Takeoffs and Landings
These two flight procedures are exhaustively discussed in Flight School. They’re
best practiced at the same time for reasons of convenience. You should begin by
changing the starting altitude of your free flight to Runway (Location menu). Then
follow the takeoff instructions in Flight School. If you don’t have a throttle controller
and are forced to make throttle adjustments by pressing appropriate keyboard keys,
you may find things easier if you throttle up to 50% power before releasing the
brakes.
As you know from Flight School, the revolving propeller will create a torque effect,
which causes the nose of your aircraft to swing to the side. Correct this with the
rudder while continuing to accelerate. Torque becomes less of a problem once your
aircraft gathers some speed.
Drop flaps by a single increment and center the joystick when your speed exceeds
100 mph; the tail will lift. When your speed exceeds 120 mph, pull back the joystick
very gently, and your aircraft will float off the ground. Retract landing gear immediately
(this reduces drag and lets your plane accelerate and climb much more quickly),
and then retract flaps. This procedure refers to the P-47D; consult Chapter 5 for
takeoff/landing hints for all of the game’s aircraft. Also, remember that hitting
the N key (default) will bring up a small window with a selection of checklists
for takeoff, landing, cruising, etc.
Continue flying straight while climbing slightly until you’re anything between 500
and 1,000 feet up, and four miles away from the airfield. Take note of your heading,
and reverse it by making a tight 180- degree turn. This should put you roughly in
line with the runway, necessitating only minor corrections. Your first few landing
approaches will be easier if you apply the following modifications to the landing
procedure laid out in Flight School:
- Approach the airfield flying very low (500 feet) and slow (below 140 mph); you can
extend flaps and landing gear only at or below 200 mph and 195 mph respectively.
Raise the nose while cutting the throttle to whittle down speed quickly, but don’t
overdo it! You’re too low to recover from a spin.
- Lower flaps by a single increment before dropping the wheels. You may need to throttle
up slightly when you do because of your low altitude. This is not exactly by the
book—you’ll be flying onto the airfield, in a manner of speaking, instead of descending
onto it—but a very low landing approach makes the first few touchdowns significantly
easier. Keep flying at around 135 mph, concentrating on keeping the wings level,
and watch your rate of descent (featured by default on the HUD display). You’ll
be losing altitude; make sure you lose it very slowly, raising the nose and briefly
blipping the throttle as necessary. Keep a couple of hundred feet up.
- When you’re 200–300 yards from the beginning of the runway, extend full flaps. Throttle
down and gently pull back on the stick while watching the runway float up. Cut the
throttle completely (idle) when the beginning of the runway disappears under your
plane. Keep the wings level and the stick back as the plane drops! If you touch
down too hard you’ll bounce; focus on keeping the wings level and the nose raised
during the bounce.
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Tip If you find you’re near the airfield but too high,
cut the throttle and circle in a descending spiral, turning tightly to keep speed
down. A few circles will lower you to a manageable altitude, enabling you to begin
the landing approach.
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The trick to trouble-free landings lies in computing correctly the distance from
the airfield and your descent rate; unfortunately the only way to acquire it is
through repeated practice. With time, you’ll find yourself adopting the more correct,
steeper landing approach— it’s easier inasmuch as you don’t have to do all this
flying with the wheels down. Being able to automatically land your plane safely
means you’re a reasonably competent pilot. You know how to fly; and the next chapter
will help you learn how to fly in combat.
