Heading on vectored approach

[woodhick 504]

Yesterday I was flying a vectored approach into airport KXXX. I was instructed to fly heading XXX (numbers unimportant). Because there was a stiff X-wind, I needed to flying a heading much in excess of the actual ordered heading in order to maintain the proper heading. The instruction to fly the heading was repeated several times during the X-wind leg. The after flight critique was not pleasant. Should I have merely set the heading bug (auto-pilot engaged) to the required heading and flown the leg at whatever heading the airplane assumed? I have received gentler treatment at the hands of the FAA.

[jd 57]

seems a little odd. if you can duplicate the problem, i'd like to see a .log, instructions on how to make one are pinned at the top of the forumjd

[woodhick 504]

Yeah, I'll have to do that. It might be a little while before I get to fly again, so don't hold your breath.

[ronzie 21]

For smaller aircraft the crosswind component has more of an impact on crab correction due to the slower ground speed. In a stiff crosswind more crab may be needed and the heading may be outside of RC's default tolerance. You can change the deviation allowed in the General tab of RC settings if you decide to try this. I use 25 degrees.I'm not sure whether RC gets course heading or aircraft heading (as reported on the gyro) but until this is known you can try increasing the error deviation tolerance. RC does not correct for wind required variation to my knowledge as real world atc does in some cases.jd will correct me if I'm in error.

[jd 57]

i suspect, if you're given a heading, that is the heading to fly. see what happens next time, if you fly the heading, and not adjust for the wind.i wouldn't mess with the heading deviation. that might cause erroneous results somewhere else.jd

[woodhick 504]

I had thought of trying flying the assigned heading and not worrying too much about the true course heading. I may well try increasing the error tolerance if the first idea doesn't help. The biggest thing I fly is a Piper Cheyenne. The flight in question was in a Bellanca Viking, so the crab angle was fairly great. I had a 37kt X-wind. Cute.

[hastings 0]

Hi JD,Just wanted to add my voice to this thread, as I'm getting this problem as well. Currently using FSX SP2 if that's any help. You think I'd have done a .log file but NOOOOO :-) Will get one going for you next time I fly.Cheers,Mike Turano

[woodhick 504]

I finished a flight and vectored approach in the Bellanca a couple of days ago. More normal winds were encountered and I had no problems with the after flight critique. I suspect the strong X-wind may have been the culprit in my case but will keep an eye on things. I don't enjoy having to call the FAA (wink).