I was being vectored for final for rwy 08R @ kmia and as I was told that I'm 25 miles from the marker turn right to heading 125 to intercept the loc and at the time I was told to turn right to heading 125 the loc wasn't alive but when it came the airport was on my left and loc pink diamond was on my left also therefore it was impossible to capture it.....It's the second time that I'm being told to turn and intercept the loc but when loc comes alive it's impossible to capture it....

It could have that you were not receiving the localizer at the expected intercept and went through it therefore placing on the other side. Was that what happened? Were you on a downwind, base, or straight in entry.On either an FMC type display or a GPS I look at the airport in relation to where I am. From charts I know the inbound course (or in most cases just from the runway ident). If I am commanded to fly an intercept as soon as the heading to the airport matches the inbound runway I start turning toward the airport I then fine tune the position as soon as the LOC comes alive. You can also do this with an RMI (the needle points to the navaid) display with let us say NAV2 tuned to a navaid located reasonably on the field, either a VOR or even an NDB.

Ronzie's right,Situational awareness it's called..But I've flown thousands of approaches using RC4's vectors with FS9 and never yet failed to see the localiser come alive before the intercept point..So were you tuned to the correct ILS frequency?Or is your database out of date and needs fixing?I don't go into MIA much but are the runways correctly configured?Some airports are out of date with FS9/FMC conflicts.

this happens when your approach angle is very close to the runway heading.what i can suggest, is watch the rc display, and when the bearing to the airport matches the runway heading, turn and fly the runway heading. then when the localizer comes alive, then turn slight left or right to join it.jd

Doesn't the RC4 vectors put you on an intercept heading of about 30 degrees which is pretty standard in most places?

I occasionally get a similar thing happen, for example, flying into Dublin International for Runway 28 i will be instructed to turn left 190, and then intercept vectors are given as turning right to 240. I will not be able to intercept the localizer, so i right to about 300. Sometimes happens going into Gatwick for runway 26L, this curious left turn instruction, that doesn't seem to make any sense.

Yeah I had the right ils freq and as mentionned by Jimble sometimes I have the same issue...I'm being told to turn the opposite way of the runway thne shortly after I'm told to turn to intercept..I've allways been curious about why I'm being told to turn the opposite way of the runway thne ask to turn back to intercept..

I'm not sure if RC4 supports this but here in UK (in the real world at least) you will see many approaches into busy airports using large S bend type vectored approaches.In effect therefore you will be told to fly a reciprocal heading before turning back inbound.

First you need to check the runway approach plate to see if procedure turns are required and there is no indication of S-ILS, a straight in approach. RC only provides rectangular component entries of straight in, downwind -base, or base entries.For FMC and GPS provided terminal procedures you can select IAP after approach assigns a runway and you ack the first vector. An IAP will let you use your terminal procedures from your nav instrument database or manipulating your aircraft with manual flying or AP control using the MCP for your altitude, heading, and speeds. RC will not monitor your approach when you use an IAP. If using a STAR as part of arrival be sure the STAR waypoints are expanded into the plan going to RC for up to 30 nm from destination. That will cover RC's monitoring until your IAP becomes active. If your STAR is runway specific just include the runway common waypoints in the STAR plan sent to RC. Then after RC assigns the runway and you ack and then request the IAP to the assigned runway (including approach type) you are on your own to navigate to intercepting final by whatever method you choose. Mosd FMCs and GPSs let you specify or change selection of the IAP (instrument approach procedure) which takes you from the STAR termination at the IAF (initial approach fix) to the runway) intercept and landing.Even when taking vectors to the LOC intercept I always load the IAP into the FMC show it shows me the guidance on the nav display for situational awareness.Finally be aware of the NOTAMS option in RC which makes RC loosely monitor your position allowing you to deviate from RC commands during arrival without admonishment.The situation where procedure turns occur sometimes are due to terrain for descent PT's in tight space on one side of destination. In some cases you occasionally may see a descending racetrack pattern again allowing for tight space descents. PTs and racetrack or holding descents may also be required for tight airspace restrictions where airport airspace density of adjacent traffic patterns is high.

I'm mostly using a star for my approach..what do you mean by ack...

Acknowledge

I am going to try again tomorrow with good weather. I did a round triop KDEN - KABQ - KDEN in snow. No joy on the intercept in both cases. I will try to watch what is happening while I can see the airport.