Boeing 737-800
Target for the Boeing 737-800
50 to 100fpm
Full marks for descent rate up to 100 fpm; under 50 fpm the coach says the touchdown was softer than this aircraft is normally flown.
The marker is the median of 7 shared landings in it, 247 fpm.
- Vref reference
- 142ktat 66,360 kg
- Tail-strike limit
- 9°this aircraft's own
- Ideal touchdown zone
- 240 to 600mpast the threshold
- G-force
- 1.10Gfull marks, the category's curve
The 737-800 is the workhorse narrow-body of the MSFS 2024 default fleet, and one of the most-flown airframes in real-world short and medium-haul ops. Its landing characteristics are unforgiving compared to the A320 family: more energy to dissipate, tighter pitch margins on touchdown, and a flare technique that rewards patience over pull.
Landing technique.
Cross the threshold at Vref + 5 kt in calm conditions. Real airline SOPs add up to 1/2 the headwind plus the full gust factor on top.
Begin the flare around 30 ft RA, earlier than most pilots expect. The 737 takes longer to arrest sink than the A320 because of higher wing loading.
Hold pitch. Don't pull through. A pull-through flare bleeds energy fast and produces float; a held flare produces a controlled settle.
Trim aggressively in the descent so you're hand-flying with very small forces by 1,000 ft. The 737 is heavy on the controls; un-trimmed pitch corrections are big.
Avoid carrying extra speed. 10 kt over Vref bleeds 400+ feet of float on a normal landing. The 737 has lots of energy at touchdown; don't add to it.
Common mistakes.
Late, aggressive flare, produces float, hard touchdown, or tail strike if you over-rotate.
Failing to retract speedbrakes / spoilers manually after touchdown when ground spoilers don't auto-deploy in some MSFS variants.
Excessive nose-up trim during approach leaving you out of in-trim authority for the flare.
How its touchdown is scored.
The score at each point of its curves. Between the points, scores fall in a straight line; the full method is in the scoring methodology.
In landings pilots have shared.
From the landings of pilots who made their profile public, and only the ones that count toward a grade.
- Shared landings
- 7by 2 pilots
- Median touchdown
- 247fpm
- Inside the target
- 0%of them
- Graded A+
- 14.3%of them
Best in this aircraft.
Pilots who opted in to the leaderboards, ranked by their share of A+ landings.
No board for this aircraft yet. A board appears once at least 5 opted-in pilots have flown it 10 or more times each. See the boards there are.
For reference.
Aircraft data
- Manufacturer
- Boeing
- Model
- 737
- Variant
- -800
- FAA approach category
- D
- MTOW
- 79,015 kg (174,198 lbs)
- Vref in flight
- Adjusted to the weight you land at
- MSFS source
- Payware (PMDG/iFly)
- Category
- Narrow-Body Airliner
Roundout recognizes it in a title that contains
Boeing 737-800737-800737 -800B738
The rest of the Boeing 737 family
Read next
$23.99 once.
Every landing in the Boeing 737-800, graded against these numbers. Every update included, and tax or VAT in most countries.