Geofa--another ATC ?--RE: Approach

[Guest paulri]

Hi Geofa,Situation. Destination has two runways, 18/36 (9500 feet) and 9/27 (7000feet). At arrival, winds favor 27 (300/15). Ceiling 500 with 2 miles vis which is slightly better than non precision minimums (400/1.5). 27 has a VOR approach and 36 has an ILS. 1. Will ATC vector the arriving aircraft for the VOR27 approach automatically? Or must that be requested. 2. Has the nonsense of a "visual" approach to a non instrumented runway in IMC been eliminated?? Thanks,Paul

[Geofa 108]

I'll have to set it up and check it much later when I have time-I don't know the answer! :-)Good question!http://mywebpages.comcast.net/geofa/pages/Geofdog2.jpg

[Guest paulri]

Thanks, no rush. Was just wondering. Will most likely try it out myself once I can get my hands on FS2004. :-)Was also wondering about circling approaches. I never had to fly one in a fixed wing (thank you God), although I did in a helicopter--piece of cake on one of those machines. Don't like what you see, just stop and look around a bit! :-lol Regards,PaulEdit: BTW, I meant to mention that the capability of getting automatic VOR and LOC approaches (when appropriate due to runway and approaches available--ILS was always the first choice if the runway had it) was available in PF2000, used with FS2000, IF you had Dave March's Data Base Editor and did some judicious editing of the PF database. Worked great. :-) No NDB approaches though.

[Geofa 108]

I just tried your scenerio. I set up my home airport of kfnt (rwy 9-27 has ils-the others gps/non precision). I set the winds from the north and put 2 miles v with a 500 ft. ceiling. I filed a plan from kptk to kfnt.After being told to contact Detroit approach after takeoff from kptk I was told to expect the Gps 36 runway.So yes-it doesn't automatically give you an ils-but it gives you next most precise rwy approach which lines up with a runway-in this case a gps . At that point you can of course ask for a different one.As far as the visual approach-it doesn't tell you to enter a downwind like fs2002. After contacting the tower on an approach though it will say "make straight in approach"-a little funky but still ok.http://mywebpages.comcast.net/geofa/pages/Geofdog2.jpg

[Guest paulri]

Hi Geofa>So yes-it doesn't automatically give you an ils-but it gives>you next most precise rwy approach which lines up with a>runway-in this case a gps . At that point you can of course>ask for a different one.ALLRIGHT!!! They have it correct. ALWAYS assign the most precise approach available for the runway in use. And use the runway that is most aligned into the wind. I wonder what they would have done if the weather had been 200 and 1/2 with the same winds? Interesting!!! More learning curve ahead--gotta love it. Helps keep me young, at least in mind if not in body. :-)Many thanks and regards,Paul