70 year old newbie Flight Simmer

[casarticus]

Bought Flight Sim 2004 a month ago. Learnt to fly with Rod.  Basics only and solo flight. My problem is that I can plot a course using GPS from airport to airport but cant figure out how to land using the correct runway. Is there a way that I can use auto pilot to do this for me in the beginning stages? Sorry for being so thick but I am finding it all very hard to absorb

                                 Thanking you Charlie

[flyflyflyaway]

unfortunately no, the active runway (the one planes are currenlty landing on) usually stays the same in flight sim. If the active is runway 35, then what you should do is approach the airport at a heading of 35 (350 degrees).
If you do this properly, you should see a runway you are parallel with once you get closer. once you find this try to line up with the runway, by making it so you can look right down it. slowly start descending, watch the vasi (the red and white lights, if you have two red two white youre good), and once youre over the runway, cut youre power totally back, and let the plane glide in. one it touches down apply the brakes.

dont worry about being thick, we were all like that once

cheers,
CK

[garymbuska]

When you call the tower for landing go to the map view. It will show your posistion as well as the airport where you are about to land. In the top left hand corner of the map view you will see a + and a - sign the plus will zoom in the minus will zoom out. Zoom in on the airport you are about to land at adjusting the map so you can still see the air port. When you get close enough you will be able to see the runway numbers.Make a note on which one it was then when you zoom back out you will know which way you need to fly in order to make a landing

[flyboy 28]

Wow. The differance in ages here... I'm 14, you're 70... Just goes to show you flyings for everyone.

As for your problem, I can't help ya. I'm good for any VFR questions if you have 'em.

[BiggBaddWolf]

Yep that is what I do. Go to the map after I call for a full stop landing. Approach will assign you a runway to land on. I then go to the map and see where the runway is in relation to the position of my aircraft. Most times you do have to zoom in on the airports to see the runways  :o

[Scottler]

Another instance where FSNavigator would be quite handy, I'd think.

Welcome aboard!

[jordonj]

Hmmm...

I guess I do this backwards, or I just have a knack for figuring these things out differently.

The first thing I do is wait until I am about 6 minutes (by my GPS) out from the airport of my destination to contact them (unless I am flying IFR, in which case the when is made for me).  When I am close I then contact the airport and either select a runway for landing, or am assigned one.  

Remember what the numbers of the runways mean?

I compare their heading to mine and plot out an approach by using my GPS.  I also tune my navigation Radio 1 for ILS if it's available (you can find out the information by opening the Map and clicking on the airport...then you will see ILS frequencies and headings).

I haven't gotten to the proper way of entering a pattern (too lazy for now)

[casarticus]

I would just like to thank you all for taking the time to reply to my message. i did expect to get some facetious remarks due to my naivety but the response has been truly great and I hope to put the advice into practice.

             Once again Thanks       Charlie

[congo]

You have to be here at least 3 weeks before we get nasty Charlie.    ;D

Welcome!

[VPA_KTPA]

Welcome casarticus.ive been flying real world for quite a while now and i came accross this site awhile back and learnt some things i didnt even know about flying the one good thing about sim flying is gas is free.heres the site its a good one to help learn and understand flying.enjoy.

http://avsim.com/geoffschool/

[stevewilson]

Welcome to the wounder world of simming. And we all had to start somewhere and there is no better place (in my book at least) than right here to ask a question.

As for landing, I load the ILS freq' into nav 1 and then use the vor to help guide me to the correct runway.

Again Welcome.

[jordonj]

Aside from cool planes, here are some things you may want to download.

fsautostart: this neat little utility shuts down all those processes in the background, making your flying experience that much smoother.  It takes some time to configure, but it's a step-by-step process.  The window where you determine what to shut down has a window next to it telling you what to shut down and what to leave alone (it worked GREAT for me).
You can find it here:
http://www.fs-gs.com/downloads.htm

The No-CD Override:also improves performance. (at the very least, you don't need to change CDs!)  This is NOT a crack and doesn't allow illegal copying.
Can be found here:
http://www.simviation.com/fs2004utilities1.htm

The next 2 are a little bit of work to install (but worth it, and easier than installing some of the planes you can download here).

The first is called Manuel's Service Pack 3:  Install this so you can use the next one...

FS2004 Airport's Chart Viewer v5.0:  Do you feel like a Putz when Taxiing from parking to the Active and vice/versa?  Does turning on the progressive taxi feel like cheating?  Well this nifty little utility will create the airport chart with all the taxiways.  All you need to enter is the code for the airport (such as KTVM).  Then a window will come up with the airport chart...one that you can even print!  It does add another level of immersion to go through all the taxiing and parking!

both are available here:
http://www.simviation.com/fs2004utilities3.htm

[Billerator]

Welcome to these forums  :) .

As its been said earlier, each runway has a designation according to its heading.
So next time ATC tells you to land at runway 35, just glance at the compass ( or the Heading Indicator for that matter ) and try to work out which one is which.

When you feel more confident, tell ATC which runway you prefer, it saves you time  and virtual money  :) .


If you have any questions at all, just post them here, somebody is bound to anwser.

Enjoy.

[jordonj]

By the way, I'm glad to see people in their 60's and 70's getting into gaming (yes, flight sims count).  Some guy sent in a letter to Computer Games Magizine asking who their oldest Gamer/Reader was (he was 72)