XR Flight Operations Manual Version 3.0
Copyright 2006-2018 Douglas Beachy. All Rights Reserved.
52
The
Airspeed Hold
autopilot will automatically disengage when you touch down, so
you don't need to worry about disengaging it if you use it during final approach.
Airspeed Hold
is particularly useful during final approach when landing in an
atmosphere:
1.
Set
Airspeed Hold
to maintain about 110-130 meters-per-second, depending
on your ship’s mass.
2.
Fly the ship to a smooth touchdown on the runway without touching the
throttle.
3.
Apply the brakes by holding the
.
(period) and
,
(comma) keys.
4.
Once the ship reaches wheel-stop, the parking brakes will engage
automatically. Engaging any thruster or powering down the APU will
automatically disengage the parking brakes.
A NOTE ABOUT TIME ACCELERATION:
You should be able to run the
Airspeed Hold
autopilot between 10x and 100x in an
atmosphere, depending on your frame rate. If you attempt to engage time
acceleration at > 100x the autopilot will switch to
SUSPENDED
status (this will be
shown on the MDA screen); it will automatically re-engage when you switch back to
a lower time acceleration setting.
Using the Docking Camera (XR5 Only)
The Vanguard features a
docking camera and instrument panel
that makes docking
with stations and other vessels much easier than it is for other Orbiter vessels with a
dorsal (i.e., "top-mounted") docking port. Here is a screenshot of the docking
camera view with the Vanguard on final docking approach to the ISS: