LOCALIZER

[groundloop]

Ain't we got fun!
The localizer is sensitive; check out those green feathers on the map, which represent the area your instrument will register. Outside that zone the needle will be full over right or left and you will have no idea how much right or left you need to go. To learn this you need VOR 2 (or ADF, if you are landing at KCMH).
When an airport has a regular VOR you can tell what angle you are from that station(they like to place them at the ends of runways), and if you keep the needle at nine o'clock you can fly a circle till you reach your approach heading. Since you already know the direction of the runway (runway number times 10), you can tell when you are ABOUT to intersect the localizer and start your turn to final BEFORE THE NEEDLE STARTS TO MOVE so you won't overshoot it too badly. You want to do this at least ten miles out, at an altitude less than the glideslope and greater than the ground. If you are in a jet give it twenty miles; you can't even see the airport at that distance but jets turn slow, and even prop planes have a tough time catching the localizer if they have more than 45 degrees to turn once the needle starts to move. This is why we have two radios: you can't find the localizer without NAV 2 or ADF, unless you can actually see the airport, and then you are too damned close to fly the pattern unless you are Captain Eddy or something.
If this is too much for you, you can use the GPS to locate the localizer: just aim for the end of the feather and when you reach it turn most of the way towards it and wait for the needle to move.
Adjust the heading knob so the red indicator points towards your approach heading; it helps to have something concrete to look at; and remember to press D to adjust your heading gyro. Turn off the wind the first few times you try this, and put in a lot of fog so you won't be distracted by actually seeing something.

[garymbuska]

Hello Ace:
 I would strongly advise you to head over to the learning center and start taking lessons. I suggest you start with the basics and not jump straight into the ILS or Navigation lessons. Wait until you have mastered flying the beggining lessons first. Then take the next step. It might take a while but it will be worth the effort because in the end you will have a full understanding of flying.
  After all this is the way you would do it in the real world. I can almost gaurantee that you could not find any one in there right mind to take you up and teach you IFR flight with out you having at least soloed first.
I am not sure but i think you have to have a pilot ticket first.  And that takes at least 40 hours of flight before a FAA guy will even think about testing you.