SurClaro Flight Simulator Resources

Posted: Mon Jan 26, 2004 5:54 am Post subject: FS04 & ILS

greetings from athens,greece

i 'm playing FS04 the last 2 weeks and its great
the only prob i have is with the ILS approach/landing

i tune the required ILS frequency in NAV1
my question is:

when i tune,what else do i have to do so for the ILS to work properly?
i m receiving ATC commands for heading xxx

shall i follow these commands?
if yes,where do i have to put the coordinates,in HDG or in COURSE?

i 'd appreciate a lot a step-by-step guide for the ILS

thx all in advance and Surclaro=>keep up with the good work

Posted: Thu Jan 29, 2004 6:21 am Post subject:

Greetings from Athens, Alabama. Well actually I am in college now in Colorado. As far as ILS's go heres the deal.

The heading box is the direction the plane will fly. The course box moves the CDI.

I am guessing you do not have a joystick yet. I would get one. You can do much more if you can fly with out the AP.

Now on to the lesson. Tune the frequency into the NAV 1. Then find the runway heading. Put the runway heading into the course box. This is for you, not the autopilot.

Fly the headings as assigned by ATC. Check the map, or GPS to see where you are in relation to the ILS. This will help you matain situational awareness and just generally make things better for you.

You will see the "Needle" center when you approach the ILS. By this time, ATC should say something like, "fly heading xxx until intercepting the localizer." So when the needle starts to center, turn to the runway heading. This is one reason why you put the Runway heading into the Course box. Now you have that info readily available. If the needle, (or bar if you are flying a jet) is to the right, you should turn right a bit until it is centered, then turn back onto the runway heading. If it is too the left, turn left. I would advise you fly with clear skies to get the hang of this and see how things go.

Think your a pro at that yet? Now lets talk about the Gideslope. This is a 3 degree line that goes to the runway. If followed correctly, it will bring you right onto the runway. there is a horizontal needle, or similar on jets, that moves up or down. IF the needle is centered, continue the rate of descent that you are doing. This is a speed thing as well, 90kts= 500 fpm. Higher speeds= faster descents. If the needle starts to go down, slow a bit and hold the rate of descent that you have. The needle will come back to the center. If the needle is high, slow your descent, You do not have to climb, the needle will come down.

Basically, follow the needles. If you are using the AP, hit the apr button and the AP will fly the approach for you. This will show you the general idea. Sometimes the AP gags and starts going all over the place. Got that joystick hooked up yet? Youre gonna need it. Fly the ILS in good wheather first. The you can see how things go. Post a reply if I am too confusing. Shocked

Posted: Fri Jan 30, 2004 7:39 pm Post subject:

thx a lot for ur time and for the reply

so if i am right -from what u wrote- the procedure is the following:

1. tuning to NAV1
2. putting the heading into the COURSE box

by putting the heading in COURSE,auto-pilot is OFF
that means that i m controlling the plane and if i understand correctly,HDG box is ONLY for the auto-pilot

3. following localizer & glidescope so for me to have runway correctly on sight
4. landing

just one more question:

u wrote me that if i m using an AP,i can press APP for an easy approach

if so then,when i m putting the heading in COURSE box (step 1) do i have to turn the AP off or its turning-ff automatically?

sorry for my poor english,i m just trying to figure out,whats the role of AP in landing

thx again for ur time and ur help

Posted: Sat Jan 31, 2004 6:23 pm Post subject:

When you have tuned to the ILS, the course box will do nothing to the autopilot, the course only affects VORs. Lets say, you are flying along. You are flying using the autopilot. When you recive heading information from ATC, you dial that in the heading box. You begin to set up for the approach. As a help to you, you dial in the runway heading into the course box, tune the nav one, etc. ATC clears you for the approach. You can then press the APP button. The autopilot will cross through the localizer, then turn off heading mode, and fly the plane towards the runway. After the plane passes throught the gideslope, the ALT mode will disengage and the plane will begin descending as needed. You should then establish the landing speed, flaps and gear down. The plane will trim as needed. Once the plane is going well, you can cut the AP. The plane should be trimmed properly and will head toward the runway. You can then land the plane.

Posted: Sat Jan 31, 2004 11:48 pm Post subject:

thx again

i ll try landing and then report

wish luck

Posted: Fri Feb 06, 2004 4:02 am Post subject:

excellent landings thx to ILS and ur help of course

gratefull

Posted: Mon Mar 22, 2004 9:32 pm Post subject:

How do I find the VOR, ILS Freak? does it auto tune like the radios? I'm having the same problem... Glad I'm not the only one Smile

, I am hoping I don't have to buy a crapload of jeppsen simcharts just to get a good ILS approach for bad weather.

Posted: Mon Mar 22, 2004 10:18 pm Post subject:

"How do I find the VOR, ILS Freak? <...> I am hoping I don't have to buy a crapload of jeppsen simcharts just to get a good ILS approach for bad weather."

Here's a couple of free internet sites w/ some good info re airport diagrams and approach plates:
http://www.airnav.com/
http://www.fltplan.com/

In a pinch (eg you're forced to an alternate other than the one you 'planned' for), hit NRST on the GPS, then CRSR to activate the cursor function. Arrow to the desired location, hit ENTR. Arrow to the page listing the freq's, ILS's should be listed there (hope I have the button names correct...).

Posted: Tue Mar 23, 2004 12:32 am Post subject:

Everyone has give good advise above.

Here is an alternative for finding the Frequencies for the ILS. While in the COCKPIT view, click on the MAP icon. Then zoom in on the airport where you want to land. Click on the Airport. You will now see a bunch of stuff describing the airport. Scroll down until you find the ILS frequency. Cool

Posted: Tue Mar 23, 2004 12:40 am Post subject:

If you happen to fly a plane without this Icon, you are not lost though:
Asign a keycode for the map. I suggest F9 for it is unused by default settings and is just next to F10 for the kneeboard, therefore easy to remember.

How to...? Rolling Eyes

Hit in flight ALT, click options and scroll to an entry that will say something like key settings (I got a german version and don't know the exact american pendant). Scroll trough the list till you find the related entry.

The Rhythmosaur

Posted: Tue Mar 23, 2004 12:58 am Post subject:

Great idea. However I would stay away from F9 because FSNavigator uses this key by default any many of us use FSNavigator. Cool

Posted: Tue Mar 23, 2004 8:28 am Post subject:

Thanx Gents for your help, Now to practice fogged in approaches!

Posted: Tue Mar 23, 2004 11:30 am Post subject:

Well, so far so good... One more item though, Everything goes well except for the descend. I line up with the runway but the glidepath doesn't kick in.

I use the approach button (APP) but she just lines up on the runway and no descent.... any ideas?

Posted: Tue Mar 23, 2004 12:20 pm Post subject:

For the approach to kick in you must initially be below the glideslope when you push the apr button. Another good site for nav info is www.myairplane.com and for airport charts; www.fscharts.com

Posted: Tue Mar 23, 2004 9:32 pm Post subject:

Excellent links flyrcoyle...I've been looking for free charts for a while.