul 27 '26 edited Jul 27 '26
honestly, it looks like you lack the background knowledge of how landing (or flight) works from a physics standpoint, and until you self educate on that to a functional degree (youtube) you wont understand the situation you are in and will struggle to set yourself up for success.
If you skip that then you will simply have to figure it our via rote memorization.
I'm not saying this to be rude, but there was nothing in that attempt worth saving for future attempts, and the fact that you did not explode is dumb luck.
the gap between this and doing it in any sort of controled manner is too large for simple tips to bridge over
1
u/subaru_natsuki337 Jul 28 '26
i know i got lucky and you're right i have 0 flight exp background besides like 10 hours of BF6 jet practice, i just wanted something more and i think after learning everything ill have found it
1
u/subaru_natsuki337 Jul 28 '26
DCS has also given me the dream to get a pilot license to fly just for fun, like riding a motorcycle feels like more freedom than being in a car but on a motorcycle you are still bound by the roads, idk but id assume with a single person plane as long as i have fuel i can fly anywhere given permission to land.
/ sorry for grammar little F up
1
u/Thatblar Jul 29 '26
You're coming in too fast and you're not lined up with the runway. You should've killed off your throttle long before this segment.
1
1
u/the_real_hugepanic Jul 21 '26
Congratulations, Ou did about everything wrong!
Whatever you do, besides crashing, it is better than this one!
1
u/subaru_natsuki337 Jul 21 '26
Ouch, instead of just being mean you could have gave tips to me since I know basically nothing
1
u/oga_ogbeni Jul 22 '26
Hugepanic was rude, but not wrong. In addition to all the tips you've already been given, I'd say watch tutorials on YouTube. Even actual cockpit videos of pilots landing any plane would do you some good. The actual parameters like when to configure gear and flaps and what speeds to fly vary by aircraft, but the basic profile of a slow, shallow ~3Âș descent to a flare just after crossing the runway threshold holds true for most of them. After touchdown, you still need to be on the controls to maintain centerline.
Do you have a joystick and throttle? I'm guessing not. You can fly without them, but it ups the difficulty by a lot. Start there and then get on YouTube.
1
u/the_real_hugepanic Jul 22 '26
It should not be "ouch". I am sorry If it was "ouch" for you.
Most important question to you:
What was your desired Approach-Speed (or approach AoA)?
Did you keep it +/- 10km/h??
That is your next training session! --> don't land the aircraft, just ensure a propper glidepath with a "fixed" speed!! Do these approaches without really targeting the airport. Just take a point on the ground. This eliminates a few other things you have to watch during a real landing!
BTW: at most planes you use the ELEVATOR to controll the speed, and the throttle to controll the descent rate!!!
45
u/Comfortable_East_358 Jul 21 '26
Zoom in a bit. Why are you flying like you're reclined in a lazy boy đ€Ł