Very helpful information. My landings in the DC3 have appeared to be undertaken by a drunken sailor.

Approach MP is 21". Right before touchdown you pull it back to 18-19" slowly and then walk it back to idle right after touchdown. A really important thing in the dc3 is, that you instantly go back to Flaps 0 after touchdown to bring the tail back earlier. When it starts to get down by itself you start pulling back the yoke and fly the tailwheel down. Then fully back when its down. This procedure avoids the uncontrollable turn in slow speeds like you had at the end of the runway. The plane is stable with the tailwheel down and locked.

Thank You Jonathan for the 2 videos on this plane, they are mighty helpful and make flying this plane awesome..!!

In the real aircraft you always take off and land with the tail wheel locked. Typical final approach speeds (manuals vary) are: flaps up 90 knots, full flaps 80 knots. The DC-3 requires positive rudder control for takeoff, landing and turns in flight. Possibly the sim modelling requires tweaking.

I am only using the retrofit version with modern avionics but that said I find it's really nice plane to fly and land. For a trail dragger I like it's extra size and weight. I can't fault it.

Trying not to slow down too soon and too quickly made a huge difference. The real challenge now is landing with a crosswind. For that I'm finding that you need to try to touchdown with the wheels square to the runway (meaning you'll need to rudder the opposite the direction of the wind just as you touch down). Once you're down, the wind will blow your nose towards the direction that it is coming from (because it's blowing against the vertical stabilizer which is at the rear of the aircraft; this forces the nose towards the direction the wind is from). So you then need to rudder towards the direction the wind is blowing (seems paradoxical, but it makes sense when you understand that the wind is mainly pushing on the rear of the aircraft). With regards to the tailwheel lock. Yes, it is more realistic to land and take off with it on. BUT, in real life, you have access to pedals that control both rudder and differential brakes on an analog scale, as well as differential thrust. Unless you have an awesome setup on your pc, your differential brakes are likely "all or nothing" which makes it more difficult to control. Plus no differential thrust from the engines. Better to keep the lock off...

thanks for the info. I’ve only flown airliners in simulators and am now trying to fly without all the automation. thanks for the tips!

Very useful instrucions how to land. When you push the yoke even more forward during the roll out, you can keep the tail in the air, giving you rudder authority, till you're almost stopped.

Hi Johnathan, love your videos and tutorials. After much practice and experimentation with the DC-3 (xbox), With retrofit, or classic, tail wheel locked and unlocked, I've cracked it. On final, 90mph , just before touch down, idle throttle, as soon as you've landed, apply full brakes straight away, keeping her straight don't pull back on stick. It'll do it all by itself. Perfect landings every time.

Honestly what has helped me the most was doing a metric ton of ILS and RNAV approaches to get a feel for the sight picture and throttle control. Every so often I find myself dive bombing in and go back to the automated approaches to get the visual back. Actually, I just tried some NDB approaches for the first time today and noticed how much smoother my landing have become... Albeit a bounce or two when I'm being lazy on the basics.

There is a little mistake about the IAS. It is in mph instead of knots. So, the 100 (mph) are just around 87 knots. Beside this, thank you for the tips!

Thanks for this one…managed most of it ok myself…take off ok./navigate and 0k/ only managed one decent landing but now I can see how to do it I’ll practice it a lot to get the swing of it. The autopilot was a challenge but am fine with it now. Practice is the answer. It’s a dream to fly; so realistic.

I have nothing but fun flying this beautiful veast

People are funny. When it's MORE realistic and doesn't meet what they THINK it should be based on previous FS experience its' somehow broken. Great video and thank you.

Gotta go try this out now. So far, it's been a series of slolam runs I've been having at landing. Thanks and muchas gracias.

Great video. Would have liked to see your power and trim settings during all phases of flight.

Nitpick: The airspeed indicator is in MPH not kt's :) Do you have the duckworks improvement mod installed? I think this is pretty much mandatory nowadays unless you are on Xbox. The key takeaway is stabilised approach: 700-1000 fpm/100-110 MPH, flaps 1/2+ on (short) final. Never go below 1000rpm on your engines until the tail is down. You demonstrated this nicely on your third landing (15:15). Thanks for the video!

Thankyou. Very useful. I spent last week playing with the DC-3 and wasn't able to figure out the proper way to land. Also the fact it's a bird able to fly so slow it's kinda misleading. You can really take off at 60 while landing at 100... I'll apply your suggestions next flight.

Good stuff. Wouldn’t having the tail wheel locked on landing help from turning until nearly stopped.

There is another fix. The guy who made the flight model posted it on his channel community. Look up "dc3 flight model" and you'll find his video and thus his channel. Besides the center of gravity is a bit off. So should be tweaked manual before flight. All these things including in your video will make everything a bit easier.

We never unlocked the Tail Wheel unless turning when taxing & no more than 85kts over the fence. On a side note if you opened a side window in the air (We NEVER opened the Storm Windows) anything close could be sucked out from Flight Plans to Pens & Chicken Salad which left Beetroot & mayonaise stains down the side cabin windows (Alegedly) :o)

The Dc3 should have the tail wheel locked for taking off and landing and once the tail wheel is on the ground and locked the aircraft shouldn't swing like it does in the sim light differential braking should keep it straight. The sim needs adjustment you could never land it in a crosswind.

this is the most difficult plane to land on MSFS, agree?! I dont know if that is really simulated... saw real pilots telling the dc3 was abble to land in any short fields (in the WWII), but that dont seems possible in the sim... Great vid btw, unique!

Going to give her a few more laps. Will definitely follow and hope to ace the landings. Thanks for the video. This the vanilla version? Have ductwork’s myself. Thanks again Jono

Nice! Power on landing - balancing c/g over main gear is the easiest technique to learn for a taildragger. Drawback is runway used. Heavier aircraft, such as DC3 eats up runway like B707 on roll out. There are other techniques , such as 3 pointer, more difficult to learn. And there is a reason why tailwheel lock is installed, but maybe it is not properly simulated?

I would have liked if you showed how it looks from outside, some simmers like me prefer flying in 3rd person. Nice video anyway :)

"Go around frontier flight zero" as a shadow passes over you at 1:00 should be a lil bit more concerning, lol.

Thank you SO much !!

Good work Jon ! Must give it a try, finish India to Australia Tour first

@Jonathan, any chance u could teach us fly VORs on the DC-3 "classic" version?! :) Cheers bro

No one flies this plane better than you. I've been using the mod for the DC-3 now and it's getting updated almost daily. I no longer crash after takeoffs but it's now, I feel, under powered. I need more runway to take off and they have adjusted the sounds, quirks and fixed some knobs inside the cockpit such as not being able to turn off the fuel to the right engine. They are working on a more realistic takeoff. I feel the plane has too much drag when the wheels are dropped. Jonathan, what do you mean and how do you "keep thrust over the tail?" I'm also wondering how I'm able to do ILS landings when I don't see a localizer switch like you do on the PMDG's DC-6. I'm using the pulldown menu GTN 750. I prefer the classic over the retrofit as the modern avionics doesn't play nice with the GTN 750. Despite this, it's my favorite plane right now.

Hello Jonathan. This video helped me a bit. However whenever my DC3 begins to pick up speed and the tail lifts off, the whole plane begins to shimmy without any rudder pressure applied, is there a manoeuvre to stop or limit this?

Good throttle that isn't the Honeycomb Bravo? (desk/space issue)

You talk about "Knots" when referencing to your ASI (Airspeed Indicator) however the ASI is marked in MPH which is not the same and stands for statute mile. So please say Miles, not Knots!

Always, always, always adjust trim for take off, both in the sim and real aircraft.

What do you do to keep the tail down whilst landing so when you brake you don't topple her over? Thanks.

Thank you very much for these two videos about DC-3 👌

What in the world is with all of these vehicles crossing runways so often in MSFS (right at the beginning)???

Can you do a tutorial on crosswind landing cus it seems nigh on impossible?

@Jonathan Beckett Which airport is this?

Thank You for this video but that panel I just don't fancy

Jonathan here's a silly question....is there ap on this plane❓

Nice landings but don't follow his power settings, you woudn't idle the engines on approach.

🎉

No flaps for landing ?

I've been yelling at the screen YOU'RE too fast! on every one of your landing attempts, and you are still landing way too fast. quick google tells me, landing should be done just above stall speed at around 60 knots, you're still putting it down at over 90 knots, but even without a specific number, old aircraft like that always land with a nose high attitude, if it feels like you're flying the aircraft into the runway and that you have to pitch down to get it to touch, you're too fast.

Almost run out of runway, hardly safe.