Hi,After a dozen or so successful flights with RC4, I ran into a problem today. I was flying from KLIT to KMCI in a Flight 1 DC9. All was normal until approach gave me a heading to intercept the ILS to Rwy 1 Left. At this point I was outside the range of the ILS. I held the heading until I saw I was past the inbound course (using Nav2 tuned to the airport VOR), then I turned back and picked up the ILS at 25 miles. The problem stems from RC4 giving me an intercept around 28 miles from the threshold, outside the ILS range. I was using default scenery, ActiveSky weather (winds at 2800 ft were 325 @ 24). My airspeed at the time of vectors was 180 KIAS, altitude 2800 ft.Otherwise, RC4 has been excellent, and I am using it on every flight.Dale

happens to me too. i watch advdisp. when the bearing to the airport is within 5 degrees of the runway heading, i leave the intercept heading, and head directly to the airport. then when i receive the localizer, i make the necessary adjustmentsjd

I had this same problem in previous versions, and it happened again tonight. Was flying from Honolulu to Kahalui, and didn't get turned in until i was about 27 miles out. I was not receiving the ILS at this time. By the time i picked up the localizer, I had already flown through it and had to turn back to intercept.20-28 miles seems a little excessive and quite frankly takes a long time because invaribly the controller is restricting my speed. Is there a way to change it to 15-20 miles?

Ditto approaching KSFO ILS 28R from the south. Turned way too early to intercept the ILS when it was not even tunable and shoot through it. This defeats the purpose of the vectors if one cannot trust them all the time.Not sure why this happens on some occasions and not others.Greg

I had this at KATL. Got my vectors to ILS, but the frequency wasn't even alive yet?? I knew something was wrong, so I checked the map, as it was a night flight, but I was way out from the feather. I was going to miss the whole thing if I didn't turn left a few degrees, so that's what I did. About 10 second later, the LOC came alive and I was able to get a bearing. Any fix in the works for this??

it happens when you aren't going to get the full approach (downwind, base and final)follow the procedure i mentioned above, and you'll be finejd

Do I interpret this correctly that this is only a problem with straight-ins? A base entry shold be OK?FYI I always have a secondary navaid, GPS, or FMC nav display up for situational awareness. Many approaches as published also require non-ILS DME anyway.

What about using secondary nav references such as other VOR's and NDB's. It's what I would do in a real flight if in such a situation. Always have that sectional chart handy and a backup nav beacon dialed in! Mike

Jd....What do mean "it happens when you aren't going to get the full approach"? This happens to me when contacting approach, then being told which approach to expect, and then being being vectored for this approach...downwind, base and final.Am i to understand that the work around is to ask for the approach after being vectored to the outbound (downwind) leg? I'm fixin' to fire it up..so I'll give it a try.What causes this? Is there a way to get the program to shorten the downwind leg? Please don't take this as a "b@#tch session". I'm having a ball with RCv4!!

That's not the point! In the real world, you'd be vectored correctly no matter what.

the problem that is being referenced here, has to do with what i call a straight in approach (you're essentially on the runway heading when you contact approach), or a near straight in approach (where i turn you to base, then to intercept).if you're downwind leg is so long, you might want to check the msa at the arrival airport to see if it is accurate.you can always ask for a short finaljd

When I have experienced this, I was actually arriving perpendicular to the runway. I was then turned downwind and was kept on this leg for 25 plus miles, no longer being able to receive the ILS signal. I guess my question is, what in the program determines the distance you are vectored to intercept the ILS? Is there a perameter that can be changed to shorten this distance other than asking for a short final? Last night I requested an ILS and was vectored outbound for 37 miles before I requested a visual approach.

what is the msa of the arrival airport (on the controller's page)?jd

I'll get back to you....at work. They kind of frown on flight simming at work...DARN!!!

if you have a high msa, then i'm going to keep you high as you approach. and your downwind altitude will never be below the msa. that may extend your downwind leg, because i don't turn you to base until you are going to be below the glideslopejd