TAKE OFF
OK,
after the long taxi out to the runway (don’t exceed 25kts in the
taxi), you are ready for takeoff. At this point, these things should be
accomplished: Fuel configuration checked, make sure your Master Caution
Light is OUT, i.e. make sure the Center of Gravity is in the Normal
Range. Visor down and Nose at 5 degrees. Yaw dampers ON – not
necessary, but this is a Normal runway check. When situated on the
Centerline, Push the Throttles all the way up and engage the
Afterburners (or as the British call them: Reheats). V1 through V2 are
dependent on weight, but for now, we’ll be simple and say that V1=192
kts. and VR=210 kts. and V2=210 kts. At Vr, pull the yoke back so the
nose is up to about 8 degrees. Bring the gear up, turn OFF the
afterburners, and bring the nose up to about 14 degrees. The aircraft
will be accelerating pretty fast at this point, so be sure you don’t
bust the 250 kts below 10,000 feet restriction. At 240 kts. bring up the
nose and visor.
CLIMB
On
climb out, you should be climbing at about 2000 feet per minute
(depending on weight). Anything above that and you will be expending a
lot of power to keep your speed up, and you don’t want that kind of
fuel flow before “crossing the pond”. At 8000 feet, you will have
enough speed to bring the rate of climb up a bit. Set the rate of climb
at 3000 fpm and wait to pass 10,000 feet. Now we start the cruise-climb
portion of the flight. Set the airspeed at 400 kias and keep a steady
climb to flight level 300 to 330 at 300 fpm. keep your eye on the MACH
speed indicator; when it reaches M 0.95 , disengage the IAS hold and
engage the Mach hold. Continue at M 0.95 to the level of altitude
between FL-300 to FL-330.
Sometimes,
when climbing through FL-22 to FL-24 extra power is needed. Afterburners
can be engaged if you find that you are losing power.
Note: This does consume a lot of fuel, and in some cases will not
leave enough to make it across the Atlantic. Reduce your rate of climb
rather than use afterburners to gain speed through this phase. (If your
Realism settings are set to Easy, then fuel management is looked after
for you.)
SUPERSONIC
CRUISE
Now
is when the Concorde really shines. The Concorde’s airfoil is not
designed for extended flights at low altitude or low speeds. Therefore,
it is much more efficient at these higher speeds. Now that you are
anywhere between FL-300 and FL-330 disengage the Auto Throttles. Once
ATC clears you for Supersonic, (we’re thinking realism here) push the
throttles to MAX and turn on the Afterburners. You will start a steady
acceleration to M 1.01 at this time. At this speed, set the Altitude
Selector at FL-500 and start a climb at 2000 fpm. The Mach needle will
move up slowly, but don’t worry; this is perfectly normal. At Mach
1.50, bring the climb rate down to 1500 fpm and continue the
acceleration/climb. When passing through M 1.70 (you should be at about
43,000 feet) turn Off the afterburners, leaving the engines at 100% or
so, and climb at 1000 fpm. The last 5000 feet can be a bit tricky. It
takes a good feel of the aircraft to make sure that you are still
accelerating but have a good climb rate. This all comes from
experimenting with the aircraft. Keep in mind though, that if you take
off with full fuel you may have a climb rate as low as 100 fpm during
the last 1000 feet of your climb! Your climb rate needs to be dependent
on your speed. If your acceleration stops or your speed keeps going
down, LOWER THE NOSE! If you completed the climb correctly, you should
reach M 2.0 at about FL500. Again, this all comes from a vigilant eye
and a good feel for the aircraft’s performance.
CRUISING
Not
much to say here. Just make sure your Center Of Gravity remains normal
through this phase. For added realism, set the Altitude Selector on the
Auto-pilot to about FL-590 and start a steady climb at about 50 fpm.
This simulates the upward drift in the real Concorde when fuel is burned
off. There are some known bugs in this phase of the flight, like the
jumping of the center of Gravity indicator for those who have not yet
installed the latest software Patch. At altitudes of above FL-480 to
FL-600 (Concorde’s Maximum Altitude) you will notice that the center
of Gravity indicator will begin to Flash for some users (not all). The
reason for this is unknown. Cruising at this altitude, Concorde burns
much less fuel and you should be cruising at about 1,210 kts. You should
be aiming at descending with about 18% to 25% fuel with some remaining.
The estimated cruising time is about 2 hours and 5 minutes and your
descent starts at about 300 nm. from the airport.
DESCENT
When
ready for your descent, (this should be about 250 to 300 nm. from the
airport) disengage the Mach Hold button and engage the IAS button to
hold 350 kias. When the aircraft reaches this speed, bring the nose down
to start a descent at 3000 fpm. At 36,100 feet, you’ll become just
another airliner; your speed will drop to M 0.99
Continue your descent using your own judgment. Tip: For every
6000 feet you descend, minus 20 kts. of your speed. This will compensate
for preventing overspeeds and will make sure you are at an appropriate
speed when entering the pattern. It is advised that you descend at 2600
to 3000 fpm. but the Auto-pilot allows for steeper descents.
At 10,000 feet, you should be at about 20 nm. from the pattern.
Hold this and level the nose to maintain around 250 kts.
APPROACH
This
is the part that most people have problems with. During this Approach
Phase, the aircraft tends Not to want to slow down, so a nice gradual
descent at 1800 fpm. from 12,000 will suffice. We’ll use 6,000 as
another level-off altitude after that. At 6,000 feet and 240 kts. lower
the Visor and bring the Nose down to 5 degrees. By this time, you should
be inbound to intercept the Localizer. Before localizer intercept,
however, you’ll need to slow to 210 kts. or less to allow the
Auto-pilot to center the aircraft on the Localizer, or else you’ll be
playing “hunt the Localizer.” When the glideslope starts moving
down, lower the nose fully, and lower the Gear. You want to keep an
airspeed of about 190 kts. after the Glideslope Intercept.
At this stage, another bug begins to kick in. You may find that
the aircraft shakes violently as if in the center of heavy turbulence. This bug may not be fixed by recent patches, and is quite
disturbing. To relieve this
a little, you can rest your Altimeter by holding CTRL-B.
LANDING
If
conditions are good, and you have the Runway in sight, disengage the
Auto-pilot.. we’ll bring her in by hand from here. Since the Concorde
doesn’t have flaps, you must keep a fairly high final approach speed;
something like 175-180 kts. When about 2 to 3 nm. out, start bringing
the throttles back so you cross the fence at about 155 kts. What most
people have a problem with is the landing flare. You can’t treat this
like a normal airplane. It’s a Concorde. With the Concorde, really,
there is not really a so-called “flare” in the landing. You need to
hold a constant attitude and speed the whole way down to the runway.
The speed is 155 kts. which is easy enough to hold, but the
attitude control during the landing takes some practice. You need to
hold 10.5 degrees. I
don’t mean 10.0 or 11.0 degrees but 10.5 degrees! If done right, you
should have a nice landing. After the tires squeak on the asphalt,
engage Full Reverse and Braking. Note: To see the runway, raise your
chair up a bit by pressing Shift + ENTER a few times (Num pad #7 Lowers
it). Taxi to the terminal. You are now a Concorde pilot!
You may wish to print out these instructions.
|