ILS approach

[yzzguy]

In doing some of the built in adventures that come with FS2002PRO I was attempting the blind ILS approach to Heathrow, but a number of things seem wrong. (Aside from my crashes that is.)

1. The ILS is obscured by the fog.  Any one know why?
2. ATS says to us 27R, but the ILS is for a reciprocal approach (9R).
3. using the autopilot, and enabling approach turns the plane away from the runway.

Am I doing something wrong, or is the adventure just full of bugs?

[emh8]

Well, for Heathrow (EGLL) the ILS frequencies for for 9R and 27R are different, so it's important to make sure you have the correct frequency tuned in Nav1.  9R is 109.50 and 27R is 110.30.  The frequencies can be found in the facility data in Map View.

Secondly, if you were flying by GPS navigation prior to receiving approach vectors, It's important to change the GPS/NAV switch back to "NAV" for the approach or you'll miss the ILS altogether.  I've been flying Flight Simulator for quite a while and I still make this mistake on occasion!

Good luck!

[geezer]

Hi,

As to point number 1, if you check the approach plate for the specific ILS approach, you will see a decision height for the approach and if the runway is not in view at the decision height, you need to declare a missed approach and go around or seek alternative landing fields.

Point two: This is called a "Backcourse" approach which is the recip of the regular ILS. The ILS beacon originates from the far end of the runway as you are approaching it from a regular ILS approach and the back course is the lobe of the radio emission that "goes back" behind the transmitter. If you are making a back course ILS approach, everything is reversed on the vor gauge. You set your course for the runway direction, not the ILS direction and when the needle swings right you steer left and when the needle swings left you steer right.

Back course approaches are not very good for precision approaches because they bring you down short in most cases which is why they are not recognized as true precision approaches. Also none of them are cat 1 or higher approaches because of their lack of true precision. Also, the glide slope is not involved on the backcourse except minimally by reflection and cannot be trusted to give you good heights, another reason to make sure you are making a good timed descent.

Point three: The plane turns away because the heading bug is not set for the bearing of the runway, it is set for the bearing of the ILS approach which is on the other end of the runway.

I would like to suggest for you the following URL. I won't go into it here, just suggest you visit it.

http://www.navfltsm.addr.com/index.htm