How do you do it?

I always use the cockpit view, because it's more realistic. Every now and then I might use Spot Plane, but mostly cockpit.

I almost always land from the spot view as if I were just an onlooker.
The few times that I've done it from the cockpit I found it easier to land and a little more realistic and exciting.

I use both, I use the internal view as a main view and press the "[" button to open a new window with spot plane view. That way I can control the flare and land with all the instruments in view. The simplest way for me. 😉

I always land from the cockpit view to make it realistic. But sometimes I switch to Spot Plane view to see how the airplane looks like while approaching the runway. But that's just for a little bit; then I switch back to cockpit view. I always need to look at my instruments.

WHAT ???

No, I'm going to censor my true views on this one ( 🙂 ) and just say that I have never ever landed "outside the cockpit" ..... (no offence to anyone that does do this), it's just a billion miles from what I get out of the simulator. The day pilots start to land their airliners from outside the cockpit is the day I'd try it ! 😉

For me this is about absolute realism of piloting airliners - and the landing is the most exciting and challenging part, so it's the most vital part to make "real" for me.

😉

Never ever made a landing from the external view. If I want to see what it looks like as an onlooker I look at spot view in the instant replay
I think that it would be hard to land without all the vital instruments. Do any of you think you could take down a plane in extreme fog from the eternal view?

I agree with you GPS-Kid. I also make my flights as real as possible. I've never landed outside the cockpit, neither.

Yesterday I figured out how to make replays. Well, I wasn't insterested on that before, but yesterday I decided to give it a try. So after I park the airplane at the gate, I watch my replay using different views, including wing view, cockpit view, spot plane view, and tower view (which is the approach view if you have Active Camera)

iv tried but it turns out that my plane had shifted from a gust of wind onto the other runway where another plane was taking off

Andy2005 wrote:

Never ever made a landing from the external view. If I want to see what it looks like as an onlooker I look at spot view in the instant replay
I think that it would be hard to land without all the vital instruments. Do any of you think you could take down a plane in extreme fog from the eternal view?

I can't do that. I need to look at my speed and altitude when I'm approaching the runway. That's why I don't land from the external view. If I do that, I'd probably end up landing on the taxiway 😂

I normally do the actual landing from the cockpit view, but it's sometimes fun to bring up an additional view window with spot plane view so that you have the instrumentation as well as the external view of the aircraft's atitude.

this seems to be causing a bit of a stir!

I seem to find it easier landing from an external view, as apposed to an instrument view, purely because of hight, it always says that you are higher up than you are when you touch down, if that makes any sense.

Can anyone offer any suggestions?

Dont, get me wrong, i am a dedicated simmer, more than you would ever think possible!!

Micah wrote:

this seems to be causing a bit of a stir!

I seem to find it easier landing from an external view, as apposed to an instrument view, purely because of hight, it always says that you are higher up than you are when you touch down, if that makes any sense.

Can anyone offer any suggestions?

Dont, get me wrong, i am a dedicated simmer, more than you would ever think possible!!

I'd suggest two things:

1. Press 'W' once to eliminate the panel but leave the primary instrumentation.

2. Cick ALT for the menu bar, then click on the Views menu > New View > Spot Plane.

With that arrangement you'll have a much cleaner view of the runway, plus you'll have the "picture in picture" view of the plane externally, so that you can reference your flare height and get a visual on your nose-up atitude.

When you become proficient using this method you can turn off the spot plane view, and then later on switch back to the full panel and fly in 2D cockpit mode. Don't forget you can adjust your seat height. Also, flying from the virtual cockpit mode allows a better view, though I prefer the 2D cockpit in most models.

The best thing I can suggest is to press [ to get a new mini window up and press S while this window is selected until you reach the spot plane view. This is the easiest way because you can have the main instrument panel and the view from the side or back or both to gauge how high you are and at what attitude both internally and externally 😉

Micah wrote:

this seems to be causing a bit of a stir!

I seem to find it easier landing from an external view, as apposed to an instrument view, purely because of hight, it always says that you are higher up than you are when you touch down, if that makes any sense.

Can anyone offer any suggestions?

Dont, get me wrong, i am a dedicated simmer, more than you would ever think possible!!

You can press B to reset the altimeter.

WHAT ???

Do any of you think you could take down a plane in extreme fog from the eternal view?

No one's trying to play God here! 😛 Anyone get that gem?

WHAT ???

Yeah, that's what I thought when I read that too. I think it's a waste of 4-8 hours of my life if I don't land the thing from the inside how it's meant to be.

Personally, I can't imagine trying to land from outside.. I always use cockpit view with eyes locked on the instruments in IFR or scanning the runway and the instruments in VFR.

If I want to see how the landing looked I will watch an instant replay with an outside view.

Its a flight simulator. As soon as real world pilots start landing 737's while sitting on the wing, I shall try and simulate that too.

🙂