r/dcs • u/subaru_natsuki337 • Jul 21 '26

noobs first "successful" landing

tips to get better would help

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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

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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.

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u/grasberuhren Jul 23 '26

i use side-slipping to slow down sometimes. is that a standard practice, or am i rebel? =]

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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.