my second long flight and the questions generated.

[deuce]

well gentlemen, after the dutch harbor folly run i decided on a new one. i departed from Lakeland Linder Regional Airport (KLAL) my current hometown in reality in my trusty King Air 350 towards Gainesville. I had just taken the private pilot lesson on VOR and was anxious to see these things in action. Very neat feature. After landing, taxiing and saving/leaving for awhile I got back on and powered all of my systems back up and taxiid back to the runway (with proper clearance of course) for another leg.. i was going to go to New Orleans Int'l.

I learned from my previous flight the importance of passing by major areas so that I can take advantage of the weather frequencies so I plotted a course that skirted by Tallahassee & Mobile along the way.

I arrived in New Orleans and had to go left and around the airport to land on runway 10. I lined it up almost perfect with the line on my GPS screen but when i could see the landing lights i was quite a bit to the left. I did manage to maneuver and land quite safely with no problem, thankfully the King Air 350 is a relatively small plane and can afford to lose 500 feet of runway space.

Anyway, along the way a few questions were generated that i thought i would pose to you guys the experts!

1) Airspace Transition
I have seen this as an option in many airports. What is the purpose of this? Does it mean i want to intrude on the airport's airspace itself in whatever category (A, B, C, D)?

2) IFR
Logically I would think MOST flights are IFR. In my limited FS 2002 travels, all of the airline commuter jets travel with IFR while cessnas and other small craft like mine travel VFR. I was just wondering what the case is in reality.

3) Gauge Airspeed & VOR Airspeed
I'm sure there is a scientifically feasable and logical reason why these two numbers are different. Anyone want to share?

4) Radio Question
If you are flying along and you pass a decent size airport and want to update your altimeter and get a weather report, and you switch over to ATIS.. what would happen if while you are listening the control center comes on to hand you off to another freq?

5) Altitudes
What are the standard altitudes? I usually fly pretty low in the King Air.. 4500-5000 feet. What is the actual suggested cruise altitude for that plane? When you make your descent how low do you go before making your course corrections and beginning your landing procedures?

6) Airport Clutter
I know FS2002 allows you to contact an airport within 30 nautical miles. In some cases the area is overcluttered with airports and I'm not able to get in touch with a major airport until im 15-20nm from it. Can you manually tune these airports and talk to them in the ATC window or does that not work?

7) "Active Runway"
I read in the ATC Handbook that in FS2002 there is only one active runway and it is the ONLY one used by that airport. Why is this? Is that how things are run in the real world?

Left Traffic, Right Traffic. What?!
I am somewhat confused by directions to go left traffic, does this mean I just fly around the airport to my left or what?


That should give y'all something to do.

- Cam

[visitor]

Well being a seat of the pants GA flyer
the only thing I can help you with is:

IF they say enter right, you approch the
airport  so right turns line you with the
runway, there is a flight manual in liberays
for each plane in FS, it will give you cruse
alt and more, you can change active runway
by changing wind direction!! from here
you are on your own!!!

X
 

[Tiptop]

First off, nice picture..

In beginners terms..

2-  If you fly under an IFR flight plan, ATC is maintaining all collision avoidance for you.  Under a VFR flight plan, it is primarily up to you to maintain visual separation from all other aircraft.  All flights above 18,000 ft. have to be on an IFR flight plan.  At the same time, your King Air has I believe a service ceiling of about 25,000'.   You will usually find them flying between 12-23,000'.

3- I'm assuming your guage airspeed is your indicated airspeed, which is basically the speed of the wind over your wings, and your VOR airspeed being your speed to or from the VOR or your ground speed.  Which would obviously be different due to changes in wind.

4- Basically they are gonna make you look stupid...  Generally why you need to have 2 separate radios so you can monitor 2 frequencies..  ATC will many times give you the updated Altimeter settings if you are flying below 18000'.  If your above, your always flying with a 29.92 in.

7 - Usually there is only ONE active runway.  Unless an airport has parallel runways.  Then they might use a 22L and a 22R.
Mr obvious says thats how planes don't run into each other by landing on crossing runways.  Also, you wouldn't want to land with the wind behind you.

[OTTOL]

I usually stay up until at least 4am "everyone knows sleep causes cancer", but I may be up til daybreak on these, so I'll just touch on the Flight Related stuff.

Question 1: I have'nt flown a VFR flight in about 5years so I can't remember all of the airspace communication requirements, but basically in, at least, A,B and C you're required to talk to the tower before you enter the airspace boundary.

Question 2: The size of the aircraft doesn't necessarily determine the type(IFR/VFR) of flight. But you're probably right most smaller planes tend to be on VFR plans. It has more to do with Pilot's qualifications than the aircraft's equipment.

Question 3: You have several types of airspeed. For the sake of simplicity, and my sleep, I'll keep it simple. Indicated, is the airspeed that you read on airspeed indicator. True is Indicated corrected for air density. That means, the higher you go the "thinner" the air becomes, which spells less impact pressure in the pitot tube, less pressure in the airspeed indicator and ultimately less accurate readings. Ground speed is most important for flight planning. This is what you're reading on your DME or GPS. GPS is very accurate DME is only good if you're flying to the station and becomes innacurate as you pass overhead.

Question 4: Simple, ask the controller for a frequency change to check the ATIS, and he'll reply "approved check back on frequency".

Question 5: In the Kingair probably in the mid-20,000' range. In a turbine, you generally want to fly as high as possible. This gives the best fuel economy and hopefully keeps you above "most" of the Weather. Another reason is "pressure pattern flying". During the winter, in the Continental U.S., winds out of the west, associated with jetstream, can exceed HURRICANE FORCE. Obviously if your headed East You'll want to climb up and take advantage of that tailwind, and the reverse is true coming  West.

Okay, I can't feel my fingers anymore, someone else take over.  :o

[emh8]

Question #6:

I'm afraid the answer is "no."  You may be able to tune and monitor the frequency, but you will not be able to transmit until that airport option shows up in the ATC window.

[OTTOL]

I may be wrong(his questions kinda jumped around between sim and sim vs real world), but I thought he was referring to real world radio procedures. Otherwise, yep your right. I love the Squeel you get when you "block" someone else's transmission. Nice attention to detail.  ;D

[Nexus]

To make it clear on Airspace transitions, these are the most common, class A and B

CLASS A: Airspace from 18,000 feet MSL up to and including FL 600. Only IFR flying here!

CLASS B:  Airspace from the ground to 10,000 feet MSL, class B only exists around busy airports (?) VFR flyers must have a "clear of clouds" to fly here. I also think that a class B airspace consists of different layers. The layer area is larger the higher you're flying (please feel free to correct me here...)

There are also class C; D and E...but they arent as common in FS (I've never encountered those commands from the tower )

[Scottler]

Jeez....FL 600....wonder if I'd be able to see my house from way up there...

[zcottovision]

Sure, if your house is the size of France.

[OTTOL]

Here's a quick acronym:
          A-Altitude
          B-Biggest
          C-Communication required
          D-What was the question again? Just kidding, sorry I can't remember what D is. Someone help me here, or just use your imagination.
          E-Everywhere else
          G-Go-for-it
Essentially in class A-D you're required to call them on the radio. In class A you MUST be on a IFR flight plan, and you must be DME equipped if flying above FL240. A text-book example, which is somewhat close to you at LAL. If you start at MIA and head north, MIA(class B),FLL(class C), FXE(class D), and if you head west and join V157 back to LAL you will be in (class E). That is unless you climb too high or leave the airway. Leave the airway South of Lake Okeechobee and you will be in (class G).  ;)

[OTTOL]

D=Dialogue     Even though it's smaller you're still required to talk to someone.

[Scottler]

[quote ]Sure, if your house is the size of France. [/quote]

Figures....The girlfriend had originally pointed out a house that WAS the size of France, but noooo.  I had to say "Let's get something smaller so I can have a little money left over for F$".   Typical.

Don't they say that when your "habit" begins to interfere with your life it's become an addiction?

Hi, I'm Scott...(Hi Scott!)....I've been playing flight simulator since I was 12 years old...

[j_g_parker]

Just to add:  

3) If I am not mistaken VOR/DME speed is also a closing speed, i.e., the speed at which you are approaching/leaving the beacon.  It will only equal ground speed if you are flying directly toward/away from the marker.  If you are flying a tangent to the marker it falls off accordingly.  Because markers sit on the ground and you are flying over them (say 18k ft above), as you approach the marker, this distortion gets bigger (unless you are diving to the ground at the marker location).

5) Altitudes.  This has been answered mostly, but...bear in mind that there are rules governing the altitudes that can be flown VFR in controlled airspace and they depend on the the heading (i.e., East headings must fly at odd altitudes above 3000, plus 500, up to FL180, etc.).  Also, if you are flying a Victor airway, there are published minimums that insure continuous contact with the navigation VOR that defines the airway and minimum obstacle clearances.  They are usually printed right on the chart, along the airway.  When I fly near airports that are towered I also heed the MSA (minumum safe altitudes) published on the approach charts to avoid hitting mountans, etc.

[Fozzer]

Jeez....FL 600....wonder if I'd be able to see my house from way up there...

Hi Hyp... ...!

FL 600...
600 feet off the ground?
..or stick a zero on the end....6,000 feet....
or is it two zero's on the end......?
Why can't things be simple... ...!

Cheers mate... ...!
Paul.
(England).

P.S.  By the way...love your new French villa... ...!
LOL...!

[Scottler]

Foz--

FL 600 would be 60,000 feet.  

I sure wish they'd make it simpler.  Then to make matters worse, we're the ONE country in the world that doesn't use the metric system and we structure the entire aviation industry in non-metric figures...makes sense.  lol