Luton - EGGW

[Guest tomahawk_pa38]

I have generally mastered ILS approaches (auto and manual) now (still wouldn't want to be one of my passengers at some times !!!) but Luton has me beat. I tried again yesterday for an Cat III auto ILS landing runway 26, these are the problems I got again:-No glideslope indicator on the right hand side of the PFDAircraft having problems maintaining the localiser although the localiser indicator did centre occasionally, the plane tended to zig zagHeight readouts not matching the altimeter (300 ft or so discrepancy)Crossing the threshold way too highI had App engaged, both A/Ps lit up and correct ILS frequency in both radios and 257 dgrees both in the HDG box and the Course box. Because I had problems before I made sure I was at Vref with full flaps and gear down and at the correct height (3000ft) well before the FAF.As far as I can tell, Luton is the only airport I have had problems with.Any suggestions anybody ?

[Guest airbus2]

I think i once had problem at Luton, however i seem to remember flying there recently with no incident.When i get time i'll try and recreate an ILS into luton to see if all goes well, busy cancelling credit/ debit cards at the moment since i lost my wallet:-( Dave

[ronzie 21]

Some possibilities:If Luton uses the same ILS frequency at each end of a runway your aircraft might be attempting to lock onto the wrong one. Check the ILS ID noted on the PFD or ND. If this is the case, go into AFCAD and turn off the backcourse on each which is on by default in FS scenery.Not all runways have GS on each end but just a localizer.Check out the runway properties with AFCAD.Did your PFD lower display show the correct ident, frequency, and expected course setting? It will go from white to yellow if locked.Make sure the AFCAD matches the scenery. I've seen discrepancies with the scenery runway information base properties that an AFCAD generated file can not correct. It sounds like you also have an elevation mismatch between an AFCAD provided file and a scenery file.Were you reading the radio altimeter to determine your AGL or have it set for minimums? Did the annunciation of minimums coincide with the vertical profile displayed on the IAP?Check and make sure your altimeter pressure setting moves in 0.1 inch increments or tens of millibars if available.Just a few ideas.

[pipersam 0]

Luton being my local airport, i use it all the time in fs. Never had this problem, but these might be possible causes:On approach to 08, there is a sharp hill, probably 40/50 feet just before the landing approach lights start. This is modelled in FS, and this might be throwing your radio altimeter out. Also, as ron said, both runways use the same ils frequency.

[ronzie 21]

I got to look at the plate this morning. As stated both ends of the runway use the same ILS frequency.Download AFCAD v2.21 from the Utilities library, do an open airport search, and open EGGW.Open the highest layer in the list and you'll get the map. Choose lists, navaids, and in turn for each ILS click properties. Uncheck the backcourse option and save.If you only are using the default layer it will create an afcad file. By convention it should be named AF2_EGGW. It should be placed in your add_on scenery/scenery folder and run at a higher priority than your defaults.If you have add-on scenery then it will modify that file. Be aware that AFCAD may show other layer files that may not be specifically the ones with the intended navaid. Some commercial sceneries do use multiple layers but these should not conflict.What is happening with both backcourses active you are picking up the wrong one until you are about two degrees within the center line.In the real world where frequencies are shared at each end of the same runway, usually only the localizer at the active end will be turned on. This avoids problems with ambient ghost reflections of the signal. In addition, I believe in such situations there is some prevention of rear ghost reflections.

[Guest tomahawk_pa38]

Thanks guys (especially Ron) I'm away fro a while so can't try it yet but I'll give it a go and report back asap.Stupid unrelated question but how do you subscribe to a topic that you've read and want to keep in touch with the replies. I only seem to get the subscribe option when I post a reply to someone.

[Guest tomahawk_pa38]

Sorry Ron but a search of the Avsim library doesn't throw up this file. Can you tell me where it is please and how to get it ?Thanks

[ClaudeF 8]

AFCAD221.zipFS2004 AFCAD FilesClaude

[Guest tomahawk_pa38]

Thanks guys - haven't tried the AfCAD thing yet but I seem to have a bigger problem with Luton anyway. I decided to fly from Luton yesterday to see how that worked out and all of the parked aircraft (including mine) had their noses buried inside the terminal also aircraft taxying were comeing across the grass ate me ! This only seems to have happended since I installed Traffic 2005. Anybody know if this is a known problem please /

[ronzie 21]

You have an afcad file interfering with a scenery with afd properties. If you have an add-on Luton and TRAFFIC 2005 added its own, then you have too may. Use AFCAD221 from the libraries here, open airport EGGW, and count the layers. In most cases if you have more than two (stock and one layer) that shows taxiways and gates, one of the three should be renamed probably added by TRAFFIC 2005.

[Guest tomahawk_pa38]

Thanks Ron,I'll have a look tonight to se if it's affected any othet London airports before I do anything. Do I get rid of any then or is it a question of moving them up or down the scenery list ?Thanks

[ronzie 21]

It is a requirement in FS that only one afcad with gates, taxiways, runway center lines, etc., be present besides the stock layer. There could be another layer that does not show these but this is generally OK and it is sometimes a "special" airport scenery layer.If you have a third layer with the taxiways, etc., then you have a conflict regardless of priority.When you open each layer the file name will appear in the title bar so you can identify it. If you have windows set to show the full path of a file in explorer, then the folder it is in should be displayed. Perhaps Traffic 2005 afcad files have something unique in their name or location that makes them easy to identify.If you have EGGW add-on scenery, likely an AFCAD file was included or perhaps someone created one specifically for this scenery. This is the one to keep active.To make an afcad file inactive, just rename the extension .bgl to .bgh. When you run FS the scenery will reindex. This allows you to put it back if necessary. Don't erase it.To check it out, go to EGGW and place a small plane at a gate. Window FS to cover the right half of your screen. Open EGGW in AFCAD and window it to the left side of your screen. In AFCAD click the lock icon (I'm assuming you have FSUIPC installed - I think the free version might work) and the AFCAD drawing will orient itself to your airplane heading. In FS go to the overhead view at a reasonable height above the airport. As you skew your aircraft around in FS the airplane identifier in AFCAD will follow. Move your aircraft around the runways, aprons, taxiways, and gates as shown in your scenery and see if the AFCAD airplane indicator remains lined up with the runway, gate, and taxiway lines and symbols (which is what the AI use). This could tell you which afcad file is correct for your scenery.AFCAD files should always be at higher priority than stock scenery. An afcad file delivered with scenery often resides in the same scenery sub-folder scener with other scenery .bgls.Multiple afcads with taxiway, etc., properties even accounting for priority will confuse AI and may even, it is said, cause FS crashes.After changing any afcad file run FS to insure the scenery reindexes, then run any add-on utility such as a flight-planner so it scans your scenery to include any changes in its database.It has been found that always using the AFCAD Open Airport function rather than using the last used file listing is more accurate since AFCAD caches some data and may not be using the latest. Always use Save As . . ., not Save, to insure data gets written to disk for the same reason.Hope this helps.AFCAD is a project of www.projectai.com and you will find a forum over there with FAQs and support if there is any question. AFCAD includes an html formatted help file. If you want to read this without starting it (it has a wealth of information) just create a link to the file in its folder on your pc.