KATL ILS RWY 9R

[Guest]

I'll be flying into KATL from the south heading north at 360 to KATL. That's how the flightplanner has me coming in. "FS default planner" I'd like to use the ILS RWY 9R but not exactly sure how. I'm thinking I'd put a waypoint over an intersection that's on the GS and turn left outbound then generally speaking make another turn to 227 then another 180 to 47 degrees til I intercept the ILS. That's about what I've come up with from looking at the approach plate. I'd like to gets some feedback on tuning in the freqs. Like when to stop flying the VOR and when to tune in and pick up the ILS freq. Anything would be helpful. Also suggestions on a different approach or how it SHOULD be done would be welcome. Thanks. William

[Guest]

OK, I don't have any enroute charts for anywhere that far south, but I did take a look at the TERP for 9R. In real life, you'd be vectored to the final approach course; ATL is just that busy enough that they'd laugh at you if you asked to shoot the whole thing. If you are using the default ATC or Radar Contact you will also recieve vectors and I would just plan direct ATL (or via a STAR) and let ATC figure out where they want to vector you. I'm guessing however, that you are planning to do this on your own and want to fly the whole approach. My personal recomendation in that case would be to plan direct BURNY, which is the IAF for the approach. From there, fly outbound for a minute, execute the procedure turn of your choice and start your inbound leg. You could still fly direct to the VORTAC however, since the VORTAC is not an IAF, you'll still have to go all the way to BURNY in order to start the approach.As for frequencies: If you do in fact file direct BURNY, you'll want to be using the GPS (which I'm assuming you probably are anyways, since you're using the flight planner, which will load the gps flight plan). In this case, just fly direct BURNY and when you hit the fix, start tracking the localizer outbound. Your other option if you go direct BURNY is to use the ADF and track the 357 bearing to CATTA until you cross the localizer. (Depends how strong you're feeling with your ADF skills; speaking from my own real-world perspective, I'd rather go GPS direct, particularly in a busy terminal area like ATL) If you decide you really want to go to the ATL VORTAC, you'll track the 272 radial outbound until it intercepts the LOC-- that's BURNY (they'll essentially be the same route, but technically speaking that's the proper way to fly the procedure. You'll know for sure when the DME on the localizer reads 6.4). In this case, I would use NAV1 for the Loc and NAV2 for ATL, just because NAV 1 is the only one with a glide slope. Now that I've written you an essay, go fly!-Rob

[Guest]

I just sent a reply but didn't look like it went through so I'll try again. Good stuff here Rob, thanks. I should have been more specific but my main concern was intercepting the VOR or the outbound course. So can you angle in at say 45 degrees or so so you wouldn't have to make a 90 degree turn? That's what I'm thinking now. Thanks. William

[Guest]

If I understand what you're asking correctly, you could wait until the localizer starts to come alive, and start a turn to intercept it outbound. Be warned though, this is still going to happen very quickly as the course is very narrow that close to the runway. In the real world, particularly in a terminal area like ATL, you would not cut the corners, but simply lead the turn as I described above, though a 90 degree turn is fairly uncommon. What I could also suggest is to find an intersection slightly southeast of the VOR or the IAF and plan your flight to go over that. You'll add a little bit of distance to your flight, but you could decrease the intercept angle. Take a look at your enroute charts and approach plates for the atlanta area and see what's in the area that would suit your cause.

[Guest]

Yea, I'll look for another fix SE that will make it a bit easier. Also starting the turn when the localizer starts to move sounds good too. It would happen fast though as you mentioned. Maybe a different fix would be best. Thanks very much Rob. William