Learn what counts as a hard or crash landing in MSFS, why it happens, and how to fix approach speed, sink rate, flare timing and bounces.
In Microsoft Flight Simulator, a hard landing is a touchdown with excessive sink rate or load, while a crash landing causes serious damage, loss of control, or triggers the simulator's crash detection. Avoid both by flying a stabilised approach at the correct indicated airspeed, managing power to control sink, flaring smoothly, and going around when unstable.
What counts as a hard or crash landing in MSFS?
A hard landing is not simply a touchdown that feels firm. It means the aircraft has contacted the runway with excessive vertical load, often accompanied by a bounce, gear damage, loss of directional control or an aircraft-specific warning.
Microsoft Flight Simulator does not use one universal feet-per-minute limit for every aircraft. The result depends on the aircraft, weight, attitude, side load, damage settings and any systems modelled by the add-on.
| Landing result | What it means |
|---|---|
| Firm touchdown | A positive but controlled touchdown without damage or a significant bounce. |
| Hard landing | Excessive touchdown load or sink rate that may cause a bounce, warning or damage. |
| Crash landing | An impact, runway departure or loss of control that causes serious damage or ends the simulated flight. |
Damage behaviour differs between MSFS 2020, MSFS 2024 and individual aircraft. A detailed add-on may enforce aircraft-specific limits that the base simulator does not. Switching off crash or damage detection can stop an abrupt flight-ending screen, but it does not turn a poor touchdown into a safe landing.
A crash landing is also separate from Microsoft Flight Simulator freezing or closing to the desktop; that is a software crash, not a landing outcome.
Why do hard landings happen in Microsoft Flight Simulator?
Most hard landings begin well before the flare. A mistake we see constantly is trying to rescue an unstable final approach during the last few seconds rather than going around.
- Too little airspeed: The aircraft runs out of lift and develops a high sink rate near the ground.
- Too much airspeed: The aircraft floats, uses excessive runway and may be forced down after the pilot becomes impatient.
- Excessive descent rate: Closing the throttle early or descending below the intended glide path leaves too much sink to arrest in the flare.
- Late or abrupt flare: Flaring late produces a heavy impact; pulling too sharply can cause a balloon followed by a drop.
- Poor trim or control calibration: Large control corrections, noisy axes and excessive sensitivity make precise pitch changes difficult.
- Crosswind drift: Touching down while drifting sideways adds side load and can lead to a runway departure.
- Looking too close to the aircraft: Fixating on the runway immediately ahead makes height and sink rate harder to judge.
Our guide to diagnosing and correcting rough touchdowns covers excess speed, trim and flare timing in more detail.
How can you prevent a hard landing in MSFS?
- Use the aircraft's correct approach speed. Fly indicated airspeed, not groundspeed, and account for weight and gusts where the aircraft's procedures require it. Avoid relying on one speed for every loading condition; our method for finding the correct landing speed explains the difference between approach speed and VREF.
- Stabilise the approach early. Before reaching the runway, have the landing configuration set, speed under control, descent established and aircraft aligned. Set a personal decision gate between roughly 500 and 1,000 feet AGL according to the aircraft and type of approach.
- Trim for the final approach. Hold the target attitude with small control pressures. Do not use large bursts of trim during the flare.
- Control the descent with power. On a typical three-degree path, descent rate in feet per minute is roughly five times groundspeed in knots. Treat that as an approach cross-check, not a touchdown-rate target. If the aircraft starts sinking, add power promptly instead of hauling back on the controls.
- Round out and flare smoothly. Shift your gaze towards the far end of the runway, reduce power as appropriate for the aircraft and raise the nose gradually. Do not force the aeroplane onto the runway or keep pulling until it stalls several feet above it.
- Remove drift before touchdown. Use the correct crab or wing-low technique for the aircraft, touch down on the main gear and maintain centreline with rudder. Tailwheel aircraft require their own wheel-landing or three-point technique.
- Go around when the landing stops being predictable. Excess speed, a large balloon, persistent drift, a high bounce or insufficient runway are all reasons to add power and try again.
For the complete sequence from final approach through flare and rollout, see our step-by-step MSFS landing technique.
What should you do after a bounced landing?
After a small bounce, hold the landing attitude, keep the aircraft aligned and add enough power to prevent it dropping heavily. Never push the nose down to force the wheels onto the runway.
Go around after a high bounce or any developing porpoise. Apply power smoothly, establish the correct climb attitude and retract flaps and landing gear in stages according to the aircraft's procedure. Trying to salvage repeated bounces commonly turns a merely hard landing into a propeller strike, nose-gear impact or runway departure.
Does landing rate prove that a landing was hard?
Landing rate is useful for tracking consistency, but it is not a complete verdict. Touchdown weight, vertical acceleration, bank angle, side load, runway slope and landing-gear design all affect the actual load.
Third-party landing-rate tools may also calculate touchdown differently, so two readouts can disagree. Do not chase an extremely low number by floating far down the runway; a controlled touchdown in the intended zone is safer than a smooth touchdown with too little runway remaining.
How should you practise avoiding hard landings?
Use a familiar aircraft, a long runway, daylight, calm weather and the same fuel load for each attempt. Practise stabilised approaches first, then add gusts and crosswinds only after speed, glide path and flare timing are repeatable.
A repeatable starting position makes faults easier to identify. Our landing-practice setup explains how to remove changing weather, unfamiliar aircraft and poor runway choice from the exercise.