Trouble landing airliners

[burner12]

I've been flying hornets for so long i've lost my touch w/ airliners. I tried that tutorial transition to jets and completed it. But whenever i try and fly an A321 I always come in too high and fast. Can I get some tips on how to land airliners, such as how far out from the airport you should start the approach, what speed and altitude and how to bring her down?

[Bruce Hamilton]

Presuming you fly with ATC instruction, you should already be at the correct altitude once you turn on to final, then slowly begin reducing your airspeed until you lock on the localizer and capture the glideslope.

[burner12]

Actually no. i'm flying just infree flight mode, and ATC doesn't give me any instrcutions that way. Or is there a way to make them while in free flight?

[Bruce Hamilton]

Free flight without a flight plan is seriously unrealistic, unless you're flying with a sport license.
I always fly heavies with an IFR plan and receive my necessary clearances from ATC.  They tell you when to descend and to what altitude, headings to turn to, what runway to expect.  If you just jump in the cabin and go, ATC doesn't know you exist.

[skimmer]

burner12,you can file IFR plan while in flight from your current position. Use toolbar in flight and choose flights then choose file flight plan. Be sure to click no to ? about move plane to assighned point.

[burner12]

I know that, but thanks for the tip. But after doig a couplel of touch and gos at Chicago o Hare I was able to get the basic control the speed around 140 or so and continue to descend 1mil out be at at least 1000ft.

[Russ]

You don't need ATC to do this. It's nice, but for instance you don't always have it when online.

Get some charts for the airport that you're using. Have a look at the STARs (Standard Terminal Arrival Routes). Learn how to interpret them. It may well look overwhelming at first but its a quick learning curve. There are plenty of very helpful tutorials on Youtube.

The star will give you elevations and paths to the runway from given points (transitions). Speeds depend on A/C weight, wind etc. You need to learn your aircraft specs and have the info readily available...

As Bruce says learn how to fly a proper flight plan. Learn how to use the FMC. Once you can do that and follow SIDs and STARSs as well as understanding your Aircraft's required configurations the level of gratification goes up exponentially.

[burner12]

Thanks for the help.