Foreword: I can master them in general, so this is not the point.What techniques do you use to fly curved approaches (old VHHH, LPMA etc.)?I guess, in a real plane, it is a lot easier to fly such approaches because of the wide view angle you have in the cockpit, i.e. you can turn the head 90deg to the right for instance and have a better "feeling" for where the aircraft goes/how it turns.In FS, the view outside is so limited. Of course I can open another external view to e.g. right forward (if I do an approach at Kai Tak, let's say) on the 2nd monitor, but then FS starts to crawl even with all sliders at minimum.Or, I could use the ND of e.g. the PMDG 737 where I have the runway indication and the trend vector and thus try to align both.Or, I could zoom out to bring more landscape into view.Glancing to the sides is another option, but I don't find any of these techniques satisfying. You need the look to the side, a look onto the instruments (to not loose control over the V/S) and an idea where the longitudinal axis of the plane currently is. Not that easy to manage, at least for me. I suppose this is what makes curved approaches in FS so difficult: the lack of visibility.How do you manage to fly them?Andreas

You got it, it is tough.Some will probably tell you they use virtual cockpits for better situational awareness.I like to do it differently - I always fly every approach pretending it is IFR. And then I use cues from the Flight Director to guide me to the runway when I fly manually. There is nothing wrong with using all available navaids for your approach even if weather is very good since many pros do it too.Michael J.http://www.reality-xp.com/community/nr/rsc/rxp-higher.jpg

Yes, it IS tougher than in real life. But using the `zoom` keys, the VC, and the pan switch you can juggle the view requirement. I think it's probably the reason there are so many view command options - slow pan, `snap` views, instant zoom, snap back etc. But you have to know how - and when - to use them if you really are going to try a visual approach like this. Practice makes perfect!The most useful to me (and your mileage may vary!) are the pan switch when zoomed to 0.75 in the VC, and the `del` keypad key, which is the default for `snap back` to straight ahead.In 2d view, the keypad `0` also snaps up a panel view from whatever view you have fixed.The real skill lies in making these approaches repeatable - if you know that at certain altitudes you must be travelling in a certain direction, making or beginning a turn and travelling at such-and-such a speed in whatever configuration, then you're halfway there.Hope this helps!Allcott

IFR makes it much more even with real life planes.What helps alot is to know how to use VOR and ADF beacons in approaches.For example at VHHH, you could tune nav1 to 111.90 and nav2 to 115.5119.90 works as localizer for runway 13 and 115.50 is TH VOR/DMEYou should approach 119.90 on inbound radial 088, just like coming to any other localizer approach (no G/S available though).When you're closer, set course bug to heading 135.After middlemarker you should begin turning right to line up on the runway and you can use radial 135 inbound TH VOR to help you to line up when you don't see the runway well from your FS world cockpit.Most problem would be descending without G/S, since you don't have co-pilot helping ;)However to get past this problem, I tend to keep in mind the amount of vertical speed needed with certain speeds to maintain roughly 3 degree glideslope, since those usually seem to be around 2.9-3.1 degrees.With 3 degree glideslope it goes about as follows:090 kt / 480 fpm100 kt / 530 fpm120 kt / 640 fpm140 kt / 740 fpm160 kt / 850 fpmNote: that is based on groundspeed.For every 1000ft you can add roughly +5kt to current KIAS.ie. 5000ft = +25ktSo if approaching at 4000ft MSL, it might be useful to mind the speed as KIAS+10kt.. unless you want to all the time fine tune your vertical speed ;)This is just something I've found helpful when flying around.Dunno how real pilots thinks out the situations :)Just learn to trust your instruments also, those are helpful in approaches, even in visuals