fsx-ms A Stupid Bearings Question For An Old Wrinkly

[COBS 25]

Hi Chris

 

Q ; Karol, will the plan etc. you have devised show me the visual flight path on approach?

A ; Yes , - the flight plan lines will appear on your GPS display ,and the green ILS feather will also be there.

              - to see the runway during approach you will have to use the Virtual Cockpit ( F9 on the keyboard ) ,

                you cannot use the 2D panel ( F10 on the keyboard ) as the runway will be hidden from view behind the panel.

                Also ,

                In the HSI you will have the Yellow Bar and Triangle that indicate if you are following the ILS .

 

Do not be concerned about , " find that absorbing new information is a slow process "  , rest assured it's the same for

all of us , in the real world when I learnt to fly I had done all the text book theory , passed exams , then went out to the aircraft

with a flying instructor it was still hard and slow , it's normal to think that  ' I will never get the hang of this stuff ' , you just 

continue one step at a time and eventually it sinks in .

You will probably have been bugged by the fact that I have said repeat the flight 6 or so times , well , I would hate to say how many times

I repeated circuits while learning to fly , and the same applied to other exercised such as practise forced landings , etc.

You need to remember that the first steps are always the hardest , but after a while you will look back and wonder why you thought

that it might be hard.

 

When you have problems or questions , just ask here for clarification , that's what these forums are for , if you clicked the above link

you will see that often I was reaching out for help , and I got that help and support.

 

I often find that I have a few ( or a lot ) of failures before the successes start arriving .

 

Cheers

Karol

 

PS ; always remember that we do this for fun , yes some of the learning can be a little hard , but at times you have to say to Hell with it ,

and go and have a fun flight where you throw your aircraft about the sky , buzz buildings , fly under bridges , we all do that , every time that

you fly in the sim you are slowly building your skills , so regularly take a break , and balance both the serious and the fun stuff. 

[ivatt 0]

Thanks Karol you are pretty good at making me feel I am not as thick as I think I am, just a bit slower as I get older. As you say it's really meant to be fun.

 

Will be a way for a few days now so you can have some peace!!

 

Will let you know when I have tried the flight plan.

 

Thanks again

 

Chris

[bbuckley 133]

I neglected to "sign" my post with a real name, sorry, it's Bruce. 

 

I'm a RW commercial, instrument rated pilot.  I learned to fly in the US Navy and flew F-14s for a while.  Today I fly a much slower Piper Archer, but it's still a blast.

 

In between RW flights I keep sharp by flying FSX-MS on the PilotEdge ATC network.  In FSX I usually fly a Carenado Archer configured exactly like my RW plane but also fly a Carenado Phenom 100 and Aerosoft F-14.

 

Karol:  I'd love to PM you with a question or two about gauges if you don't mind.

Regards,

Bruce

[COBS 25]

Hi Bruce

 

PM by all means regard gauges , will try to answer if possible.

 

Cheers

Karol

 

PS love the F-14

[COBS 25]

Chris

 

This might be of help in interpreting the ILS indications during approach.

 

Cheers

Karol

[ivatt 0]

Hi Karol

 

Thanks again. Will be closing down for a few days later today. In the meantime can you tell me how you manage to post images. As I said earlier I tried using my dropbox and following the latest info on the site with both .png and .jpg and got error that the file format was invalid so I sent you a pm with an image which I hope you got.

 

Chris

[COBS 25]

Hi Chris

 

There are probably a lot of ways  , here is how I do it.

*******

I go to www.orbxsystems.com  ( you will need to register there)

> at their forums , I scroll to  , Community Screenshots and open that.

> then open , How to post a screenshot , then click on the link there.

> in the  upload your screenshot para , click the link given.

>> click start uploading , then select the folder in my computer where you shot is stored , and select shot to be used

>> click Upload .

>> then click Viewer links.

>> select "Direct links" , then highlight and copy the JPEG text details.

..............

Go to Avsim,

When writing your reply in the message box , you have a cursor ,

at the Top center you will see a Square Green/blue button (image) click it ,

you will get a entry box , past the previously copied JPEG detail into it , OK.

 

That's it

*************

I use either FRAPS or IRFANview to take screenshots , that way it keeps the JPEG memory size down to a reasonable weight.

(I had to use IRFANview to get the shots of the FS Flight Planner that I used in a earlier collated tutorial screenshot )

Some screenshot capture methods result in JPEG's that are  5-7 MB , that size/weight will exceed the limit at most forums,

most of my JPEG's are  300 KB or less .

 

Cheers

Karol

 

PS; in your PM the image tried to load , but never loaded .

[ivatt 0]

Hi Karol, back again.

 

First flight attempt no good due I thought to my trying to speed up the sim rate. Second attempt much better but height on final approach seemed too high and speed a bit fast and autopilot didn't stop the aircraft. I did see the correct visual flight path on approach which was good.

 

Tried three attempts to day but not very successful. Followed you instructions to the letter but the first attempt failed to activate the final section from CLN and was flying away from Southend.

 

The last attempt followed the correct flight plan (ILS APPROACH) but when I set APR button the aircraft did the "S" turn but the Autopilot ALT hold button went off and the altitude started to drop too quickly so that the aircraft "landed" well short of the runway and I didn't see the visual flight path.

 

I haven't changed anything in the plan so a bit bemused as to what is happening. Could it be I need to "reload" the flight plan??

 

Also, I found take off difficult the aircraft struggled to climb. I think it may be that I have the Elevator Trim incorrectly set.I was "winding" the wheel backwards i.e towards me.  What percentage should it be set to?

 

I have no doubt it is something I am doing incorrectly and I intend to try again tomorrow, perhaps a fresh day will bring a fresh result.

[jlong 1]

Karol is right, just do some flying. You'll get a good feel for the controls, learn a few tricks and have a little fun too, which is after all kind of the point. Plus, creating flight plans usually comes after you've soloed and doing GPS and instrument approaches is pretty advanced stuff especially in a multi-engine plane or jet. The latter two are not even taught to private pilots. That stuff comes in IFR training. So do a little flying around, even pick a different part of the world and have a little fun it's not all serious and if you make a mistake, so what, no one will get hurt and you may learn something in the process.

[COBS 25]

Hi Chris

 

It sounds like you are doing everything correctly , well done .

 

The Cessna 414A that we are using is a "Port over" from FS9 (FS2004) , it does well for our purposes of flying that Flight plan.

The evidence that it is a port over is ,

1. The elevator trim is terrible to set correctly.

2. The ADF frequency cannot be set , common problem porting from FS9 to FSX , I had to re code the ADF frequency setting 

     in my F-111 panel for the same reason , it's just one of the small differences between FS9 and FSX.

 

Regards flying that flight plan ,

1. It is a slow climber , don't worry too much about the Trim , just manually hold the Pitch at 10 to 15 degrees in the Attitude  Indicator instrument

    until the aircraft is about 500' above the ground , then engage the autopilot as follows ,

- mode button to "GPS".

- "AP" button On.

- "ALT" hold button On.

- "NAV" hold button On.

 

Always  confirm that the Flight Plan lines are showing up in your GPS display , that confirms that the actual Flight Plan 

loaded correctly.

 

2. In the detailed full flight procedures I described some 'practise' speed setting exercises , setting your speed accurately is important.

    The idea being that as you get close to your approach you need to start slowing the aircraft down ,

    then during your approach you need to slow down further to Flap and Gear deployment speeds , they are .

    - Flaps 15 degrees and Gear when speed falls below 152 kts.

    - Flaps 30 degrees when speed falls below 122 kts.

    in the real world these speeds ( 152 and 122 ) are the maximum allowable , it is to prevent the wind speed from

    tearing flaps or gear doors off the aircraft.

   You then further slow down to the 110 kts for the short final portion of the approach , then over the beginning of the 

    runway cut the power completely Off.

 

3. At about 15 nm to go to Southend , you set the autopilot to Approach - ILS , do the following ,

   - Mode button to "NAV".

   - "APR" button On .

  Always ensure the ILS frequency ( 111,35 ) is set in the active window of the NAV 1 radio.

  the autopilot should fly the aircraft by itself all the way to landing and roll to a stop , the only actions that

  you do are adjust speed down and lower Flaps and Gear.

 

Do not take any short cuts  or sim rate changes , it is a matter of being patient , and doing the full flight , and most

importantly observing and learning , don't rush it take it a step at a time .

Once you have done several autopilot flights , then you can start taking over manually from the ILS during approach.

At the moment concentrate on burning into your mind the Runway perspective picture during the ILS approach ,

that angular perspective does not change during the whole of the approach , it only gets bigger as you get nearer.

   You need to get used to that runway perspective picture because that is what you will base your manually flown

approaches later on .

This is the whole reason that we are using , the Flight Plan , Autopilot , and ILS  , to learn and get that runway perspective

picture stored to our memory , this procedure is your flight instructor.

 

Please try a couple more and report results back here.

 

Cheers

Karol

[COBS 25]

Chris

 

This might make the Approach phase of the flight a little easier to follow

 

Cheers

Karol

[ivatt 0]

Hi again, pleased to say that my first flight today was a success, the only thing was that autopilot didn't bring the aircraft to a stop I had to do that manually. That apart all went smoothly so have no idea what I was doing before. Will try the flight a few times again to make sure it wasn't a fluke.

 

8. Set Elevator Trim for Take Off (nose UP) , that is half way down from neutral.

 

Still struggling with take off as can't determine what percentage this should be or whether the "wheel" goes forward of backward.

 

2. GPS display , note the text data , and zoom level , usually 15 - 35 zoom.

    Zoom out to 350 nm  note map of England , try to get an understanding of the geographical situation.

    Try to determine a rough heading to firstly Lossiemouth AB in Scotland , also to Manchester.

     Get used to doing that as a part of your ball park navigation , or Situational  Awareness.

    Return zoom to normal levels ie; 15 nm.

 

Took me a while to realise the UK map was on the slant. How do I find Lossiemouth AB or Manchester on the display?

   

( ILS APPROACH )

3.  *  At 15 nm to go in the GPS.

     *  Do the following in the Autopilot ,

     *  - Set mode from GPS to NAV button

        - Set APR button (Approach/ILS) .

4. Observe , the aircraft will now do a 'S' turn to align itself with the exact  EGMC runway heading (236).

5. When the aircraft has completed this little 'S' turn , bring power back to get 140 kts exactly.

    You might have noticed that the Autopilot ALT hold is still On , it will automatically go Off upon Glideslope capture.

6. At about 7 -8 nm to go in the GPS , the Autopilot will automatically "CAPTURE THE ILS GLIDESLOPE" , and

    start the descent to the runway.

 

Do these figures apply to any aircraft or does it vary depending on type??

 

7. Reduce power to get exactly  140 kts.

8. When the speed falls below 152 kts ,???

     - Set Flaps to 15 degrees , and

     - Lower the GEAR.

 

If I wanted to land on runway 5 which has I believe a heading of 055 what would I need to change in the plan other than the HSI NAV 1 setting?? I assume there would be times in real life when this would be required.

 

Now that I understand some of the principles I would like to setup some other flight paths so that I can learn more and also avoid too much repetition.

 

If you have any suggestions on suitable flights to try I would be grateful.

 

I have been going through all my old FSX print outs to compile a file with the most useful items. Didn't realise I had so many.

 

Chris

[COBS 25]

Hi Chris

 

Fantastic ! ! 

 

 I really hope that you appreciate what you have done , and achieved ,  don't for one second under estimate what you have

just done , as jlong has stated IFR/ ILS is advanced stuff that a lot of people have trouble with .

 

1. Trim , nose up is backwards on the wheel , but as I said above the trim on this aircraft is terrible , if it's any concilation  , 

     I also have trouble during take off with this aircraft , it is hard to do.

 

2. " How do I find Lossiemouth AB or Manchester on the display? "

         This was going to be the next task or exercise that I had planned after you had started getting used to the ,

     'flight plan on autopilot with ILS approach'

 

     What you need to do now is have a map of England next to you when you fly the Flt Pln on autopilot , any map will do

     as long as it has the major cities on it , it can be a road map , AA map , or family atlas.

     With your GPS zoom at 350 nm take careful note of the coastline shape detail , compare that coast detail to the coast

     detail on your map of England , on that map of England you have city or place names , relate that to the GPS map.

     Next use the compass rose on both the GPS and your HSI to try to estimate a rough heading to fly from your aircraft's

     current location to any city location.

           I will cover this in  separate post in this thread using the Flt Pln and Autopilot in a slightly different manner , I think

     that you will like it , it's a small extention to our navigation aspect.

 

3. Applicable speeds .

    Each aircraft type has it's own set of airspeeds for , 

           Take off - Climb - Cruise - Flap/Gear extention - Approach - Landing - etc.

 

   How do you determine those speeds ? ? ?

   - one method is , open your 'Kneeboard' ( it is the tick Icon ) , then read "REF" has a variety of speeds , also

      read "checklists" often speeds might be mentioned there.

   - another method is a "google" search on the internet , type in something along the lines of ,

      Flight airspeeds for aircraft (  manufacturer and model ie; Cessna 414A ) .

   In my opinion the most important speed that you need is the 'final approach speed' , getting that as close as

   possible to correct makes the landing easier and uses the minimum of runway length.

     in our example I used 110 kts .

 

4. " If I wanted to land on runway 5 which has I believe a heading of 055 what would I need to change in the plan other than the HSI NAV 1 setting?? "

     If you are referring to the other end of the runway at Southend -EGMC then the following considerations might apply ,

      - check if it has an ILS green feather for that end , not all runways have ILS at both ends.

     - you will have noticed that I used Clacton Vor - CLN as a run in that was roughly aligned with Southend runway 236 , you might want to add some

      more waypoints that will turn your aircraft into a rough approach alignment with runway 055.

 

5. While we used the freeware Cessna 414A  for this procedure to be consistent and to prevent chopping and changing aircraft , that allowed us to talk about

    the same panel and airspeeds throughout the exercise , the Cessna 414A is not the ideal aircraft , there are much better aircraft available for use in the

   sim , a really good aircraft is much easier to fly and use .

   The only aircraft that I can recommend unconditionally is the .... REALAIR  SF 260  ... it is magnificent , an absolute gem to fly.

  It is payware (reasonable cost) , a loverly bubble canopy , retractable gear.

  It is easy and simple to fly , stable flight dynamics that  probably represents the best Flight Model currently available .

 It might be worth checking it out , do a search  for    REALAIR  SF 260 video     there are several videos on you tube , see if it suits your needs. 

  Also do a search for reviews of that aircraft .

 

Cheers

Karol

[ivatt 0]

Hi Karol

 

Just spotted your latest reply. Thanks for the update and all the words of encouragement

 

Will reply in more detail later, sufficient to say I have been busy trying to enhance my knowledge of navigation since our last exchange of info.

 

Chris

[ivatt 0]

Hi Karol

 

Just  quick update. I tried some more flight planning etc. yesterday based on your last reply but unfortunately I started to get the dreaded Fatal Error screen from FSX. I am using Win 7 and I had this earlier and followed the advice to place the uiautomationcore.dll in the fsx route directory and this seemed, until yesterday, to have worked.

 

Don't know if it is related but as a result of your last post I found an SF260 on the files page (not sure which one as I saved it to my main PC which is not powered up at the moment just to see what it looked like and felt like for flying , which seems good.

 

Will be having another session later today but not using the SF260 just to see if I still get the same error. If I do then will need some help coming up with a fix I think.

 

Incidentally, what makes the Real Air version of the SF260 better than any of the freeware versions available from here to download.