XR2 XR2 Landing Gear

[jambooger]

I can land the space shuttle and the DGIV on a Earth runway with no problem at all but Im having a big problem with the XR2. The problem is the landing gear keep collapsing unless my touch down descent is less than -2m/s.

It may be cheating a little but is there a config edit than can beef up my landing gear a bit.

Thanks

 

[dbeachy1]

You can disable landing gear damage by making the following edit in your Config\XR2RavenstarPrefs.cfg file:

HardLandingsDamageEnabled=0

BTW, per page 72 of the XR Flight Operations Manual the maximum descent rate for the XR2 with 33% fuel and 75% max cargo is -4.2 meters-per-second -- so if you're collapsing the gear you're either way overweight or landing a lot harder than -2.0 meters-per-second. Even with full fuel and max cargo the descent rate limit for the gear is -2.8 meters-per-second.

 

[jambooger]

BTW, per page 72 of the XR Flight Operations Manual the maximum descent rate for the XR2 with 33% fuel and 75% max cargo is -4.2 meters-per-second -- so if you're collapsing the gear you're either way overweight or landing a lot harder than -2.0 meters-per-second. Even with full fuel and max cargo the descent rate limit for the gear is -2.8 meters-per-second.

Thank you very much for the information. I do try to be gentle with touchdown. Now you have me wondering what Im doing wrong. I Jettison almost all my fuel so maybe Im overweight in cargo. I will ck that out.

BTW, the XR2 rocks.


I had way too much cargo. I emptied all cargo and wow the craft handles so much better. Now I can even stop before running off the runway, lol. Sorry, I should have caught that.

 

[statickid]

I used to have this problem and I found out that I was just going way too fast all the time (sooooo easy to do...:yes so I started using the airbrake on final approach and that made a huge difference whether I was cargoed or non-cargoed, fueled or non-fueled.

 

[Lacanau]

Airbrake works on the moon? :blink:

 

[Pyromaniac605]

Airbrake works on the moon? :blink:

Who said anything about the moon?

Darren

 

[jambooger]

Airbrake works on the moon? :blink:

nope

 

[Ripley]

I used to have this problem and I found out that I was just going way too fast all the time (sooooo easy to do...:yes so I started using the airbrake on final approach and that made a huge difference whether I was cargoed or non-cargoed, fueled or non-fueled.

As for any aircraft landing back on Earth, flaps must be deployed (if modelled), and speed before touchdown should just be a tad over stall speed.
Then, "flare" manouver (a gentle pitch-up) should be performed to loose the final height, just before touchdown.
Maybe a real Shuttle comes in well over its stall speed...it's a bit heavier than a Cessna, and it doesn't spin a prop.

I'm not specifically thinking to XR-2, but after many years flying "simple" flight-sims (Falcon, IL-2 Sturmovik, etc...) before discovering Orbiter, I have had the impression that sometimes atmospheric flight basics are a bit overlooked here, as well as on the Italian Orbiter forum.
Ok, atmospheric flight is not the "core business" of Orbiter, and enthusiast Orbinauts mostly "think vertical" of course, but its rules are important nonetheless, and this is one of those cases.

 

[PennyBlack]

I kept loseing my landing gear, but that was on keyboard. Since getting a joystick, I cruise with minimal thrust applied to maintain above stall speed. If I foul up on landing I've got the power to kick in for another try but I've never used flaps in my life. I come in low and slow. I find it's better for me while I keep my verticle desent steady.
A crazy flyer. :facepalm:

 

[Shinrar]

I had way too much cargo. I emptied all cargo and wow the craft handles so much better. Now I can even stop before running off the runway, lol. Sorry, I should have caught that.

My first few landings, I used my Retro Engines to slow down to stop before the end of the runway.

Eventually, I realized, the "," and "." keys activate the wheel-brakes. =) That, coupled with the Air-brake, make it pretty easy to get from speed to a full stop in the length of most runways I've landed on... Er... Well, since I've only landed at WIN successfully, thats really all I have experience with.

On that same note, if you're coming in REALLY heavy, something I've successfully done as an experiment has me performing normal landing procedures, and then 5 or so meters from the ground, activating the auto-land autopilot. If your Dynamic Pressure is low enough, the hover doors can open, and it helps a nice gentle (fuel costly) landing.

I prefer going dead-stick, but you don't always have the option.

 

[RisingFury]

Final approach with an XR-2 should be no steeper then 10°. With it's L/D ratio almost 8, the glideslope can be as low as 7.5° on final approach.

The velocity on final approach will deppend on the mass, but the glide angle will not.

 

[Ripley]

As a follow-up to my previous post, here's the "famous" landing tutorial by Paul Wilson.
Real F-16 pilots land this way (he says!). It's originally meant for the F-16 as modelled in Falcon4, but I think this tutorial teaches an "all-round" technique, which goes beyond the craft, or even the sim used.
As long as the used aircraft/ship models a FPM (Flight Path Marker), it can be applied as well.

Hope you like it as I do.


Paul Wilson's Landing Tutorial

 

[n72.75]

I've found a safe rule of thumb for XR-2 landings is to land with an airspeed between 120m/s and 150m/s with an alpha between 4.5 degrees and 6.5 degrees.

 

[Grover]

heres a good trick i learned on other flight sims, but it works here too:

when doing a runway landing, aim to touch down about 100 yards from the runway threshhold, then as you hit ~100m alt, try and get your lead indicator (in orbiter- the circle with a + in it) to be just underneath the artificial horizon, meaning that your vertical speed will be as close to 0 as possible, the 100 yard shortfall is teh distance you cover as you descend slowly, you might need different distances, just give it a try.

and remember rule #1 of landings:
watch the speed, and watch the tail (if you come in too fast, you cant stop, if you come in too slow, you'll pitch up too much on landing and whack the tail on the tarmac, this is not good.

as for rule #2... make sure your passengers can still stand after your landing, then youve done an acceptable job.

good luck!
-=Grover=-

 

[JonnyBGoode]

Also watch the Visual Approach Slope Indicators. These are the four red or white lights on either side of the end of the runway. As with all flight simulators (and real flight, obviously) this is a good visual rule of thumb.

From Wikipedia:

When the lights show White-White-Red-Red the aircraft is on the correct glide slope for landing, usually 3.0°. Three red lights (White-Red-Red-Red) indicate that the aircraft is slightly below glide slope (2.8°), while four red lights (Red-Red-Red-Red) indicate that the aircraft is significantly below glide slope (<2.5°).

Conversely, three white lights (White-White-White-Red) indicate that the aircraft is slightly above glide slope (3.2°), and four white lights (White-White-White-White) indicated that the aircraft is significantly above glideslope (>3.5°).

 

[Grover]

about that wiki entry, i can simplify:

more white= above recommended glideslope
more red= below recommended glideslope

so you want red and white to be about equal

 

[n72.75]

...although, the XR-2 is capable of a rather high performance landing.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxE-03TYTkE"]YouTube - Orbiter 2010: XR-2 Landing at Ascension[/ame]

 

[PennyBlack]

That's a smooth landing there n72.75... The ground rushes up fast doesn't it.

 

[Grover]

especially at 0.5 mach

anyway, did he stall a little on approach there?