Trouble descending in GA

[GodAtum 69]

I am still finding it tricky to land GA aircraft like the Cessa well.

 

This is what i am doing atm: Descend about 400-500 ft/min. Reduce speed as appropriate. Put flaps and gear down as relevant.

 

I am finding it hard to find a good glidepath. Often I am either too high or too low approaching the runway. How do you work out when to start descending from cruise?

[Great Ozzie 101]

Base it on your airspeed e.g. groundspeed (airspeed close enough unless in some brutal winds) is 120kts = 2nm/min... if flying 9000' and Pattern Altitude is 1000'... 8000' to lose. I would steepen it up a bit... 7-800fpm. So about 11-12 mins (22-24nm) out start the descent to be at or slightly above Pattern Altitude shortly before entry.

[Oracle427 45]

I strongly recommend taking the built in training flights that come with FSX. This will guide you through an approach to landing among other material. I recall that there is a lesson on flying a pattern besides the one that had you fly straight in.

 

Most importantly, you need to know the approach speeds for your aircraft. 65 on final would be appropriate for the 172 for a normal landing with flaps fully extended.

 

When you enter the pattern to land in a 172, you need to to choose a landing point and then make your turns to enter final onon the glideslope that you should be visualizing from that point. You must adjust configuration, pitch and power as needed and use other techniques such as slips to keep the aircraft on the slope and stable as it descends to the point you chose.

 

Different fields and conditions will look very different so don't expect every approach to look exactly the same. A during headwind will make for aa steeper approach.

 

Take the lessons for help.

[GodAtum 69]

Base it on your airspeed e.g. groundspeed (airspeed close enough unless in some brutal winds) is 120kts = 2nm/min... if flying 9000' and Pattern Altitude is 1000'... 8000' to lose. I would steepen it up a bit... 7-800fpm. So about 11-12 mins (22-24nm) out start the descent to be at or slightly above Pattern Altitude shortly before entry.

 

Thanks for the formula. I found a great online calculator: http://www.freedomair.us/DescentCalc/descentdistance.php

[Great Ozzie 101]

When you enter the pattern to land in a 172

 

I thought the Christopher was just referring to Cruise to PA (and he mentioned lowering gear...)

 

All the above good... an aiming point works well from "way out" (miles out) too. Stick that aiming point (airport grounds... approach end of the runway... the numbers... whatever) on the windscreen and keep it there. You can take the CitationX from 50,000' to the ground this way.

 

 

I found a great online calculator: http://www.freedomai...entdistance.php

 

Yep that'll work fine (esp. when "task overloaded" or don't feel like working it out in your head ) and I usually build a minute or two in for "fudge factor".

[Oracle427 45]

Oh, I didn't take it that way because I wouldn't expect one to lower gear or flaps when descending from cruise.

 

Oh, I didn't take it that way because I wouldn't expect one to lower gear or flaps when descending from cruise.

 

 

[Great Ozzie 101]

Oh, I didn't take it that way because I wouldn't expect one to lower gear or flaps when descending from cruise.

 

no no.. the C172 part (which was my first assumption as well).

 

But... for FSX purposes... getting gear and flaps out early a great way to steepen that descent... Normally don't use RW... in fact I didn't learn to do that until going for my ME rating in the Seminole.

[GodAtum 69]

is there a way to set up distance rings from a certain waypoint such as an airport on the Garmin 530 or G1000? Such as ones used in a Real Air or Milviz.

[VeryBumpy 272]

Haven't used it in forever but I swear FSX has an Options setting to show you glide slope with arrows floating in the sky.

[fs4fun 366]

Haven't used it in forever but I swear FSX has an Options setting to show you glide slope with arrows floating in the sky.

 

Menu -> Aircraft -> Visual Flight Path...

 

To get a flight path down to the runway you need to have ILS tuned in.

 

 

For descending from cruise, I like to use the rule of 3 and rule of 6:

 

Rule of 3: Descent distance in miles = vertical distance in thousands * 3

Rule of 6: Rate of descent = ground speed * 6

 

Example: to descend from 9000 to 1000 (8000ft descent) at ground speed of 180kt, use 8 * 3 = 24 miles and 180 * 6 = 1100 FPM.

 

For Milviz Garmin 530, it has a VNAV button which will show your target FPM, but I haven't tried it.

[GodAtum 69]

Menu -> Aircraft -> Visual Flight Path...

 

To get a flight path down to the runway you need to have ILS tuned in.

 

Can you use that for VFR as well?

[fs4fun 366]

Can you use that for VFR as well?

 

I don't see why not, it should just be a matter of enabling it and tuning the ILS freq for the runway on NAV1 radio. I've only tried it on straight-in approaches, so if you are joining the traffic pattern I don't know if you'll see it.

[BartEnder 2]

Pick up a bigger airport with precision approach, tune in ILS, obtain the magical rings described earlier, which will help You on Your way down.

You can also try to aim the specific place on the runway. Every precision approach RW does have aiming marks. Make also use of PAPI lights. Remember, trim for speed, throttle for descent.

You can disable weather for the training, You can add it later to the experience.

 

And most important to new pilots - do not aim for almost flat landing (VS alike -50fpm). Everything less than ~250-300fpm is good enough.

 

And practice, practice... It will become Your second nature.