Simviation Forums

Hello All!!

I'm new to the forum and to FS in general. I have been playing about with the free flights in FSX and found that ATC can direct me to where I am going using IFR. However, I have a few questions about the process.

1) What is the altimeter, and why is it always 2992?

2) Sometimes other planes get orders to climb to FL291 etc... what are flight levels and why don't they just say the height in feet?

3) When I get near the destination airport, the tower doesn't line me up with the runway. They just say cleared to land! How can I align myself better with the runway?

Thanks for all your help, I look forward to reading the answers!!

Hello All!!

I'm new to the forum and to FS in general. I have been playing about with the free flights in FSX and found that ATC can direct me to where I am going using IFR. However, I have a few questions about the process.

1) What is the altimeter, and why is it always 2992?

2) Sometimes other planes get orders to climb to FL291 etc... what are flight levels and why don't they just say the height in feet?

3) When I get near the destination airport, the tower doesn't line me up with the runway. They just say cleared to land! How can I align myself better with the runway?

Thanks for all your help, I look forward to reading the answers!!

Well, 29.92 is the barometric pressure, it should change with different weather conditions. If you usually look around the altimeter in the plane there should be a knob where you can increase and decrease it.  

If you go IFR mode in ATC, they will help you with aligning to the runway. You can do it in the GPS, or using ILS.

Flight levels are just altitude. I.e, FL280 is 28,000 feet or FL25 is 25,000 feet. Think they just do it as its easier to say and understand.
Welcome to SimV!

Thanks Richard.

Can anyone recomened a tutorial on using ILS?

and wow, we are close!! My first responder lives 5 miles away!!

Thanks Richard.

Can anyone recomened a tutorial on using ILS?

and wow, we are close!! My first responder lives 5 miles away!!

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=ryjbHVg8e ... annel_page Very good video, and made from someone from these forums, tcco94.
Where abouts are you in Bham?

Brilliant, I'll check it out. I'm in the south, Northfield.

I'm going to suggest that you slow down (literally, in a small, single-engine prop airplane)... learn the basics of VFR flight, before messing with instrument flight...

Start here :

http://www.simviation.com/cgi-bin/yabb2 ... 1208113107

Thanks Brett... Will take a look.

Welcome to Sim V!

Your about to learn a lot, as long as you listen to what people suggest.  I wouldn't worry about ILS for awhile either as Brett said. Listen to him, he knows what hes talking about  ;D

Thanks Richard.

Can anyone recomened a tutorial on using ILS?

and wow, we are close!! My first responder lives 5 miles away!!

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=ryjbHVg8e ... annel_page Very good video, and made from someone from these forums, tcco94.
Where abouts are you in Bham?

Thanks

Hello All!!

I'm new to the forum and to FS in general. I have been playing about with the free flights in FSX and found that ATC can direct me to where I am going using IFR. However, I have a few questions about the process.

1) What is the altimeter, and why is it always 2992?

2) Sometimes other planes get orders to climb to FL291 etc... what are flight levels and why don't they just say the height in feet?

3) When I get near the destination airport, the tower doesn't line me up with the runway. They just say cleared to land! How can I align myself better with the runway?

Thanks for all your help, I look forward to reading the answers!!

1) Well- First of all, most people were probably right about the altimeter. The altimeter is a device that judges differences in air pressures, and the barometric pressure.
Standard temperature and pressure is equal to 1 atm. (1 Atmoshpere-that's normal, because the earth only has 1 atmosphere.)
1 Atm is also equal to 29.92 milimeters of mercury, in a barometer. that is why standard temperature and pressure is called out to you so many times-Because you are in a normal part of the planet. I guess that sounds kind of wierd but I'm not sure how else to put it.
For exapmle: If you were to be flying over Colorado, A state which is much higher than sea-level in it's ground elevation, you most likely would not here 29.92 because the ground is closer to the atmosphere, thus you would not experience standard temperatures and pressures on the ground/air because the elevation has changed and so have T. & P.  There are often many contributing factors.

2) A flight level is generally used above 19,000 feet because they are easier to say, and are not supposed to be random altitudes like 2,300 feet or 14,700 feet. Flight levels are separated only by 500 feet or by 1,000ft. You probably won't, for exapmle, get flight level 284. You'd mostly get 285, or 290.

3) This is because IFR rules in FSX automaticalyy assume that you are capable of ILS procedure-I won't tell you exactly how that works because no doubt someone already has, but it's basically the auropilot landing the aircraft. NOTE- NONE OF THE AIRCRAFT IN FSX ARE CAPABLE OF AUTOLAND PROCEDURE. You will have to deactivate the autopilot and land manually near desicion hieght.

Hope that helped. Took mea while to figure some of that out-but I found number one just by paying attention in my chemistry class!

Whoa.. I gotta step in here.

We appreciate all contributions..

And....  

IFR (Instrument Flight Rules), and ILS (Instrument Landing System), have nothing to do with autopilots.

Yes, an autopilot can be used to track an ILS.. just like it can be used to track a VOR radial, or follow a GPS course.. or even  just hold a heading and altitude. But an ILS is first and foremost, a system to guide YOU, as the pilot, down to a runway. It's not an autopilot-only system..

Hey Akumos,
If you go to the "Learning Center" menu in FSX under "Lessons" you'll find some interactive flight lessons. Those will work well with the reading in the flight school threads. Before long you'll be shooting instrument approaches like a pro. Good Luck!
CraigG

ONE thing not answered: Why is the barometric pressure always 29.92? It's because you're flying with all clear weather. If you download real weather, you'll find the pressure is rarely 29.92.

When training, we had one aircraft where the altitude or the pressure wasn't exact. We knew the field elevation, so we factored that in so we knew that when the barometer was set in, the elevation would be so many feet below (or above, I forget) actual.

One more thing: I have flown circuits just doing touch and go landings to get some landing practice in, and have had to change the barometer EVERY circuit.

It's all about air pressure. That's why when a low pressure system moves through, the numbers go down. High pressure, they go up.

just another fact about altimeter settings... and probably a bad practice for anyone involved...

when i used to fly sailplanes (in real life), the seat-of-the-pants way of calibrating the altimeter was to simply zero it out on the runway, effectively converting it into a height meter

i gather that for sailplanes, this practice has it's uses, since normally sailplanes fly in quiet airfield with practically no other traffic and usually don't go very high (usually... i know that sailplanes CAN go very very high) and thus, turning the altimeter into a height meter can be very practical to estimate when you should be disengaging from the tow, or entering a landing pattern and things like that

however, this can't be done in FSX unless you're very close to sea level, since the altimeter setting does have a limit and can only be turned so far

Cheers