Simviation Forums

Okay, I enjoy flying the Big Jets, and I'm comfrotable with an IFR flight, with the exception of the landing. Once I get the runway in sight I hand fly the aircraft to the runway (Very Well 99% of the time).
Now, to "expand my horizons", is there a simple ILS landing? Maybe on the GPS? Any info is appreciated.

Someone here did an excellent tutorial with pics not so long ago. Maybe someone would be kind enough to post the link?

A brief summery of what I do.

1. Get the runway's ILS freq and heading from the FS9 map. (click on the airport, etc.)

2. Put that into the Nav1 radio.

3. Put the rwy's hdg into the nav or course heading selector.

4. Fly to the airport as you do useing GPS until you are 25 miles away holding about 4000ft above ground level.

5. Switch the GPS/NAV switch to NAV, the bar in the center of the nav display should move to one side.

6. Useing the autopilot's normal heading fly at an angle so to meet the ILS 'beam'. (Think of an imagainary line that extends inline with the runway for about 20 miles).

7. Press the NAV switch on the APilot. BOTH the NAV and HDG switches should be lit.

8. As the plane meets the beam (or 'localiser' as ATC and others often call it) the HDG switch on the AP should turn itself off.

9. Press the APP (approach) switch on the AP and the NAV switch will turn off.

10. You are now on full ILS, the plane will follow the beam right down to the end of the runway.




Simple once you know what to look for. Try it at the default KSEA as the plane is always already programed with the runway's hdg and ILS freq'. Just remember to always intercept the glide slope beam from below. You'll see the marker next to the HSI (artificial horizon) as either a small yellow or magenta arrow. You can just see this in the picture, on the left next to the altimeter. If it's above the center line, you're ok, below and you need to loose some height before pressing APP. Hope this helps, have fun!

There is an easier way of course.........the way many planes are now equipped.

The hands off autoland system. Install an autoland gauge, here: http://www.simviation.com/fs2004utilities7.htm

Comprehensive instructions for installation and use are provided.

Have Fun  ;)

Ivor

Here is the ILS landing tutorial posted by Nav.

Cheers,

TSC.

Thanks TSC, i'm sure he'll find that one clearer than mine! As for Autoland, usefull in the real world but getting the computer to do everything sort of defeats the object of a flight sim, don't you think? Personaly, I like to use ILS to get onto the glideslope, then switch it off when i'm at about 1500 ft and fly in manualy.

I agree with you simonmd......you should be able to fly an ILS approach on instruments manually before you use Autoland......but it has it's uses, especially if visability is so bad you can't see the runway until your over it....then the expierience of an autoland is amazing! I recently watched a program on Sky about the flight testing of the new Airbus 380. To demonstrate the autoland system the Captain intercepted the ILS then sat back with his arms folded! The plane landed perfectly coming to a full stop on the runway...scary or what.  ;)

I have a flight saved which has me positioned just a minute or so prior to intersecting the ILS for an IFR landing.  It's nice and handy because I can practice landing all types of aircraft in all types of weather conditions without going through the bother of flying the takeoff and pattern.  I love flying the 737 in extremely low visibility manually flying IFR landings on instruments.  Nothing quite like popping through the clouds just seconds before flaring in exactly the right place.

Nothing quite like popping through the clouds just seconds before flaring in exactly the right place.

Thats true - There's not a lot more satisfying than flying through the worst weather & then finding the runway exactly where you thought it should be.

Cheers,

TSC.

Thats true - There's not a lot more satisfying than flying through the worst weather & then finding the runway exactly where you thought it should be.

Naturally, the problem is the other four out of five times it isn't where you thought it should be.

I remember my first time flying into KPDX in FS-low ceiling, visibility of 1/4 mile and decreasing.  The wind was nearly nonexistent, so I continued with the approach. I executed a perfect ILS approach in nigh zero visibility.  I saw the lights right at DH so I continued with the landing.

As it turned out, those lights were on the taxiway. Microsoft had screwed up and the ILS for this runway was about 30 feet to the right of where it should've been.  I'll never make that mistake again

Funny I had the exact same problem myself at one airport - I can't remember the one now.

As it turned out, those lights were on the taxiway. Microsoft had screwed up and the ILS for this runway was about 30 feet to the right of where it should've been.

But at least it was Microsoft's mistake & not yours, still satisfying to know that it wasn't yourself that'd screwed up royally.

Cheers,

TSC.

Well that is true, but I'd been flying for about 1.5 hours and I love landing - it is the best bit -

I do it really weird.  I just track the localizer on standard nav lock and manage my altitude manually using my flaps, trim and throttle.  I typically do that in low vis and night time approaches but during cavu approaches in daytime the a/p gets disconnected as soon as the glide slope comes alive and I hand fly her right on down.  And, guess what?  It's not that un-realistic either.  Capt. Les Abend (Flying Magazine)
, 767/757 PIC for AA often flies approaches hands on under good weather.  And one of our resident ATP's here, Saratoga admited in a PM that they do the hands on thing in the 737's he flies often as well.  Why??? So the FMS doesn't get to have all the fun, that's why.