Landing the Fokker dr.1

[jamesrf40]

Hello, I'm new here to the forums. I started to get back into flight sims and maybe someone could help me with some tips on landing the dr.1. Whenever I'm landing the Fokker and I am on my final at about 80-90 km/hr I touch down and always end up skidding to the left. How do I prevent the airplane from skidding to one side or the other when landing? I'm trying to use the rudder to help control the aircraft and keep it centered down the runway, but it seems whenever I make rudder inputs it makes the problem worst.

[unreasonable]

If it is any consolation, everyone has some problems preventing this ground loop in the FC Dr.1, even Chill who actually flies a real one. So there is no easy answer.

 

Make sure you are landing directly into the wind if there is any.  Some people like to maintain some throttle after touching down to get airflow over the rudder and help you stay straight, but this has not worked very well for me in the Dr.1 although in many of the BoX planes it is helpful.  I actually prefer to turn the engine off before landing and glide in.  The ground crew can push the plane to the hangers: no need to taxi.  I still often get a ground loop doing this but it is far less severe.

 

P.S. Welcome!

Edited October 1, 2018 by unreasonable

[jamesrf40]

Thank you so much for the reply. I found it really helpful. Now, to put this into practice ^_^

[GrinderX9]

Long time since last time I flew the Dr.1 in Rise of flight. So I don't recall the procedure anymore...

But could it help to force the Stick all the way back to hug the ground with the tail? 

[BadBud]

Landing into the wind is preferable, now someone tell me how to know which way the wind is blowing on selected air field.

BadBud

[unreasonable]

In QMB your airfield, if you start from the ground, always has a windsock.   If no windsock around, the smoke from burning buildings, if there are any, will show wind direction.

 

If you cannot see either, and are looking to land, in a slow plane like the Dr.1 you can actually deduce if there is a strong wind by looking at your speed over the ground and sideways drift. 

[jamesrf40]

I found this tutorial to be very helpful.

 

 

 

Requiem mentioned that holding back on the stick upon touch down helps dig the tail into the ground as GrinderX9 mentioned in a previous post.

 

When I get some time I'll have to practice landing the Fokker DR.1.

[E_Davjack]

This may sound a bit silly, but I think of the DR1 as a kite.  Can you land an SE5a in a crosswind?  Sure!  A DR1?  With skill and talent, yes. 

 

Digging the tail into the ground helps.  I found that if possible, I land WWI aircraft with slight power on.  Just enough to maintain rudder authority, but not enough to power the plane.  I dunno, 25%?  I just feel it at this point.

 

Here's a useful tip:  practice Taxiing the Dr1 around.  Find a good comfortable RPM that will never take you off, but will give you enough rudder authority to drive around the aerodrome.  Land at that RPM, blipping and slipping if you need to shed speed. 

[J2_Trupobaw]

21 hours ago, jamesrf40 said:

Hello, I'm new here to the forums. I started to get back into flight sims and maybe someone could help me with some tips on landing the dr.1. Whenever I'm landing the Fokker and I am on my final at about 80-90 km/hr I touch down and always end up skidding to the left. How do I prevent the airplane from skidding to one side or the other when landing? I'm trying to use the rudder to help control the aircraft and keep it centered down the runway, but it seems whenever I make rudder inputs it makes the problem worst.

1. That's why bottom wings have skids... it's not unexpected.

2. I'm landing the Dr.I at very low mixture and throttled back and, once wheels hit the ground, increase throttle oh-so-slightly or unblip the engine for moments longer, to add forward force and stabilise the plane. It makes for longer landing, but less ground loops. 

[J2_Jakob]

My Dr1 landing practice with some crosswind... Pardon the medieval 720p, my PC can't produce better quality videos.
 

 

The lower left wing was already damaged by some AI's bullets prior to the landing...

[JimTM]

On 10/1/2018 at 2:14 PM, unreasonable said:

In QMB your airfield, if you start from the ground, always has a windsock.   If no windsock around, the smoke from burning buildings, if there are any, will show wind direction.

 

If you cannot see either, and are looking to land, in a slow plane like the Dr.1 you can actually deduce if there is a strong wind by looking at your speed over the ground and sideways drift. 

 

Not necessarily. Note the following:

• Large smoke effects (called city_fire, city_firesmall, or villagesmoke in the mission editor) go in the direction in which the mission designer points them. If the designer points them in the wind direction, you can use them to determine the wind direction.
• Small smoke effects (called landfire, static_fire, or house_smoke in the mission editor) and vehicle fires go South, no matter which way the mission designer points them go in the direction of the wind.

 

            UPDATE: Changed the second bullet point above for release 3.007.

 

Edited June 20, 2020 by JimTM

[unreasonable]

2 hours ago, JimTM said:

 

Not necessarily. Note the following:

• Large smoke effects (called city_fire, city_firesmall, or villagesmoke in the mission editor) go in the direction in which the mission designer points them. If the designer points them in the wind direction, you can use them to determine the wind direction.
• Small smoke effects (called landfire, static_fire, or house_smoke in the mission editor) and vehicle fires go South, no matter which way the mission designer points them.

 

Thanks for clarification.  In QMB at least on the Stalingrad map the large city fires match the wind direction - which is from south to north. So at least they will work naturally.

[Ceowulf]

Anyone have any tips for dead stick landings in the Dr1?   Unreasonable, you actually prefer it so maybe I’m missing something.   It’s the only fighter I can’t dead stick without ground looping.  

 

Ceowulf<><    

[unreasonable]

13 minutes ago, Ceowulf said:

Anyone have any tips for dead stick landings in the Dr1?   Unreasonable, you actually prefer it so maybe I’m missing something.   It’s the only fighter I can’t dead stick without ground looping.  

 

Ceowulf<><    

 

Basically if I turn less than 90 degrees at the end of the roll out I count that as a win.     

 

The great advantage of this method is that you can land in an extraordinarily small field once you get the hang of it, which comes in very handy on occasion when you are forced down away from an airfield. Additionally if you land this way as a matter of routine your confidence that you can dead stick when you have to is much higher.

 

And it is not as though you have to taxi to the arrivals gate: let the ground crew get some exercise!

[TotalFreakUK]

On 10/3/2018 at 11:50 PM, J2_Jakob said:

My Dr1 landing practice with some crosswind... Pardon the medieval 720p, my PC can't produce better quality videos.
 

 

The lower left wing was already damaged by some AI's bullets prior to the landing...

 Nice job dude.

 

Also the little struts on the edge of the bottom wing are there to protect against ground looping as it was a common problem with the DR1 but will let Magz explain it better

 

[SharpeXB]

On 10/1/2018 at 9:57 PM, JG1_EmerlistDavjack said:

Can you land an SE5a in a crosswind?  Sure!  A DR1?  With skill and talent, yes.

Well in reality you’d never operate a WWI aircraft in a crosswind, they’re light and have no steerable tail wheel. They will weathervane into the wind. They operated from open fields without fixed runway directions so they’d always go straight with the wind.