Simviation Forums

Hi, I have a few questions related to FS2002 flying and I hope someone will be able to answer.

1. What exactly is ADF and how can I use it? SO far for navigation I use VOR and GPS.

2. Is there any kind of detailed manual for flying and landing a 747-400 as I want to improve my technique and I think the AC_Book pdf that comes with FS2002 is not enough?

3. I have a GeForce 2 MX and I am planning to upgrade. What cars should I buy in order to use full display settings and clouds in whether systems at a good frames rate? (Always talking about FS2002).

Thanks for any help.

1) Automatic Direction Finder

Have a look here: http://www.avionicswest.com/adfarticle.htm

Charlie

Hi Poseidon,

    An ADF is an ''Automatic Direction Finder'' an this instrument works with the NDB station wich means ''Non-Directionnal Beacon''. A NDB station is almost the same thing than a VOR station. THe difference is that the NDB station does'nt have any radial way to follow like the VOR station. You cannot follow any route to the NDB. You can only follow the arrow of the ADF instrument. When this arrow is pointing up, this means that you are going right thru the NDB station.

I heard that the frequecies of the NDB station s were going further than VOR station.

Just set the frequecie of the ADF at the same than NDB that you want to follow, orient the acft in the way that the ADF arror is pointing up and that's it man.

If you have any other question, send-me an e-mail.

                                                                        Cheers

What exactly do you want to learn regarding the 747-400? I'm more knowledgeable about the 747 Classics, but I'm pretty much updated regarding the -400 series.
Ask, and you will learn!

And regarding NDB vs. VOR range, we had a thread about that some weeks ago, where we found out that the range for each station (both NDB and VOR) is individual, so there is no general rule of thumb that says NDB stations have the greater range  :)

Many thanks for your replies. At least about the ADF I am fully covered now.

Now and since Nexus82 asked what exactly I want to learn about 747-400, I am actually interested inthe correct final descent to the runway.
So far I am using flaps 25. N1 at 60% and a nose up pitch of 2-3 degrees. This makes a speed of 180 (maybe a bot more) KIAS which I reduce when I do the flare to about 160-170 setting the throttle to idle just after passing the threshold. The only problem is that sometimes this leads to a steep descent (1000 FPM or a bit more) crashing the aircraft. I also tried to increase the nose pitch while descending to about 5-6 and this keeps the descent to a normal rate but yet I am afraid that if I do a flare increasing the pitch more the tail could touch ground first. I would like to know the correct procedure because I don't think the pdf which comes with the FS2002 CD is correct for the 747.

Many thanks for your replies. At least about the ADF I am fully covered now.

Now and since Nexus82 asked what exactly I want to learn about 747-400, I am actually interested inthe correct final descent to the runway.
So far I am using flaps 25. N1 at 60% and a nose up pitch of 2-3 degrees. This makes a speed of 180 (maybe a bot more) KIAS which I reduce when I do the flare to about 160-170 setting the throttle to idle just after passing the threshold. The only problem is that sometimes this leads to a steep descent (1000 FPM or a bit more) crashing the aircraft. I also tried to increase the nose pitch while descending to about 5-6 and this keeps the descent to a normal rate but yet I am afraid that if I do a flare increasing the pitch more the tail could touch ground first. I would like to know the correct procedure because I don't think the pdf which comes with the FS2002 CD is correct for the 747.

Allright, those questions are good ones, and I'm afraid there is no universal answer to this. First of all, how much fuel do you carry when landing? This has a great impact on the Vref speed (approach speed). Then we have the winds, of course, which also is a factor when it comes to approach speeds. But as a good general of thumb: The -400 series at Maximum landing weight will have an approach speed of around 150 KIAS (add or subtract 5 knots), and this is with flaps 25, not 30 (full flaps).
The Vref speed is usually 1.3 times stall speed in landing configuration (VSO) plus 50% of the wind gust speed in excess of the mean wind speed. So as you can see the Vref will not be the same for all flights.

Also, due to its new improved wing design, the -400 series tend to have a lower aoa approach than its predecessors (series 100, 200 and 300). So 5-6 degrees upward pitch during approach seems abit too much.

All these facts are from the real life. The simulator is exactly what the name says:

Alright, I have gathered all information down and I practiced during the weekend. Actually I setup a situation using the slew mode of a 747 about 12 miles from the runway and an altitude of 2200 - 2500 ( a normal approach situation). I repeated the landing many times and I can say it is a habit now. I repeated the same in several airports even changing the angles of approach. I managed a descent of 3 degrees and a 5-6 for the flare. I only change the throttle. This is it. Thanks again.