ILS Landing

[Mrgothere]

Wow!
Today i tried to make an ILS landing @ LAX well, it didn't turn out the way i planned it.

The following is what i did.

1. Went into the map
2. Clicked edit
3. Found the active runway 7R
4. Wrote the info down
6. ILS frequency 111.50
7. Runway heading 069
8. Placed the ILS freq into the Nav-1 radio
9. Placed the runway heading into the heading box..not in the course box.

10. Configured my airplane and took off
11. Hit heading, speed altitude and nav hold buttons

The DME began counting the miles down, i thought i was on my way to LAX to make an ILS landing. But i was really surprised to find out, i was flying over Utah their was snow on top of the mountains.

As it turned out the autopilot wasn't tracking the nav-1 signal, it did make a few turns by itself but stopped.

Whats going on here?...Did i set it up wrong, did i place the heading in the wrong box?...What do i have to do, in order to put my A-6 on the runway @ it's destination.

Heres the youtube video i relayed on.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-c710SHDU0#

[ViperPilot]

Mrgothere,

Hello! You might try this video... it really helped me out on ILS procedures, although I typically fly VFR:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MP_wRTnkvAc

I found when I first started using the sim that because jets have a much higher speed curve that landings became very frustrating because I could never 'hit the mark' and be where I needed to be (GS, altitude) that when I really got down to learning the sim, all of my landings were in basic GA aircraft, like the C172. This way it teaches you to perform the landing at a much slower speed so things move a lot slower. Once you get the hang of it, then move up to something a little faster... the procedure is the same, just everything moves quicker.

The other thing is that I have read that FS 2002 has a little glitch in the AP when it comes to landing and will not hold proper GS (I think that's the glitch). I always try to hand fly approaches in order to get a better feel for landing and use the AP just for cruise flight.

That being said, I have a couple of questions:

1) Where did your flight originate? If you were flying into LAX, how did you know you were in Utah?

2) On the panel, there should be a switch for NAV/ GPS. This will tune the AP based on using info from the NAV 1 radio (in NAV), or the GPS. That will have a factor in navigation.

The Runway heading should be set on the Directional Gyro, using the heading bug. (The gauge with 2 knobs @ the bottom: HDG & OBS. Set the heading corresponding to the nose of the A/C. This is a reference for you so you'll know what the heading of the runway is.

Hope this wasn't too confusing! Let me know if you have any ?.

Alan

[WebbPA]

ILS landings are sufficiently complicated that you can't say "here's how in 10 words or less".

There is a learning curve and there is no magic shortcut.  You just have to slog through it and one day it will all dawn on you as if you have known it all your life.

Here's a good IFR tutorial with a separate page for ILS landings that should help.