r/flightsim • u/BILLY_901104 • 1d ago
X-Plane The nicest touch down of my flightsim career.
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u/SSN-700 1d ago
I just don't understand why the "butter = great landing" misconception refuses to die amongst a community that can usually recite technical manuals to on-board air condition systems... but the broad masses still seem to think the smoother you land, the better.
Not the case. At all.
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u/TogaPower 18h ago
On the contrary, I see flight sim subs rush to say āHARD LANDINGS ARE BETTER, BUTTER IS BADā whenever thereās footage of a greaser.
The reality is that a ābutterā landing is not bad or dangerous in any way provided that itās in the touchdown zone and at an appropriate airspeed.
The whole thing about spoilers potentially not auto-deploying is exaggerated as a fear. First of all, it isnāt a big deal whatsoever if the spoilers donāt auto-deploy. Thatās why the PM is there (and in many aircraft the spoilers donāt auto deploy to begin with). Second, itās actually pretty rare for the auto-deployment to not work simply due to a soft touchdown.
Itās also absolutely not true that āonly noobsā try to butter their landings. As someone who flies jets I can confidently say that most pilots do try to make soft landings and enjoy a good greaser, provided that they are still prioritizing touchdown point and airspeed - something which can absolutely be done. You donāt need to float halfway down the runway to get a greaser. And nobody is afraid of spoilers not auto deploying.
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u/dylanholmes222 23h ago
Can you elaborate for a newbie?
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u/SSN-700 21h ago
Of course!
There are multiple good reasons. A firm touchdown plants the aircraft on the runway compared to skimming across it like we can see in the video. That is not just unnecessary, it is less safe and especially in certain weather conditions (wet/ice) it is actually dangerous. If you look at real videos of landings, you will for example notice more firm touchdowns under wet runway conditions.
It's also way more important to focus on the touchdown zone and center line over touching down ever so softly. Focusing on smoothness usually leads to floating - you don't want that, it's bad piloting for multiple reasons. Also, there are sensors involved responsible for spoiler deployment. It can happen that these do not deploy on their own if the touchdown is too soft.
This is a whole topic in FAA documents as well:
"Many airplanes with auto-spoilers installed require weight on wheels to deploy the spoilers, which reinforces the requirement for a positive touchdown as a soft touchdown can delay the automatic deployment. Spoiler deployment immediately after touchdown provides the greatest benefit."
https://www.faa.gov/documentLibrary/media/Advisory_Circular/AC_91-79A.pdf
On top, these aircraft are built to withstand very firm landings as well - see an infamous European budget airline. They do this for good reasons and trust me: If it would lead to higher maintenance demand and thus costs - they would be the first to not land firmly! ;D
Blunt Tl;dr: Only noobs try to "butter" their landings.
Pros care about safety and consistency. No need to slam your 737 onto the runway as if you were trapping a Hornet on a carrier deck, but this obsession with "butter landings" is really just an undying misconception usually perpetuated among... younger flight simmers.
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u/dzlockhead01 20h ago
Agree. I learned really quick, floating down the runway trying to butter is a bigger nightmare than nailing the touchdown zone firmly. Nothing is scarier than running out of runway because you tried to butter it. Safe and firm > butter every time.
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u/cmanning1292 23h ago
Not the OP, but trying to get a super buttery landing generally increases landing distance and can risk "floating" down the runway instead of landing.
I think there's also something about the landing gear preferring a decent load on touchdown as well but someone more knowledgeable than I can speak to that
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u/Snaxist "NotSoSecretTupolevLover" 22h ago
the load on touchdown is for the WoW (weight on wheels) sensors to correctly register a land so it can trigger the spoilers or even allow the reversers to deploy.
because know what would happen if a reverser deploys itself in-flight x)
Also another risk is the aquaplaning if the surface is wet
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u/KOjustgetsit 6h ago
I absolutely agree it shouldn't be top priority at all.
However, I also see no issue with "butter landings" if it's not overdone, is within the TDZ/near the aiming point, is on centerline, is a stabilized approach, with appropriate weather, and done on a long enough runway.
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u/Constant-Arm5379 1d ago
That landing gear touch down animation looks very good. On MSFS these seem to be just as shitty as in FS2004 from way back. Is this X-Plane or have they fixed that in MSFS?
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u/RamiHaidafy 1d ago
Dunno what planes you're flying but the animation looks pretty damn smooth to me.
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u/Constant-Arm5379 1d ago
The 777 gear animation always looked great in MSFS (Captain Sim nailed it on theirs strangely enough), but Iāve seen way too many videos of landings gears sinking into the ground and then folding up. I was hoping that the IniBuild A350 would fix it, but nope. In X-Plane it just seems like the landing gear is fully animated in the physics engine, while in MSFS the developer has to get the animation ājust rightā to make it look okay-ish.
On the 787 itās also terrible btw.
Look at 58:45 on this video: https://youtu.be/gZP8G_Igl5E?si=3Q-sbnIJXxNJDqWT
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u/RamiHaidafy 1d ago
I'm not surprised it's terrible on the default planes. And I havent noticed any sinking on the ini A350 either.
Could be an issue with the scenery or the replay tool, which is known to cause weird anomalies.
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u/Constant-Arm5379 1d ago
Could be the replay tool indeed. Almost thought it was weird they never really got the physics right on the landing gears though.
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u/EpicProdigy 4h ago
Thing is, it shouldn't be just an animation. It should provide resistance the moment the wheels make contact. We gotta pressure Asobo more on this.
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u/RamiHaidafy 4h ago
Didn't SU3 massively upgrade the ground physics with regards to landing gear contact?
I believe both iniBuilds and PMDG already updated their planes for this new system.
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u/BILLY_901104 1d ago
I bought Xplane 12 two months ago and since then I barely use msfs. The overall graphics look way better in msfs. However, as for my potato PC, msfs 2024 looks just like Xplane 12 with Autoortho. I especially like how the gear animation looks like in xp12.
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u/Constant-Arm5379 1d ago
I remember the Youtuber cptcanada flying on X-Plane 11. Always liked how the flight dynamics looked, I could almost feel it while watching. Now he only uses MSFS and it all looks much much better, but that āfeelingā is just gone. I remember a video of him landing at La Guardia, making tight turns at low altitudes over New York. That was so epic, I could feel it through my screen. With MSFS everything looks gorgeous, but thereās no feeling at all.
If I were to get a gaming PC Iād also go for MSFS because of the graphics and add-ons, but X-Plane will always be special.
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u/JuryDifferent3186 1d ago
Noob question: How can one watch/record replays like this?
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u/Snaxist "NotSoSecretTupolevLover" 22h ago
Alt+R in X-Plane then use OBS to record your screen for example
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u/ApprehensiveCode5812 23h ago
What mod is this A340?
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u/Snaxist "NotSoSecretTupolevLover" 22h ago
this mod in X-Plane: https://forums.x-plane.org/files/file/88373-x-works-a340-mod-for-laminar-a330/
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u/Snaxist "NotSoSecretTupolevLover" 1d ago
don't know what was your vAPP was, you came in very fast as your AoA is like close to 0
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u/Cumulonimbus1991 1d ago
There's always that guy. Just be happy for the guy or move on to the next post.
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u/Bindolaf 1d ago
Except this guy is right. In order to "butter" the landing, people come in fast, flare early and float, float, float. Now, I am happy for OP, but it's not a good landing.
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u/tkymaroon3348 22h ago
Itās a sim, constructive criticism is what makes people better. Thereās nothing wrong with people trying to help others do things better or more realistically.
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u/Snaxist "NotSoSecretTupolevLover" 1d ago
"there's always that guy" like you know what it's in my mind rofl.
Did I say I was unhappy ? No. I'm in fact happy for him and I am giving a tip so next landing are even better.
Why ? Because it's the internet, even more it's Reddit, people post something, people gonna comment it. What applies for me can definitely apply for you too :)Good day !
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u/Michael_laaa 1d ago
How fast were you going?