Hey everyone,After a long hiatus I am trying to continue to learn how to fly the MD11.I've done the tutorial a couple of times and I think I understand the concepts pretty well but I have some issues when I try going off on my own, so to speak.First off I am flying using basic flight plans with no SIDs or STARs (can't find any way to create flights using them without some kind of payware program or just guessing over and over randomly choosing one from the FMS), and I am using default FSX ATC (yes I know how horribly unrealistic it is, but it's what I am using for now.)On the last flight I tried I did KATL to KCVG. Takeoff and departure went swimmingly (same with cruise of course), ATC vectored me down eventually to a rough path to the assigned runway (9) and I programmed the ILS frequency into the FMS. I have tried to follow the tutorial where applicable - At 2400agl my plane captures the glide slope and localizer and steers me in, I go to flaps 28, gear down, spoilers armed, autobrakes set, but I get APPR ONLY in the PFD and it cuts out the AP just before landing. The autothrottle system is engaged beforehand and of course the AP is too. Just trying to figure out here why I can't get the DUAL LAND and have it do everything for me like in the tutorial!Please forgive me if this is a dumb question, I have tried to find what I'm doing wrong in the manuals but I know I'm missing it somewhere. In the FCOM for example it just has a note saying that it depends on equipment status but no further details.Thanks!!!Molly N.

Hi,Have you pressed the Appr/Land button before you flew into the ILS glidescope?Best regards, John

You shouldn't set the ILS freq manually in the MD. It is auto-tuned based on what you select for your approach using the SID/STAR from the F-PLN page. I suggest reading the part of the FCOM pertaining to the proper use of the FMC. Being one of the most complex, frequently-used parts of the aircraft, it would be a shame to not read up on its proper use.

I have found in FSX that not all runways will allow you to autoland. What I am going to describe does not seem to affect all people in FSX, but it does affect me.KCVG has runways that you can land on each end, an example is 18L/36R, this is the same runway, but it is 18L and also 36R. The ILS in FSX is the same for both runways and the PMDG MD11 will only go into dual land for one of them, in other words you can autoland on 18L, but if you try to autoland on 36R you will get the go around message. The reason is that the NAV radio freq is different for 18L and 36R, but in FSX if the ILS is the same for both 18L and 36R then the NAV freq is only correct for one of them.So the point of all this is whatever runway you were trying to land on come in from the other end and see if it allows you to autoland.Regarding knowing what SID and STAR to use. For major US and Canadain airports you can go to www.airnav.com and look at the sids and stars for an airport. This will give you an idea of what sid and what star to use.

Hi Molly,I notice you mention setting Flap 28 but not further. Flap 35 is a more common setting for landing, try that out and see if it helps. As you are probably already aware, shortly after passing through 1500feet above ground level (i.e radar altimeter) on approach you should see DUAL LAND appear in green on your PFD. If you're not configured for landing by that point this might be part of the issue. On the bottom of the engine display do you see a green box or a whire box with some text in it? Let us know!At the risk of being presumptuous, are you able to manually land the aircraft yet? While we're getting you sorted with the autoland, remember that you could always fly the aircraft on AP/ATHR down to the last few hundred feet, disengage the AP and the aircraft will more-or-less hold it's trajectory down to the runway. The ATHR will automatically bring the thrust back to idle at the right moment and you can just flare it on for landing. Apologies if you're already able to do this.Lastly, there is a bunch of free online resources that you can use to select a route and SID/STARs, we'll cover those for you once we get the autoland issue sorted out.

While we're on this subject, yesterday I was attempting to land at KIND. I was fully established on the LOC/GS, flaps 35, final approach speed. At approx 2000' agl (can't recall the exact height) I disconnected the AP (using "Z") and tried to manually land. The plane didnt want to descend....it kept pitching up, and kind of floated. Any idea what I might have done wrong?

Molly,if your airplane's systems are not malfunctioning (which they are not if you haven't set any failures) then the APPR ONLY message usually means you've configured the aircraft and/or intercepted the glideslope too late. Try being at Flaps 35 earlier and intercept the glideslope at the appropriate altitude specified on the approach chart for the ILS approach you're flying. 2400ft AGL sounds fine though, so it might just have been a late flaps deployment.Cheers,Markus

Thanks everyone, I have not had much time to try it again until now so I will give it a go and see what happens! I think my issue might have been flaps but we'll see.In the meantime...

Lastly, there is a bunch of free online resources that you can use to select a route and SID/STARs, we'll cover those for you once we get the autoland issue sorted out.

While I'm working on the landings, what IS the best way to do this without sorting through tons of confusing charts one by one? I wish there was a program where you could just select two airports, select takeoff & landing runways (possibly automatically) and just pick everything for me. From what I've read FSCommander requires you to still insert them manually.Thanks again peoples!!Molly N.

Unfortunately for us, the SID/STARs are up to our own familiarity with the airport to figure out which one we should use. In the real world, for the airlines, things like that are taken care of by the Dispatcher. To make things easier (in the States), enter your departure and arrival field on FlightAware.com, select one of the flights in the return, and use their route. That way the SID, route, and STAR are taken care of. The rest is all personal preference, provided you're not using online ATC. In the more common scenario, you'll get a visual approach, for which there are rarely charts (though charted visuals do exist). In the other cases, you're more likely to get the ILS than anything else.

Woohoo, got my first non-tutorial-guided autoland! Flaps 35 was the answer. Now I just need to work on the airspeed, for some reason autothrust was giving me about 185 knots. The autobrakes, spoilers, and reverse thrust couldn't save me from the end of the runway. Actually I had bound page down/page up for incremental throttle control and little did I know EZCA uses those keys by default for raise/lower eye level. So there I was, trying to crank the reverse thrust while staring eye-level at the rudder pedals :( I'll have to work on that...

Unfortunately for us, the SID/STARs are up to our own familiarity with the airport to figure out which one we should use. In the real world, for the airlines, things like that are taken care of by the Dispatcher. To make things easier (in the States), enter your departure and arrival field on FlightAware.com, select one of the flights in the return, and use their route. That way the SID, route, and STAR are taken care of. The rest is all personal preference, provided you're not using online ATC. In the more common scenario, you'll get a visual approach, for which there are rarely charts (though charted visuals do exist). In the other cases, you're more likely to get the ILS than anything else.

Thanks. I tried Flightaware's routes but for some reason the MD11's FMS would not recognize waypoints I was punching in.

Waypoints that look like "J179"?If so, those are airways. In that case, instead of putting them in the NEXT box, select AIRWAYS. On that page, the left side is the airway (J###) and the right side is the fix.

Woohoo, got my first non-tutorial-guided autoland! Flaps 35 was the answer. Now I just need to work on the airspeed, for some reason autothrust was giving me about 185 knots. The autobrakes, spoilers, and reverse thrust couldn't save me from the end of the runway. Actually I had bound page down/page up for incremental throttle control and little did I know EZCA uses those keys by default for raise/lower eye level. So there I was, trying to crank the reverse thrust while staring eye-level at the rudder pedals :( I'll have to work on that...

Molly, I suspected the flap setting was the issue, good work on sorting it out! :)Left to its own devices in PROF and NAV modes, the MD11 will decelerate on it's own schedule, and almost without exception it'll slow you down in time. As part of my pre-descent self briefing I look at the F-PLN page to see what speed is showing beside each waypoint on the approach, that way I can see in advance when the MD11 is planning on slowing itself down. Quite often I will manually set the speed I want as I personally find the MD11 wants to slow down a little prematurely. I normally decelerate to reach 200knots right on LOC intercept, then depending on what other traffic there is on the approach I adjust my speed to sequence in with that.Anyway, if you're left too fast once established on the ILS, what you can do is manually set the airspeed you want using the speed knob, then right-click on the center of the knob. You'll see the speed displayed on the PFD (top left corner) in white rather than magenta, and you'll see a white speed marker on the airspeed tape as well as a magenta dot where the FMC thinks you should be, speed-wise.It's important to remember that if you've manually set the speed, you're in charge of it until such time as you push the "FMC SPD" button.As for EZDOK, I don't own it so I can't help you there sorry, one of the other folks here will no doubt step in to assist.

I wish there was a program where you could just select two airports, select takeoff & landing runways (possibly automatically) and just pick everything for me. From what I've read FSCommander requires you to still insert them manually.

Molly,if you can wait a few weeks there will be a new flight planning tool out by then, done by the geniuses who came up with Top Cat. Judging by the screenshots and the excellent Top Cat software I'm sure this will be the perfect flight planning tool for everyone to use. Should be out between now and August:http://www.pfpx.com/Regards,Markus

While I'm working on the landings, what IS the best way to do this without sorting through tons of confusing charts one by one? I wish there was a program where you could just select two airports, select takeoff & landing runways (possibly automatically) and just pick everything for me. From what I've read FSCommander requires you to still insert them manually.

Hello,The Aivlasoft EFB sounds like the perfect piece of kit for yourself. - http://www.aivlasoft.com/Their ideology of the software is that it removes the need for having as you've said, some quite confusing charts.It may seem quite costly, but it's certainly worth a go, especially as there is a free 30 day trial.You should definitely fly with the SIDs and STARs, as it makes your IFR flying much more realistic and if you fly on an online network (such as VATSIM) then it is a requirement to fly them.Happy flying!Jack

Just for information.Landing Flaps 35 (or 50) have been indicated in this thread as a condition to obtain Dual or Single Land mode.Although Landing Flaps are a (certified) requirement for Autoland, the setting is NOT checked during the Autoland check, which is a system redundancy check only for the systems involved.So, Molly, there is something else you did correct to perform your first, non tutorial, autoland.Keep on going.Regards,Harry