Simviation Forums

.... Auto Land ....
I am having trouble. I put autopilot on and switch on approch. And go onto teh GPS and set it to KORD and I am lined up. And click activate. It flys down. Does it ment to put the wheels down? And does it do the speed on its own? And will it stop itself? (I am using airliners) Please can you tell me how to use it. Thank you!

FS2004 Does not have a true autoland system.
The approach button is just that APPROACH it will lock on the glide slope but will not alter speed. It is designed to put you on the glide slope. It will not actually land the plane. You will have to do that. The approach will put you over the thresh hold then disengage.
A true autoland system would use the FMC or Flight Management Computer.

Yeah sadly MS didnt include this.

To use the approach feature:

1. You will need the runway heading and the frequency of the ILS glideslope you will be using ( this can be found by using the Map window and clicking on the airport you want to land at, all the info you need is there).

2. Enter the runway heading into the NAV heading selector on the autopilot panel.

3. Next enter the frequency of the glideslope into your NAV1 radio ( on the radio stack ) and activate it.
You should hear some morse-code which identifies this frequency. It will only become active about 10 miles or so from the runway.

4. Make sure that the NAV/GPS switch is set to NAV.

5.
IFR - If you are flying IFR then ATC will guide you to the ILS glideslope ( the green cone on your GPS screen ).
ATC will normally guide you at an angle to the runway and will tell you to intercept the localiser.
If you look at your main display with your Artificial Horizon, you will see 2 pink criss-crossing lines.
These show you where the center of the ILS glideslope is. When you first turn the radio on, these will probably be to the side of the display.
The localiser is the horisontal part of the ILS beam, so the center of the localiser is shown by the vertical pink line. When you see this line move from the side of the display, you have captured the localiser.

Now guide the plane into the center of the localiser untill the horizontal pink line drops down to the center of the Artificial Horizon. Just before it reaches the center, press the APR or approach button.
The plane now should manouver to align itself with the runway and will begin to descend.


VFR - If you are flying VFR you will want to be at about 2000-2500ft above ground when you get to the ILS glideslope ( green cone ). And just like if you were flying IFR, guide the plane using the GPS and the pink lines on your display. Then again when the horizontal line is nearly at the center, press the APR button.
The golden rule is, always capture the ILS beam from below, otherwise the plane will have great difficulty to fly down to the runway and will miss it.

6. With your landing gear down and flaps set, monitor what the plane is doing and control your throttle.
( a B737 lands at about 85-95 knots, so try to stay near that ). Now if the winds are within 15 knots and you dont fly too fast, the autopilot should get you dead-on with the runway.

7. Just after you pass the start of the runway, you should press APR again to disengage the autopilot and hand fly it down.

8. Flare accordingly ( for a smooth landing ) and as soon as the wheels touch-down, deploy the spoiler ( shift+/ ) and apply reverse thrust ( hold F2 ).
Try not to slam the nose-whell down either.

Now that is about it.
Feel free to ask if you still dont understand something, its pretty complicated.
You can also try the lessons, there is one about ILS landings.

 

I never use the APPROACH button. I just use the autopilot to get established on the localizer and glideslope then I turn it off and fly the landing without the autopilot  ;D

I dont know it that is how they do it in real life but it works for me on FS

most pilots (if using the approach mode) disengages the autopilot when it's time for the actual landing. This of course of the weather permits. It reduces the workload for the crew.

Some autoland systems are still quite sluggish and the autothrottle/autothrust, which has to be engaged for an autoland, has a tendency to react a little late on a couple of aircrafts (starts with an A and ends i IRBUS ) when encountering strong gusts. Not really a problem though...

And I don't want to take anything away from Billerator's great explanation, but you won't land a 737 in 85-95kts try more 130-140kts  8)

Yeah I was thinking 85-95 kts was too slow  :o

130-140 sounds more like it  ;D

Does  everyone want an autoland for fs2004? If most of us write to them (email) and ask them to do an update we can download with an auto land and better Air Traffic Control. It has happened before. So if everyone trys then they might do it! Have a go. I am!

[quote]
but you won't land a 737 in 85-95kts try more 130-140kts

I still am having so much trouble. Can't they have a little add on and all you do is put in the sirport code. For example KLAX then put in the runway example 27L. And then it turns the plane and puts ths landing gear down and flaps and controls the speed. Can't it be that easy. Or do you know if there is a program like that???

Im sure there are some payware autoland systems ot there, Nexus should know.

Ive just managed to land the default 737 at 112 knots. That was with 9% fuel and at 7 degrees nose up.
It can fly along at 98 knots, but it needs 15 degrees nose up.

I still am having so much trouble. Can't they have a little add on and all you do is put in the sirport code. For example KLAX then put in the runway example 27L. And then it turns the plane and puts ths landing gear down and flaps and controls the speed. Can't it be that easy. Or do you know if there is a program like that???

Flying wouldn't be all that fun if it was that easy  ::) Landing is one of the most fun parts, lol. I only use autopilot for maintaing flight level and heading. Once it's time to land autopilot goes off.  8)

Don't know how accurate the default 737 is regarding the performance, but on my flight yesterday, the minimum manouver speed was at roughly 120kts with the 737-800 (PMDG), I'd sink like a rock if even tried to fly below 100kts

I had some 5000lbs of fuel left with a seating of 119pax, so I wasn't really heavy at all

sounds good

I'll try and see if I can land the 737 but what is the ideal speed and flare ect for the default triple 7 ?

and does anyone know if there is a AI helicopter add on out there.... people say you might know nexus

if not hey no sweat
thankx guys

I'll try and see if I can land the 737 but what is the ideal speed and flare ect for the default triple 7 ?

The learning center in FS2004 has all the information for the 777 as well as the other default aircraft.  ;)

Aparently fs2004 did not install a proper autoland. Other people have said that!