Im having a problem with ILS landing in the Wilco Airbus Series. I enter all info in the FMC correctly and I everything works fine with takeoff and cruise and descent. However, I dont exactly know when I should engage the localizer switch or if I am doing it too early or too late. I usually engage the switch appox 25 to 30 NM or about 5 to 6 minutes before arrival going at a 220 or so speed (depending). I do enter the course and ILS freq into the radio so I cant say exactly where I am going wrong. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

MAYBE ils at current airport not working , try another airport

Okay, since I am in a good mood...Diagram of the ILS approach for an A320:Here's the entire procedure from cruise altitude (this is taken directly from the real Airbus manual, but retyped by me with some explanatory notes)...SOP for the A320/A321/A330 recommends that you start descent preparation about 80 miles out from your destination based on that taking about ten minutes. Then you check LDG ELEV on the ECAM CRUISE page and choose LDG ELEV AUTO. Then you check the weather at the destination and alternate.Next you set up the FMGS page so that you have your necessary TRANS, APPR, STAR and APPR VIA set up (depending on the airport and your choice of approach.Then you go to the F-PLN A page and check the tracks, speeds and altitude constraints and enter anything required.Next you go to the PERF CRUISE page and enter descent winds down from cruise level and modify the cabin pressure descent rate if necessary.Then you go to the PERF DES page and check ECON MACH/SPD. You choose either an ECON speed (these are airline specific) and you enter a MACH or SPD setting into the ECON field, and that will be your one for the descent path and TOD computation and would be used for a managed speed descent profile if you weren't using ECON presets. 250 knots is a default speed setting below 10,000 feet in the managed speed descent profile, so that's the easy option, but you can modify it on the VERT REV at DEST page, although in FS you'll just get your co-pilot or ATC shouting at you if you use anything over 250 in FS, since it views that as a blanket restriction and doesn't normally simulate 'no speed restriction' messages from ATC.Next you go to the PERF APPR page and enter QNH, temperature and wind at destination. Then you put in the MDA (MDH if you are on QFE), or the decision height if in dodgy weather. Note that all this gets blown out if you change your arrival runway setting, so make sure you know which one your coming in on before you set DH and all that stuff.Next you check the landing configuration. You can use flaps 3 or flaps full for landing, but if you do choose to use flaps 3, you must select CONF 3 on the PERF APP page and GPWS LDG FLAP 3 should be selected to ON. Don't select any of that if you are going for full flaps though, as it can screw with back up systems. If on full, you should see VLS CONF FULL appear on the MCDU.Next check VAPP and set VAPP on the standby air speed indicator. Set the green dot speed on the standby airspeed indicator and the approach minima on the standby altimeter.Check the GO AROUND page and modify the values if necessary. The standard settings should be 1500/3000 AGL.Next go to the RAD NAV page and set the navaids as required for the approach and crosscheck the indents on the ND and PFDs. You can also tune a VOR or DME beacon if you wish on the PROG page in the BRG/DIST field to assist nav accuracy on the descent.Next go to the SEC F-PLN page and set it up for the alternate or a second runway choice if you are circling to land. If you are doing that, don't forget to set a new MDA or DH and alter the nav aids accordingly.Next, if you are using flaps 3, select the GPWS LDG FLAP 3 switch to ON.Now, having done all that, you do your approach briefing (that's why they recommend starting all that crap I just listed 80 miles out, as you can see it might take a while). The approach briefing should be completed before you hit the top of descent. Standard airbus procedure is to use the FMGS pages as a guide to the approach briefing and you should therefore do the following on your briefing:F PLAN: Discuss any STAR or missed approach procedures and what you intend to do in the event of going missed. This is important, because if you go missed in real life, ATC always ask you your intentions (i.e. I'm coming around for another go, or I'm buggering off to the alternate, or whatever).RADIO SET UP: Check all you navaid frequencies and any crossing altitude constraints or any of that stuff marked on the approach plate.PROG page: Check the PROG page for a HIGH/LOW bearing and range accuracy.PERF page: Check the safe altitudes and transition altitude (normally FS always uses default 18,000 of course, but check it anyway if you like realism).FMA: Check the MDA and DH.Finally, run through the terrain and any things to watch out for, the weather, the fuel state and what you need for a diversion, and how long you could hold for - obviously you can use the FUEL page for that. Also review the landing configuration, reverser selection, autobrake selection, runway condition, lighting and length (width too if it is a small airfield). Airbus also recommends including the aircraft type in the briefing, which seems odd, but the Airbus range have similar cockpits, and this is to prevent some numpty from flaring an A330 like you would an A319, since it is easy for pilots to forget which one they are in and how long the thing is, thus increasing the risk of a tailstrike from force of habit (Expect Boeing to add that to the 737-900ER checklist right after some plonker busts the tail off one of those at some point, because he was flying a 737-600 the day before).It may seem silly to do a briefing when you are the only one in the plane when flying a sim, but it will help you get things clear in your mind and avoid silly mistakes, such as forgetting the spoilers or not taking a crosswind into account.After completing that, you should get your descent clearance, and you can use the FCU to set your cleared ATC descent steps.Next, you select ENG ANTI ICE if you expect icing conditions. The FADEC puts a higher idle setting on with this selected, so only have it on if you really need it, because it also reduces the descent path angle. You can use a partial spoiler deployment or a higher descent speed to offset that if you need to.Either DES mode or OPEN DES are the normal descent settings Airbus recommend, although some airlines specify using Mach Managed or 300 knots. DES mode is a lower vertical speed and is recommended if ATC start you down early. If you descend manually, Airbus recommend a maximum of 1000 FPM. Note that DES mode is not available on an Airbus when in HDG or TRK mode.You should see DECELERATE annunciated on the PFD and the MCDU. This is only a guide and is basically telling you to start dropping to green dot speed.As you descend, monitor stuff on the PF MCDU on the PROG/PERF DES page. Some Airbusses have an EXPEDITE DESCENT mode there too which you can use, but that's a customer option, so yours might not. A lot of airlines forbid their crews to use it incidentally. Note that it ups the target speed to 340 knots or Mach .8 so watch that.You are supposed to tilt the radar on the Airbus up one degree every 5,000 feet below 15,000 too by the way, but since most FS aircraft don't actually have a radar on them, this might be a moot point, however, if you have a third party radar installed, you can do that. It's so you eliminate ground clutter from the ND.As you pass 10 grand, set QNH on the standby altimeter. Set QNH on the EFIS panel and crosscheck it all and now it is time for the approach checklist.Set the terrain display on one side and keep the radar on the other (unless of course you don't have a radar). Check the ECAM for alerts and if there are any saying STATUS, check and correct anything you might have missed. At 10,000 feet, switch on the landing lights, stcik the seat belts sign on select ILS or LOC, the PFD should display the signal if it is there. Recheck the nav aids. Depending on the airbus model, you should now check NAV ACCURACY on the PROG page and the ND. If you have a fancy new Airbus with GPS PRIMARY, you can skip that check. Select 100 ft increments on the ALT SELECTOR KNOB on the PF side and tell the cabin crew 'ten minutes to landing' on the intercom.If the runway is expected to be wet or if you expect heavy turbulence, select IGN on the Engine Mode. If your flight plan is done properly, when the aircraft overflies the DECEL waypoint in NAV mode, it should automatically engage the APPR phase. If you couldn't be bothered setting all that up, or if you are in HDG/TRK mode, manually activate it when 15 miles from touchdown and cofirm APPROACH on the MCDU. Normally, Airbuses use 'managed speed' mode on an approach to land, but it is up to you. Be sure to check VDEV information on the PFD and PROG page to ensure you are all good.Get ready to drop flaps 1 when you get below VFE and use the speed brakes if you have to, but they should automatically deploy and get your speed down if you have A/THR or OPEN DES modes selected.. You can drop the gear early to kill some speed too if you need to. Check NAV ACCURACY again. If it is going off, you will see a NAV ACCURACY DOWNGRADE annunciation, and depending on what it is, you might have to do a manual approach, although of course this is unlikely in FS unless you have a really unlucky failure.By now you should have the radar tilted up to +3 or +4 to avoid microwaving all the plane spotters on the perimeter fence photographing your landing. Stow all the crap that is in the cockpit. That's your approach checks done.When ATC gives you the go ahead for your approach, you press the APPR button, and that should arm the LOC and G/S modes withing 3 seconds. When you've got that, stick both autopilots on. Check the green dot speed, and at the very latest, have flaps 1 down by 3 miles to go and 2000 feet AGL. Stick TCAS in TA mode (that's mandatory if in FAA airspace). PNF should announce 'localiser alive' PF should announce 'LOC'. Monitor the approach and if you've gone off the slot, select VS mode and correct it or go around if you don't like the situation. at a minimum of 2,000 feet AGL set flaps 2 PNF checks speed and selects it and confirms when done. Extend the landing gear if you haven't already done so, PNF should check and announce that too. Arm the ground spoilers. Set the Nose light, the runway turn off lights and confirm the landing lights are on. Check the autobrake is as required. When the gear is down select flaps 3 (PNF checks and sets it). Check the ECAM wheel page (this annunciates at either below 800 feet or when the gear is down). Check the brake pressure is good and you have three greens.Stick full flaps down (unless you don't want them). Check wing anti ice if required. stow the sliding table. Confirm cabin secure and tell the cabin crew to sit their asses down. That's your landing checklist completed.PNF monitors speed and attitude and shouts up if: it deviates more than -5 or +10 knots, or the pitch passes -2.5 or +10 degrees (A320) or +7.5 degrees (A321), or the bank angle exceeds 7 degrees, or the descent rate exceeds 1000 FPM, or a LOC or GLIDE deviation occurs. PNF announces 700 feet AGL, and when 100 feet above DH and then calls 'decide' at the DH. Pilot flying responds: 'shut up you pussy, we're going in!' if he is Kurt Russell, or 'Landing/Go around/Flaps required' if he is a big girl's blouse and afraid to die.That's it, you are done.Note that there is a very basic 737 ILS tutorial by me with more info in the AVSIM Tutorial section, which also has some useful info on it.Al

Mr. Bradbury my immense gratitude for the time you have put in to answer my questions. Your guide is extremely helpful and I really cannot thank you enough. I do have one small question though. you mention the the QNH but I really dont know what it exactly is or how to get it. I know the fmgc requires input in that slot but I have not been able to figure out what to do. I would appreciate it if you enlightened me on the subject.Much thanks once again sir.

Since that is based on the real aircraft procedures, you can 'cherry pick' what you like from it based on how realistic you want to get and how realistic the Wilco Airbus is. I have the Wilco 737, but not the Wilco Airbus, so whilst I know Wilco aircraft are fairly realistic, I also know they don't simulate everything, which means there may be things in that guide you cannot do exactly as would be done on the real aeroplane, as there may be things on that guide which are not replicated on the Wilco incarnation of the Airbus, but of course you can get pretty close as it is by no means a 'lite' simulation and has a lot of the real stuff in there.You can pretty much guarantee that in FS, when the ATC controller tells you an altimeter pressure setting, it will be QNH, because the ATC in Fs is a bit simplified in comparison to the real world. But, if you really want to know those readings, then a lot of weather add-ons for FS and things such as Flight Keeper can provide that info whilst your are in flight. Although to be honest, you can get away with not knowing it in FS most of the time and just go with whatever the ATC guy tells you. One of the cool things about the Airbus of course is that it has very sophisticated navigational stuff for landing and so long as it is all working properly, the system will update a lot of things for you, so it will use radar altimeter data and GPS on the approach too, and that means it will correct a pressure reading that is a bit off and smooth out your landing, so don't get too hung up about it.If you really want to know what all that Q stuff stands for...QNH and QFE are the two common references for setting your altimeter based on pressure readings. They are part of the 'Q code' which is what used to be employed a lot for radio communications and still is for certain things, especially by HAM radio enthusiasts. It is a list of commonly used phrases that were given three-letter 'Q codes' so that long phrases could be quickly transmitted with a morse code apparatus. So QFE really means: 'the pressure reading at this airfield is...', and QNH really means 'the pressure reading at sea level is...'. There are actually several radio code lists like this, for example, you are probably familiar with SOS, which is the distress signal. But it wasn't always the distress signal, which used to be CQD. One of the first famous uses of SOS was of course when the Titanic sent that signal in 1912, and it is suspected that some radio operators did not know what it meant at that time, as SOS had only been ratified as a distress signal six years before. That is why Philips, the radioman on the Titanic actually sent an alternating message using both SOS and CQD.Back in the sky however, QFE and QNH are obviously both useful things to know when flying an aeroplane, because if you know what the pressure reading is at the airport you are going to land at, then you can set your altimeter so that it will be giving you accurate readings as you descend toward that airfield for a landing, because your altimeter is basically a barometer with a pointer attached to a dial.QFE is usually given from an airport or other land based reporting station, and can be easily remembered by noting that it is Q Field Elevation, i.e if you input the QFE pressure reading given to you by a particular airport into your altimeter, then theoretically your altimeter should be reading zero when you are down on the deck at that airfield. QNH on the other hand is also used, and is more useful for general ATC use, since it is the pressure reading based upon what the pressure currently is as sea level. It can easily be remembered if you think of the N H in QNH being short for 'Nautical Height' i.e your height above sea level.Of course there is also the barometric standard pressure setting which aircraft use when they get above transition height, which in FS is usually 18,000 feet. Once you get above 18,000 feet you switch to 1013.2 millibars or 29.92 Hg on your altimeter, as does every other aeroplane. So that when one aeroplane climbs to a flight level, if you are at a flight level 1,000 feet higher than one, then you will genuinely be that well separated from it because you'll both be on the same pressure setting on your altimeters.Most FMC database stuff uses QNH for reference, which is why it is often used in ATC, but it also means that you have to be careful when descending in terrain, since lots of things (obviously) are above sea level, and that includes airport runways. For example, Manchester Airport (EGCC) just up the road from me is at about 260 feet above sea level, which means if I get told that QNH is 1023 Millibars by the controller at Manchester, and I set my altimeter to 1023 Mb, then when I land on the runway at Manchester, my altimeter will be reading 260 feet. Of course the airport approach chart would have the altitude of the runway printed on it, and in fact it would be even more detailed than that, since the runways at Manchester (like most airports) are in fact sloped, with a dip in the middle, so they are actually a different height above sea level at each end, and a bit lower down in the middle part. That's what all that 'runway slope angle' business is about in your FMC, not that it really makes much difference in FS.Hope that clears it up.Al

And of course we could complicate things further by throwing the difference between Transition Altitude and Transition Levels into the mix :)

Don't get me started on that one - 18,000 feet? Not where I'm from it ain't :( Al

Thanks again. it was certainly informative. I did go back and check for the QNH but I actually dont remember the ATC giving me any pressure info. I actually just typed in 29.92 which seems to be the standard for most flights (?) and it worked. Of course, I am on the intermediate level so the fmgc helps alot with the more mundane aspects. But I did encounter another problem. It seems that the AP follows everything to a tee at takeoff and cruise but once the landing part begins for some reason it gives me a tough time. Am I supposed to manually control the heading and speed even when I have a flight plan in fmgc or is the NAV system supposed to be doing all that for me including setting up the final approach? I usually ebter info on the fmgc AND control the radio settings from the radio stack. the damn fmgc for some reason refuses to allow me to program the course and ILS frequency into the proper boxes it keeps saying "format error" so I do it manually. Am I missing something somewhere?

Format error can be something simple such as getting things the wrong way around as far as what the computer is expecting to get, lots of FMCs are not consistent on how they do that in the real world. It's only a guess, since I don't have that Wilco Airbus, but by way of example, sometimes with Boeings, if you want to be at 200 knots at 4000 feet, you find some FMC pages accept 200/4000 and others 4000/200 or both. Similarly, you might have to type in frequencies to a specific number of decimal places in some pages, and not in others. I must stress that this is only a guess, since I'm more familiar with the real Airbus stuff rather than what exactly is in the simulated one from Wilco.As a general comment, that's where FS falls down a bit with ATC, especially in relation to modern operations of airliners. You probably know that these days airliners are starting to fly direct managed approaches right down from cruise to final approach (like your Airbus should be able to), which is what all that Future Air Navigation System (FANS), Required Navigation (RNAV) and Required Navigation Performance (RNP) stuff that you may have heard of is all about. These procedures save fuel and makes flights shorter. But FS ATC is more akin to more traditional vectors for a final approach, and so when you try and do all that modern VNAV/LNAV profile stuff, ATC begins to tell you to go for an old-style vectored approach, which means you can't make use of all your fancy avionics capabilities.The way around it is to either buy an ATC add-on which can handle all that new procedural stuff, or, with FS ATC, when you get a hand off to a controller to begin your descent, tune out your radios and just go with the automatic FMC stuff until you are at the Final Approach Fix or Deceleration Waypoint. Then use the FS ATC window to tune in the airport you are going for, and start talking to them when you are already lined up and on the way in. It's worth noting here that the latest version of Ultimate Traffic has an option to get AI traffic out of your way, which would possibly be useful if doing that.This is not as unrealistic as it might sound for a modern sophisticated airliner; the very latest ones, such as the NG 737 and the shiny new Airbuses, are equipped with an FMC datalink which automatically communicates with ATC and lets it know where the aircraft is in relation to other airliners coming in on the same approach, and the system can adjust the FMC to ensure separation with other aircraft, since all the airliners on that approach with that equipment are part of that system. This means that ATC do not have to constantly speak to the crew, although the crew do have an alert system similar to SELCAL which beeps at them and flashes a light on the panel when ATC need to talk to them.This system is very new, and not many countries operate it fully at present, since to get it fully operational will probably take 30 years (i.e when all the crappy old airliners without such systems are scrapped and everything in the sky has such capabilities). At present it is an expensive option on an airliner to have all the necessary gear installed to allow all that to happen, but it is worth it in the long term, since aircraft with that capability are less likely to be put in a hold and will be far more likely to make a 'point to point' flight, so it saves fuel and time too, which of course saves money and over time will pay for the gear required to make it possible.In short, you have to accept that both your simulated airliner, and the host sim's capabilities, are slightly limited, and so you have to work around things a bit.Al

I believe you are absolutely correct in pointing out the limitations. there are quite a few, especially for gamers such as myself who really are just looking for some realism mixed in with entertainment. To expect a flight sim to be able to replicate gazillion dollar machinery and equipment is quite silly yes? But nonetheless some realistic qualities are required to enjoy the game the way I desire. Anyway, you know I have been using the info you gave me which has been very helpful and informative. Things have been getting better but Im still confused about the localizer. You know in the Wilco Series there is a localizer as well as an approach hold switch. But I have a tough time knowing which one should be pressed when and how far out. I usually hit the localizer switch around 20 nautical miles out but when I do that the plane just begins veering wildly off course. Is the plane suppossed to catch the localizer automatically and turn onto final approach if I have the correct ILS and course settings into the radio stack? Let me tell its very frustrating trying to learn all this when someone like me just really does this thing as a hobby :( . Really appreciate the help once again.