Hi all,I'm wondering, what effect if any does the course selection knob on the MCP have when in APPR mode and tracking a localizer?Regards,George

The course setting sets the APPR mode on the ND such that it is aligned with the course. Of course, a localizer only has one 'course' and your deviation indication is correct regardless of course setting, same as the old HSI steam gauge. I hand flew a LOC with a HSI that had a failed DG gyro once and it worked out okay.

Hi all,I'm wondering, what effect if any does the course selection knob on the MCP have when in APPR mode and tracking a localizer?Regards,George

It is standard RW procedure to set your courses to the inbound ILS runway heading. You would also set your Heading to the runway heading after capturing the Localizer.So both courses and the heading should read the same. ( To answer your question !..........if you did not set it in the sim, it should make no difference in the ILS case. )What matters is the NAV radio frequency.Fred.

Edited February 23, 201214 yr by RYR738

These two quotes are from my system handbook:While engaged in the APP mode:- the autopilot A and Captain's F/D use information from Captain's Course Selector and No. 1 VHF NAV receiver- the autopilot B and First Officer's F/D use information from First Officer's Course Selector and No. 2 VHF NAV receiver- different courses and/or frequencies for the two VHF NAV receivers can cause disagreement between Captain's and First Officer's F/D displays and affect A/P operationThe capture point is variable and depends on intercept angle and closure rate.I have seen the 737 get confused on the intercept by not having the FAC in the window. I was flying into Kodiak, Alaska and the CA and I were having the very same discussion. The CA said, Naw, it dont matter! and left in the wrong course. The jet turned away from the intercept and tried to wander off into parts unknown.

Edited February 23, 201214 yr by Spin737

Hi, just an aside, when I am about 10miles from airport, in the 737ngx I arm the ILS frequ. in the radio stack and I have noticed that when clicking the LOC button the Course window automatically displays the Course heading after which I press Approach and everything slots into place and I progress on to land. I dont change the MCP Heading to match the Course heading. I dont know if this is standard operations, but it works OK for me. richard welsh.

Hi, just an aside, when I am about 10miles from airport, in the 737ngx I arm the ILS frequ. in the radio stack and I have noticed that when clicking the LOC button the Course window automatically displays the Course heading after which I press Approach and everything slots into place and I progress on to land. I dont change the MCP Heading to match the Course heading. I dont know if this is standard operations, but it works OK for me. richard welsh.

This is a feature of the NGX, but not the real aircraft. PMDG added it because you need to input the same inbound course as programmed in FSX. Using the course from nav data would cause problems. You can disable automatic setting of course using the CDU options. I prefer to set it manually, but it's your choice.People wonder why it's important to select the course properly as the ILS only has one course, unlike a VOR. That's true, but without this selection the autopilot doesn't know what that course is. All it has is the LOC error signal which tells it how far left or right it is of the runway centre line. It also uses course error, which is the difference between aircraft course and selected course, to capture and track the localiser. The selected inbound course is the course it will attempt to fly along the localiser. If it's not set correctly the aircraft will still try to maintain the selected course while at the same time keep the LOC error signal minimised. This results in a lateral offset to one side of the centreline. A degree or two course error might not be noticed, but large differences can confuse the autopilot completely as Matt described above.

This is a feature of the NGX, but not the real aircraft. PMDG added it because you need to input the same inbound course as programmed in FSX. Using the course from nav data would cause problems. You can disable automatic setting of course using the CDU options. I prefer to set it manually, but it's your choice.People wonder why it's important to select the course properly as the ILS only has one course, unlike a VOR. That's true, but without this selection the autopilot doesn't know what that course is. All it has is the LOC error signal which tells it how far left or right it is of the runway centre line. It also uses course error, which is the difference between aircraft course and selected course, to capture and track the localiser. The selected inbound course is the course it will attempt to fly along the localiser. If it's not set correctly the aircraft will still try to maintain the selected course while at the same time keep the LOC error signal minimised. This results in a lateral offset to one side of the centreline. A degree or two course error might not be noticed, but large differences can confuse the autopilot completely as Matt described above.

This is just awesome info, thank you all!

I tried the VOR LOC shortcut feature mentioned above last night. Works fantastic! Thank you for pointing this out.RegardsGeorge