Suppose I am flying from Minneapolis to Kansas City, which is almost directly South. Now as an example, say that I want to do an ILS approach, but the runway is heading 360. If I fly to the initial approach fix, what is the best way to get turned around and on proper course to shoot the approach? This also goes for those ILS approaches where the angle between my heading and the course to the runway is to great to maneuver in time. Hope this makes sense!Thanks

N/M

If you're flying without ATC you can either do the full procedure, or give yourself vectors (ie guess when and where to make the turns)So, as an example, pull up the plate ILS Ry 01L @ MCI:http://www.naco.faa.gov/d-tpp/1011/00780IL1L.PDFFor this what you could do is fly to RIS, then via any of those radials which join the ILS (the Initial Approach Fix) at the points (CYPRE, DASHI, etc).You could also self vector yourself... basically, fly a downwind heading about 10 miles east or west of the field, you'd be on a 190 heading. Then all you need to know is how far of a final would you like... Just fly another 10-15 miles south, and turn west to heading 280 (essentially a right base runway 01L). The tricky part is knowing when to turn yourself onto the localizer. What you do is:Divide your airspeed by 100. Example: 200 kts GROUNDSPEED (200/100 = 2). At 2 miles abeam the final approach course you want to turn northwest to intercept. (30 degree intercept is what you want to aim for). So, you'd have to use a map or something to judge the distance, but 2 miles east of the localizer, you'd turn right heading 340, and maintain the intercept altitude until established on it. This is the way I fly them because default FSX ATC is horrible imho.Speaking of full procedure ILSs: I'm not sure if it's possible with this approach. Normally they have to have a procedure turn or something published. Example, see the ILS Ry 09 in Duluth (DLH):http://www.naco.faa.gov/d-tpp/1011/00125IL9.PDFOne could very easily fly to PYKLA, and perform the procedure turn (course reversal whatever), and then turn inbound. It's all published so its valid. I'm not sure how you would technically do it in MCI.

N/M

Ahhh, you're post was pretty good man...Just the 45 degree thing was wrong. But you made a great point about the STAR. You should restate that part - I completely forgot about STARS joining an ILS.

if you look on flightaware most of the routes fly ORSKY4 FOD RBA3http://flightaware.com/analysis/route.rvt?origin=kmsp&destination=kmciwhen you look at the RBA3 chart you can see they kinda get you west of the airport heading south and then it says to expect vectors, which is basically where ryan is talking about heading 190 and flying 10-15mi southhttp://204.108.4.16/d-tpp/1011/00780ROBINSON.PDFhttp://204.108.4.16/d-tpp/1011/00780ROBINSON_C.PDFcheers-andy crosby

you want to intercept an ILS at less than 30degrees from the runway heading.do a general Internet search and read up on the options for procedure turns.--

you want to intercept an ILS at less than 30degrees from the runway heading.

ATC rules are :If the plane will intercept the final approach course inside of 2 miles from the approach gate (pilots read 3 miles from the FAF or outer marker)20 degrees from the final. If the ILS course is 270, I'd have to issue a turn 250 to 290. "N12345, 5 miles from outer marker, turn right heading 250, maintain 3200 until established on the localizer, cleared ILS Ry 27 approach."If it's outside of 2 miles we can use 30 degrees, OR 45 degrees if you're flying a helicopter.

Great! Thanks for the tips. I just practiced a flight and intercepted the ils perfectly. I kind of winged it and will practice procedure turns when time permits.

If I am using the autopilot and have the ILS frequency set, I try to establish on the localizer first and be about 100 feet BELOW the glideslope. This way the glideslope needle falls and intercepting is then easier. I find if I don't do that I may have to disengage the A/P and hand fly the approach while watching the needles. That's not too good if you were planning an "automatic" landing. :( Airbus

Its actually better to establish on the loc way below the glideslope, 100ft is not alot.