The A350-900 is Airbus's modern wide-body — the airframe most likely to behave correctly out of the box in MSFS payware. Composite wing, fly-by-wire, and an approach feel pilots describe as 'genuinely easy' once configured. The challenge is restraint: it's so well-mannered that it rewards small inputs and punishes large ones.
Landing technique
- Vapp shown on PFD includes GS mini — fly it directly.
- Idle thrust at 30 ft, flare and hold. Same Airbus playbook as the rest of the family.
- The aircraft is shockingly quiet in the flare — don't let the lack of engine noise mask a high sink rate.
- Reverse thrust to 80 kt, then taper. Auto-brake medium for normal landings.
- Crab approach + de-crab at flare; wing-down is not an option with the engine clearance.
Common mistakes
- Over-reliance on automation in the flare — the auto-thrust hands off, but pilots sometimes don't realize and let the aircraft float.
- Side-stick PIO on touchdown — same FBW caveat as the rest of the Airbus family.
- Late configuration leading to high-speed final.
Aircraft data
- Manufacturer
- Airbus
- Model
- A350
- Variant
- -900
- FAA approach category
- D
- MTOW
- 280000 kg (617294 lbs)
- Vref reference
- 140 kt
- MSFS source
- Payware (iniBuilds)
- FLARE matches
- Airbus A350-900 · A350-900 · A350 -900
Related reading
- → How FLARE grades a landing — the composite formula behind every score
- → What "stabilized approach" actually means — the 1000-ft gate, four criteria, technique
- → Wide-Body Twin Airliner scoring thresholds — per-category curves applied to this airframe
- → Full scoring methodology reference — complete breakdown in the help docs