ILS Landing

[Nav]

This thread is developing a life of its own!  Hope linacus looks in from time to time!

beefhole, about:-

Ahh, but they give you a general heading that is, probably about 80% of the time, I'd say too wide of an angle to make a proper ILS intercept.

I don't have that problem, ATC usually lines me up nicely - and, on reflection, I think I know why.  I tend to fly long-distance, often round-the-world flights where fuel economy is at a premium - so I am in the habit of keeping the speed reasonable.

Flying IFR, as soon as I am told to start letting down, I set the 'Speed Hold' to 250 knots Indicated.  Of course, up at 35,000 the true speed is much faster - but lower down it is in line with the real-life rule (max. speed 250 IAS below 10,000 feet).

I suspect that the ATC commands in FS are programmed to assume that speed.  And that, if you fly faster than that on the approach, it can't adjust - so the commands are 'late', because your actual position is further on than the program has allowed for.  

Hence, possibly, the wide angles it sets up for you, but not for me?

[linacus]

Ok thanks guys

So wat i do is when i have clearence to enter the pattern i jus leave the auto pilot, leave the heading and change the rate of decent and speed. will the heading change itself?

[Papa9571]

Since I frist read this thread I have been playing with landing using ILS and have found the following, with a lot of help from eveybody else. Here is a summary. This assumes you have the ILS frequency dialed into NAV1.

1. Set you airspeed to 250 when ATC starts bringing you down from altitude.

2. When you get the call to switch to the tower and after you make your call switch your autopilot to ILS then turn your GPS/NAV switch to NAV. IF you leave this switch in GPS you will not be able to land using ILS.  

3. Take control of airspeed and lower flaps and gear at the appropiate times. Make sure you know the speed limits of your flap settings or you might damage your flaps ....bad idea...

4. The aircraft heading indicator and the altitude hold indicators will go out when the ILS approach takes over.
You may swing out to one side on approach. This is normal as the aircraft is trying to line itself up with the ILS beacon. If you dont turn back and try to line up wiht the runway or stay lined up to one side you will have to take control and land the aircraft yourself. The reason for this is in some airports in FS the ILS beacons do not properly line up wiht the rumways.

5. On touchdown if you dont have an autoland selection, turn off the autopilot, apply reverse thrust to slow down, and complete your rollout.

6. Follow ATC calls to get off the runway and switch to ground frequency when told and you are home safe and sound.


There has been mention of the autopilot not being able to line up properly when you have a crosswind but so far I have had no problems.

Have fun and fly safe.

[beefhole]

[quote]This thread is developing a life of its own!

[Reap]

Hmmm  not sure what all the fuss is about, I fly ILS approach all the time and never really had a problem.

The important point is to approach from BELOW the glideslope and meet it as it comes down to you.
Assuming you have the ILS frequency in Nav1 and the runway heading in your course then you should approach the localiser from not too steep an angle.

For instance if the rwy heading is 270 then approach on a course of (say) 240 on Heading hold. Remember that the ILS only has a range of about 20 miles or less so dont intercept the localiser from too far out.

Approach at around 170 knots with a few degrees of flaps and probably gear down at this stage.
Watch the centre line of the Nav1 and the moment it starts to move hit the APP (approach hold) button.

The aircraft will then lock on to the localiser and start lining up for the runway. You may overshoot slightly but as long as your speed is not too fast it will sort itself out.
However at this stage you are not FULLY established.

Watch the glideslope indicator at the right hand side of Nav1 and it will start to drop down as you approach the glideslope from below. As soon as you hit the glideslope the ALT hold button will go out and you are now fully established.

Reduce speed to your aircrafts best glidespeed for its weight and increase flaps. The APP hold will allow for cross winds but you may need to adjust manually as you get very close to the threshold.

Shortly before touchdown disengage IAS (speed) hold and finally disengage Autopilot, flare the aircraft, touchdown and apply brakes.

It really is very easy, but does require practice. I never ever use GPS because in realworld in Europe at least its not legal (cant speak for rest of world).

Try landing ILS in the Baron 58 or similar for practice.

Linacus if your really struggling I can set up a server and talk you through it on multiplayer if you like.

[Brown]

On ILS landing you might want to try and make smooth inputs or you might need a diffrent joystick it is nice to hit the numbers when landing. Also when I line up I lower my view with Shift+Enter .

[linacus]

Thanks guys its all working now jus needed the help on lining up, seems im preddy gurd now

Nice one!

[jeremyclarkson575]

I love landing ILS because of the exactitude, even with the worst climate yo can land correctly, a tip to land in the center of the line is first, dont chase the ils indicator, just try to intercept it, and then try to focus in the las part of the runway.

[beefhole]

LOL, on the poll it says "ILS, Visual, and none."

Hehe, well I'm gonna be the one to tell you-none isn't really an option for landing

Visual is the base category of landings (you can't do anything simpler), then GPS, Localizer, ILS. None isn't really a category

[Reap]

True and where is 'Both' for those of us that fly IFR and VFR?  ;)

[Nav]

Visual is the base category of landings (you can't do anything simpler), then GPS, Localizer, ILS. None isn't really a category

beefhole, I'm afraid that we're disagreeing again!