Been genning up on ILS's. You never know when ypou may need it

2. 2. Decision altitude/height

Once established on an approach, the autoland system or pilot will follow the ILS and descend along the glideslope, until the Decision Altitude is reached (for a typical Category I ILS, this altitude is 200 feet above the runway). At this point, the pilot must have the runway or its approach lights in sight to continue the approach.

At decision height & with R/W visual, am I correct in thinking that the pilot would land visually as opposed the following instruments.

If this is the case what is the recommended aiming point within fsfs  to "hit" the R/W?  [with landing score in mind or does it not matter?]

Biggles

A very good point.

FSFS works very well with ILS approaches because, amongst other reasons, the whole 'set up' in FSFS is pretty automatic once NAV1 is set to the ILS and the NAV1 OBS is set to the runway heading. A key point (there are many) is you don't need to load a flight plan into FSFS.

In order to score well, Smitty and his friends will be expecting the pilot to follow the GS to the point at which the pilot will flare in a light aircraft or to the runway itself in a heavy.

Sure - in the realworld, the pilot could do other things after the DH has been reached, but FSFS does not switch from using ILS data to using visual data once the DH has been reached.

So to score big with the FSFS instructors, follow the GS down to the point of flare (in a light AC) and then set her down gently while staying right on that localizer path.

Jeff Preston ('Squadron Leader') - FSFlyingSchool Publisher & Lead Developer


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In FSFS, I look for the glideslope xmitter (a red/white checkerboard structure with antenna usually near the TDZ) and land abeam of it - using the needle as final authority of course.  You'll need airport scenery set to VERY_DENSE to see the xmitter.

And Smitty seems to be fixated on putting the nosewheel very near to the centreline.  I've had my flanks flayed several times when I was positive that one of my outer wheels were on the line.  Once I've passed DA, I almost forget the localizer and aim for the stripes....

S/L, does the NAV1 OBS have to be set to the rwy heading for proper scoring - granted it's always good practice to do such IRL, but would not setting it affect the score?

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FS² v3.0 w/172 Detail - FSX SP2 - CH yoke & pedals - GoFlight / Saitek / MPanel - TrackIR 3 w/VE

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"Geronimo"

Excellent.

Yes - in FSFS NAV1 OBS should always be set to the runway heading. In real life this would not always be done of course - it depends on the plane and the situation. (FSFS can be used with anything from a c152 to an Airbus 380  of course.)

But in FSFS it is used as an absolute method by which the pilot is saying "This is the heading I am attempting to land on".

In FSFS2010 we added some optional automation to do this for you.

Jeff Preston ('Squadron Leader') - FSFlyingSchool Publisher & Lead Developer


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Thanks for the info re glideslope tx, I'll keep an eye out for it. I like the idea of instrument approach & then a visual landing to a targeted spot, as you say it just a matter of identifying that spot

Good luck with your studies

Biggles

-----

FS² v3.0 w/172 Detail - FSX SP2 - CH yoke & pedals - GoFlight / Saitek / MPanel - TrackIR 3 w/VE

i7-920 airclocked to 166, Vista 64 Prem, GTX 260, 9GB 1300 DRAM, 1TB OS / 200GB s/s FSX drive

"Geronimo"

I can see it now - an entire industry with:

The Saitek USB Coffee Cup - "Simulate drinking coffee at the office..."

The Logitech Wireless Pen - "Works like a real pen!"

Freeware Add-On Colleagues - "I just downloaded Dave in Accounting..."

Hmmm... I need to get out more...

 

Jeff Preston ('Squadron Leader') - FSFlyingSchool Publisher & Lead Developer


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FSFlyingSchool PRO 2019 FSX, FSX-SE, FS2004
FSFlyingSchool USA for Microsoft Flight Simulator
FS Instant Approach 2019 for X-Plane 11 (Mac)
FS Instant Approach for Microsoft Flight Simulator
FS Instant Help for FSX, FS2004


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