How To...Increase Reverse Thrust in FS2002

By Ulrich Klein

Yes, I know it comes a bit late. At a time when we are already counting down to the newest iteration of the granddaddy flightsim of all time, Microsoft's Flight Simulator: A Century Of Flight (FS-ACOF), it seems to be no longer necessary to improve any issues of FS2002. However, as there will be lots of flight simmers who do not immediately upgrade their FS2002 version in July, it may be worth doing away with a little glitch that has bothered me since the release of FS2000 in October 1999.

I have just hit the touchdown markers after a steady and almost perfect approach to KORD 27R and then activate the reverse thrust (F2) of the default Landmark B737-400. The thrust reverse indicators light up as usual and I am listening to the excellent sound of the engines howling up while moving down the runway, which is a real treat for us noise nuts. Everything looks perfect if it weren't for the fact that the reverse thrust doesn't take much effect in slowing down the aircraft. The power of the reversers is by far less stronger than in old FS98 where you could almost feel the sudden drag when the reversers were activated. So, like in FS2000, I will also need much more braking action in FS2002 to finally stop in time and not to end up in the muddy, snowy field beyond the end of the runway at this time of the year.

To be sure I repeat the ILS approach all over again, but once again there is no clear indication of the reverse thrust to take any significant braking effect. Almost nothing at all! Everyone has this, but I guess the issue has never been addressed (I must admit though that I cannot read the forums regularly, so it might be possible that I have missed something; so if anybody has already found a solution, just drop me a line).

The first idea that occurred to me was to edit the aircraft config file and to search for a suitable entry that might urge the aircraft to decrease speed more rapidly when thrust reverse is activated. To be frank, I couldn't get hold of the problem inside this type of file. So, if this didn't work, I would have to look inside the Boeing737-400.air file for a moment. To do so we'll need a utility called AirEd by W. Roth (AIRED.ZIP is available in the Flightsim.Com download area). Installation went as easy as pie and soon I managed to edit the .air file this way. The default value for section 313 'Reverse Thrust' reads as follows:

Reverse Thrust=-25 (in words: minus twenty-five)

The jet aircraft in FS2000 had the same value entries for reverse thrust in the .air file, so having this weak power of the reversers in FS2002 is clearly just one another carry-over flaw. A single left mouse click on the section name opens up the edit field. I tested several values but finally I thought a value of -55 (minus fifty-five) would be great. For the default 737, 747 and 777 this value is all right. You'll get slightly higher % indications for N1 than 100, which is surely a bit too much but I found I should make a compromise here as this way you get the best braking effect by reverse thrust. Depending on the length of the runway, of course, you'll have to use the wheel brakes more or less to achieve the desired effect.

With reverse power alone the B747 cannot be stopped in time, the speed still is 78 kts.

For the Learjet 45 I entered a value of -75 (minus seventy-five), which proved the best result.

With these new values I made another ILS autopilot approach to KORD 27R, but this time I chose the default Boeing 777-300, and it worked pretty good. To best judge the renewed reverse thrust power I didn't use the wheel brakes at all, and to my great surprise the 777 came to a halt before reaching the full end of the runway. Wow! From now on, with the combined forces of both the reverse thrust and the wheel brakes there should be no problem to stop in time even on shorter runways.

For me things are better now. It makes the final stopping procedure a bit more enjoyable and realistic. And that's all there is to it. If I can do it, so can you. Gosh, I am quite aware it's but a workaround for something that should work by default. However, the effect is not bad, I guess. Undoubtedly, FS2002's era is slowly but inevitably nearing its end, but if the design team of FS-ACOF has learned their lesson well listening to the consumers' demands in the forums or elsewhere, then we'll be in for just another feast.

Happy flying and safe landings!

Ulrich Klein
huki.klein@t-online.de

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