This is the first time I have ever used a flight sim. Also I am not a pilot. I think the game has done a great job of "training" how to fly but then it just throws you into ILS without much explanation on the gauges. I flew around for 30 minutes and was not able to find Maui in fog. Did I miss a step somewhere? Is there a basic explanation on the gauges? I have done several google searches but none are in a term for someone who has never used ILS.I sound like an idiot. HUGE fan of aviation and can ramble hours about airlines, just never flew one. So take it easy on me.

I'm assuming this is concerning the RV-6A landing challenge 5?If so, on the instrument panel, the top right-most instrument which looks like a compass rose with a cross hair in the middle is the VOR/ILS 1 instrument. All you have to do to follow the ILS is keep the bars crossed in the centre of the instrument. If the horizontal (pitch) bar moves down, descend a bit to centre it again and vice versa. If the vertical centreline bar moves left, fly left to centre it.

Hi AZ, Welcome to the AVSIM forums.Have a look at this site "Flight Simulator Navigation" http://www.navfltsm.addr.com/it has some very good tutorials on navigation and ILS approaches.

AZsoccer"I sound like an idiot. HUGE fan of aviation and can ramble hours about airlines, just never flew one. So take it easy on me."

None of us was born knowing, there is no fault in wanting to learn.Welcome.Here is a great quote attributed to Galileo.

I have never met a man so ignorant that I couldn't learn something from him.Galileo Galilei

The Instrument Landing System (ILS) is fairly easy to understand in concept. You tune into the frequency of the ILS beacon on your NAV (navigation) radio, and dial in the magnetic heading of the runway on your CDI (Course Deviation Indicator), which looks like this...http://en.wikipedia....ation_indicatorDepending on the instrument make and type, the dial you want will be marked either with CRS (course) or OBS (omni bearing selector), this is the dial you turn to select the runway's magnetic compass heading. Runway magnetic compass headings are normally the identifying number of the runway with another zero added on, so runway 24 would be on a heading of approximately 240 degrees (since they round the numbers up or down to the nearest five degrees), runway 9 will be on roughly 090 degrees etc, although it could be on perhaps 093 degrees, since, as noted, runway identity numbers are rounded out a bit (pilots generally have charts which tell them the exact heading).The ILS transmitter emits two signals, one is the glideslope signal, the other is the localiser signal. The glideslope tells you the rate at which you need to descend, the localiser tells you how to steer for the runway's centreline. ILS instrument displays vary, but generally speaking you try to keep a couple of needles or bars in the centre of the gauge, which will now be receiving the ILS beacon signals because you tuned your nav radio to the ILS frequency. Keeping the horizontal needle centred as you descend will mean that you are 'on the glideslope' (typically descending at an angle of about 3 degrees), keeping the vertical needle centred will mean you are on the localiser, or in more friendly language, heading for the centreline of the runway. Automated landings systems on fancy aeroplanes link an autopilot to this gauge to conduct this steering and descent process automatically, but you will have to do it manually.So, you will typically adjust the throttle and pitch to keep the glideslope centred (by descending at a suitable rate), and use the rudder and stick to keep the localiser centred (by staying on the runway's magnetic heading). This means you will effectively 'fly down a pipe' with both radio beacons centered. At about 150 feet or so, you 'transition to visual' or in more normal language, you stop looking at the dials and look out of the window instead, then when you see the runway, you flare (ease the stick back) at about 50 feet or so off the deck. If you don't see the runway when you get to that 150 feet altitude because of fog or clouds (known as your decision height), you throttle up and climb away to execute a 'missed approach', then go around for another try or fly to an 'alternate' airport where the weather is better.The trick is to start all this lining up and descending process from about ten miles out and 3,000 feet up (unless the terrain dictates otherwise), which is what pilots call 'making an approach', and the point at which they start that, is called the IAP (initial approach point). This is why pilots say that the secret of a good landing, is a good approach, because having started ten miles out, you should be 'in the pipe' and settled when about five miles from touchdown, so that only small adjustments are necessary to keep on course for the landing and to keep descending nicely. Use the flaps and landing gear to stabilise and slow the aircraft, and try to make only gentle movements on the controls to keep the needles centred. Watch your airspeed and don't let it get too slow.Don't forget to engage a smug, but nonchalant, grin when you land successfully.Al

Thanks Chock,Well explained.

Well said Al. Great explaination +1Cheers,Darryl

Thanks Chock. It worked for me, sorta. I did get the heading exact but overflew the runway. The glide slope looked about perfect too. I tried to go around for a new approach but then I was flying blind, literally. So I guess when the next plane or expansion comes out, I will ask you to explain VOR so I am not just flying out to sea......Still a moral victory that I found the runway. Next time will try to actually land the plane.

VOR is also pretty simple, in fact it is a bit like an ILS beacon in some ways, except it is not specifically for landing guidance. Most VOR beacons are in fact VOR/DMEs (that stands for VHF omni-directional range distance measuring equipment - which is a fancy way of saying they can tell you the compass bearing to the VOR, and how far away it is).The best way to think of a VOR beacon, is to imagine it is a wagon wheel that is laid out flat on the ground, with 360 spokes coming off it, each spoke representing a compass heading. Each one of these spokes (called a radial) emits a slightly different signal on the frequency you have tuned into; your equipment decodes those signals, and then knows which radial you are on, which it displays to you by moving the needle on your gauge and it also works out how far away from it you are, by measuring the time between signal pulses. Watching the range counter's changes will of course tell you whether you are flying toward it or away from it.If you wanted to approach that VOR beacon's exact location coming from directly south, you would tune in that VOR's frequency, then dial in 360 degrees on your CRS button (that is because coming from the south, you would want to be flying north - 360 degrees - when heading toward it). Your instruments would tell you how far away from it your were, and also tell which way to steer in order to get on the 180 degree spoke coming off the VOR. When you were on that 180 degree spoke coming out of the VOR , if you flew directly north (360 degrees), you'd be heading north right for the beacon. You can actually dial in either 360 or 180 on your gauge to do this kind of thing, flying back along it, heading north, which is known as flying a reciprocal heading, but that's not actually necessary, however, it is easy to do when you are used to how VORs work. Sometimes you can do this with an ILS too, coming at the ILS beacon 'from behind', which is known as a flying back course approach.Tune in two different VORs, and you can work out your position, because two of the 'spokes' (radials) coming off different VORs would cross at your exact location, and since you could figure out which of the the radials from each VOR which you were on, you would know exactly where you were, which is more or less how you navigate using VOR beacons. This is why you have two nav radios.Al

Thanks Chock. It worked for me, sorta. I did get the heading exact but overflew the runway. The glide slope looked about perfect too. I tried to go around for a new approach but then I was flying blind, literally. So I guess when the next plane or expansion comes out, I will ask you to explain VOR so I am not just flying out to sea......Still a moral victory that I found the runway. Next time will try to actually land the plane.

Since you did find the runway, let me repeat what Alan siad: the ILS will lead you to the runway: as soon as you see it, simply use your eyes and land! It's not necessary to follow the glide slope all the way.

The next time it worked. Was right on the money. The forum worked for me! Haha. Now I have completed all missions so like the rest of you just waiting for the next expansion. Maybe some jobs or sightseeing.

The next time it worked. Was right on the money. The forum worked for me!

Glad you got it and congrats on making the runway! That specific mission is quite the challenge as the fog is with you pretty much all the way down.If you have not yet, check out some of the available jobs at each of the airports - you will see them on the job board when you click on the airport in the map.Some of them can be quite fun and etertaining, especially as you get some vocal feedback from either the people or the animals you might be hauling in the job.My favorites in the jobs category would be the biplane sightseeing tours - love the Stearman and kind of nice to see some points of interest while flying it with a little vocal feeback along the way.

Glad you managed to land it successfully. Very well done indeed. :Peace:As with pretty much everything else in the world, things look complicated if you are new to them, but you generally find that they are not as mysterious as they might seem, once they have been adequately explained.Al

Interesting.. I just learned about runway numbering from this thread which I was curious about. Do all of the ILS approaches in Flight today work outside of the landing challenge with the RV and Maule? I was under the assumption they weren't functional yet.Thank you,Jas

Interesting.. I just learned about runway numbering from this thread which I was curious about. Do all of the ILS approaches in Flight today work outside of the landing challenge with the RV and Maule? I was under the assumption they weren't functional yet.

All of the ILS approaches on the map work in Free-Flight, so you can go practice in good weather to see better what's going on.

So if I am looking at the map (navigation icons on) and I want to land at Hilo (for example). The ILS says ILS/DME 26 (ITO) 110.7 MHZ 260 Degrees. How do I dial this into the RAV or Maule.You all are really helping and I appreciate that.