Reversers/spoilers on landing

[kneighbour]

I have read that the reversers are rarely ever moved from idle when you land (especially in Europe) due to noise restrictions. So I have been trying to emulate that situation, but I am finding that the aircraft does not slow down very well. I don't even think the spoilers are being deployed.

Once the nosewheel touches down, I operate the reversers. I have a hardware switch that I have mapped to a dataref for this. It seems to work - the two orange Reverser Unlock lights come on. I leave the throttles at idle. Should I advance the throttles at all? The manual mentions going to detent 1, but of course I don't have the real throttles.

Is this perhaps why the spoilers do not seem to be deploying as well?

I have my spoilers mapped to an axis, which it seems might be a bad idea as well - although so far it not does seem to be a problem.

 

 

[poodster]

Remove the spoilers from the axis (any slight movement can trigger it off). And manually drag the spoilers to armed. That will solve your issues with spoilers. For reversers, you have to advance the throttle after you press the button that toggles the reverser. If the reversers are not moved from idle, the reversers won't work as functioned.

Edited May 26, 2016 by poodster

[kneighbour]

ok. How far do you think I need to move the throttle after the reversers are deployed?

[Tchou]

55 minutes ago, kneighbour said:

I have read that the reversers are rarely ever moved from idle when you land (especially in Europe) due to noise restrictions.

Strange because living in europe, I always see the reversers used and not at idle, not at full but not at idle… 

I've seen here and there to use no more than 80% N1 to preserve the engines… that's all.

All the slowing down not provided by the engines will have to be managed by the brakes… so unless you have a long runway you should use reversers…

[Litjan]

That is not quite right, Tchou. In your defense it is hard to judge from the outside how much reverse is being used, and also some pilots will still use reverse more than idle at a lower level. Engines will also switch to a higher N1 idle value when reverse thrust is activated, so it sounds like the pilots are increasing (reverse) thrust levels, this counts as idle reverse, though.

Most airports in Europe limit the use of thrust reversers to idle, only. Airlines have also found out that using idle only saves fuel and engine life, however break heating over a certain temperature (risk of brake-disc oxidization) is also an issue.

For safety reasons full use of reverse thrust is always allowed, but be prepared for having to answer questions if you do so.

Also bear in mind that full reverse N1 is not as high as takeoff N1´s. On Airbus planes, N1 won´t go higher than ca. 70% at full reverse thrust, for example.

Jan

 

[Tchou]

33 minutes ago, Litjan said:

That is not quite right, Tchou. In your defense it is hard to judge from the outside how much reverse is being used, and also some pilots will still use reverse more than idle at a lower level. Engines will also switch to a higher N1 idle value when reverse thrust is activated, so it sounds like the pilots are increasing (reverse) thrust levels, this counts as idle reverse, though.

My bad...  The noise of engine accelerating made me think it was not idle. 

@Litjan, a question, is the airbus you fly equiped with the "brake to vacate" function ? And is there an equivalent in Boeing world ?

Edited May 26, 2016 by Tchou

[Litjan]

51 minutes ago, Tchou said:

My bad...  The noise of engine accelerating made me think it was not idle. 

@Litjan, a question, is the airbus you fly equiped with the "brake to vacate" function ? And is there an equivalent in Boeing world ?

Hi Tchou,

no, the models I fly don´t have brake to vacate - and I think there were some issues with that function on the 380s, too, so it was/is not used for a while.

I don´t know about the later Boeing models.

I have a brake-to-vacate built into my head, though . With a little practice you can judge which turnoff would be good to catch, and then I override the autobrake to smoothly slow down to reach taxi-speed just as I get to it.

Jan

 

[kneighbour]

So, in the IXEG 733, how far do you suggest I move the throttles to (N1% perhaps?) for effective and realistic braking?

[cmbaviator]

2 hours ago, Tchou said:

My bad...  The noise of engine accelerating made me think it was not idle. 

@Litjan, a question, is the airbus you fly equiped with the "brake to vacate" function ? And is there an equivalent in Boeing world ?

brake to vacate is only the A350/A380 and maybe on the B787

[Litjan]

1 hour ago, kneighbour said:

So, in the IXEG 733, how far do you suggest I move the throttles to (N1% perhaps?) for effective and realistic braking?

Not at all. Just toggle reverse and use your pedals to brake as needed.

Jan