ILS

[EHM-1486 Ricardo]

Does ILS manage your vertical speed and normal speed? Or it just gets you aligned with the runway? And when should we activate the APP mode in autopilot?

[EHM-1358 Tim]

I think you should press APP when your alaigned on the ILS, i never use it cos' it never works.

[EHM-0001 Gergely]

We have pilots with 10s or 100s of hours who can't even fly an ILS approach??? :! I think I will introduce exams for new and existing pilots!!!

[EHM-1486 Ricardo]

Originally posted by YR-TGM
We have pilots with 10s or 100s of hours who can't even fly an ILS approach??? :! I think I will introduce exams for new and existing pilots!!!

I've done some sucessfully ILS landings, but sometimes I miss the approach. Sometimes the plane does not descends automatically. Do you know any good tutorial for ILS approaches??

[EHM-0001 Gergely]

Hi,

- the plane will descend automatically only if you intercept the ILS from below.

- APP should be pressend when you're close to the localizer with a heading difference of at most 30 degrees, BELOW the glideslope

- ILS doesn't manage 'normal' speed

[EHM-0948 Bruno]

Pedrosa,

The idea is simple. ILS locking with APP (Approach) means that the plane will try to follow an invisible line on the air that "somehow" leads to the threshold point on the  configured runway.
Now, to do this, the airplane uses altitude and bearing adjustments. The rest is on you. Now, how can you decrease or increase your vertical speed ? With speed. That means, if you are getting to quickly to the ground (too much vertical speed) you put some more power on the airplane and the glidescope needle will get adjusted. If you go too fast, you will not get too much vertical speed to make the plane go down, so you need to take off throttle.
Hope that helps.

[EHM-1358 Tim]

Originally posted by YR-TGM
We have pilots with 10s or 100s of hours who can't even fly an ILS approach??? :! I think I will introduce exams for new and existing pilots!!!

But before you do that, you need to make a nice juicey libary of helpful stuff for ILS etc

[EHM-1365 Benjamin]

The way I learnt to fly with the ILS was with the actual lessons on FS(2000 at the time...was a while ago!)

As for the APP hold, it kinda defeats the object of having a pilot....too much fly-by-wire around for my preference. The cruising is rather boring, and so is the landing with the approach hold.

Maybe its just me...

[EHM-0001 Gergely]

yep, you could check the FS Flying Lessons, there are tutorials and flights about ILS approach (Instrument Pilot, Lesson 2).

[EHM-1001 Robert]

The ILS glideslope is a virtual line , that have an average 3 degrees descendeing. It means, if your proper approach speed is about 140...160 KIAS, then -calculated from the speed and the 3 degs- you should hold an optimum -800 fpm descending rate. Because the approach speed is an ideal value for each plane, holding ILS rather means keeping a descending rate than keeping the speed. Although it works too, if you adjust your descending rate with adjusting thrust, following the ILS  is more likely about keeping a static descending rate and a good heading vector.

[EHM-1486 Ricardo]

Originally posted by YR-TGM
Hi,

- the plane will descend automatically only if you intercept the ILS from below.

- APP should be pressend when you're close to the localizer with a heading difference of at most 30 degrees, BELOW the glideslope

- ILS doesn't manage 'normal' speed

How can I check if i'm intercepting the ILS from below?

[EHM-0962 Zhen Yi]

Well most of the time i estimate based on experience but you can take a look at the NAV screen (i think) and look at the little green pellet/diamond at the right side.......if your nav frequency is tuned correctly and you're below the glideslope, the green thing will appear above the midpoint of the meter on the right....

(i hope i didn't make any mistakes here )

[EHM-1001 Robert]

Well, instruments are depend on your panel. Usually every panel have 2 main screens ND and FD or HSI and VSI. (alias Navigational Display, Flight Information Display, Horizontal Situation Indicator, Vertical Situation Indicator.

Preparations before an ILS/instrument landing is to setup the ILS frequency on your NAV1 radio, and the runway heading on your Course selector.

Normally an ILS glideslope have 3 degrees descending. It means, ATC will guide you to 2000 ft above ground, and approach will start about 7 nm far from runway. This is quite close. At this moment your gauges will already show you the centerline since 2-3 minutes.

ND: or more simply, the digital compass rose screen. On most panel you will se a purple/white  needle in the center. This will show you the longitudinal center of the ILS virtual line. If it is absolutely centered you are on the right vector. Normally inbuilt ATC will guide you to intercept the ILS glide slope with a last 30 degrees turn. Before reaching the correct heading, the purple line will be stand on one side of the display. As you reach the correct vector, the purple line will move to the center. In this moment start turning toward the correct heading, and with luck, you will hit the correct vector toward the runway. Try to keep the needle in center, against crosswinds, and your heading will be right for landing.

FD: mostly the LEFT digital screen, that contains the altitude and speed gauge too. This screen usually have 2/3 purple diamonds. To be easy, these diamonds show the ideal centers of every aspect of the glide slope and you must move your plane so the diamonds are centered on their slides. 1st is existed (not always) on the left side, next to the speed gauge. If it is vertically centered, your airspeed is OK. If it moves up, your speed is low, if it moves down your speed is high. 2nd is existed on the right side next to the altitmeter slide. If it is centered, you are on the slope, if it moves down then you are above glide slope, if it moves up then you are below glide slope. 3rd is existed on the bottom. It is the same as the needle mentioned at the compass rose. It will move left if you are right of the centerline, and moves right if you are left of the centerline.

ILS diamonds/needles pop up only if you setted the ILS frequency correctly, and you are about 20 nm far from the touchdown point. Near the touchdown point (100-200 ft high) it is better to change to visual approach, because your diamonds can screw up everything

Safe landings If you need more details, then you should really try the inbuilt flight trainer. The best excersice is to land a Cessna with ILS, in 0 visibility conditions

[EHM-0962 Zhen Yi]

Nice explanation by SirRoberto.....but isn't COM1 used for communication with the ATC and NAV1 for the ILS/Localiser etc? I'm not too sure about this cause i've not flown for months skills getting quite rusty

[EHM-1001 Robert]

Arrrrgggggggggghhhh, what a mistake

[EHM-1365 Benjamin]

lol....you should be happy that out of all that writing you only made 1 mistake.
I know I would be suprised :]:>  ......

[EHM-0813 Guillermo]

Originally posted by Tim
I think you should press APP when your alaigned on the ILS, i never use it cos' it never works.

it does if you do it right

[EHM-1343 Jonathan]

I dont do ILS approaches unless completely neccessary. It is neccessary when the weather is very bad. I find a visual approach way more fun. Thsi way the landing is much more, "hands-on"

I do however know how to do it but I learnt in the FS2002 lessons

[EHM-0813 Guillermo]

In real life, all pilots do ILS approaches when possible, even if the weather is perfect (unless you don't have an IR :%). Still, ILS doesn't always mean an autolanding, in good weather conditions pilots do follow the glideslope manually