One of the prime pieces of gear used to perform slower flight required to approach and land
are the flaps. To control the flaps on this Baron 55, you have a
flap handle located on the left side of the center throttle console
(figure 10).
In the real airplane, you have to press and hold the flap handle
down or up to extend or retract the flaps, and then you release
when the indicator immediately left shows the desired flap
setting. In this virtual Baron 55, you should assign the flaps
operation to a two-way button on your physical controller. In
Figure 10
addition, vice flaps anywhere you practically want them, you have
two positions pre-set and selected in sequence.
You can also perform this operation by hovering the mouse pointer over the handle, press and
hold the left mouse button, and slide the mouse to slew the handle down or up as desired.
Flaps are just a small part of the total. Ultimately, a good approach and landing is management
of power to attain and maintain desired speeds and pitch on approach, final approach, crossing
the runway, and ultimately touchdown. You then use constant elevator trim to remove any
control input forces on the yoke required to maintain the desired pitch. To measure all this,
use those same instruments shown in figure 9 and also reference your airspeed gauge. So, how
do we do this, in the nutshell?
1.
When you get about ten miles from your destination airport, throttle down to about 19
inches of manifold pressure and wait for the airspeed to bleed down in level flight to at or
below 160 KIAS. Then, lower the flaps its first notch ONLY. (Note: if you drop the flaps to the
full down position of 30 degrees when faster than 122 KIAS, then you can damage the flaps.)
The speed should bleed down further to below 153 KIAS where you can lower the landing gear
without damaging it. Again, position the yoke to achieve the pitch angle required to maintain
level flight with this configuration and then trim the elevators to remove the yoke control
forces needed.
2.
You should already be familiar with what is called an airport traffic pattern. If you are
not, then view the FSX tutorial pilot training videos. Once you understand the pattern, then
when you are on the downwind leg and abeam your intended touchdown spot on the runway,
lower your landing gear and set 17 inches of manifold pressure, push the prop control levers
full forward to their maximum RPM settings, and then set the mixtures to either their full
forward (full rich) position, or to the setting required for a high altitude airport (an airport
above 5,000 feet MSL). Trim the aircraft elevators to support a descent rate of about 500 feet
per minute and at a constant airspeed of 100 KIAS (referred to as Vyse or “blue line speed”
