hi,

I do not know to do autopilot landings and sometimes, if I set the altitude hold to any number of feet it will not hold that altitude.

thx,

Mat

Which game is this you're talking about?

Sorry, FS 2004. My mistake!

mat

It' s not that hard

Basically enter the runway ILS frequency in to the Nav. 1 radio stack, and then click the APP button on the auto pilot panel.
Make sure youre speed is around 180-200KIAS when you are waiting for the autopilot to intercept the glideslope and localizer.
The HDG light will turn off by itself and the aircraft will start turning, and the as the glide slope reaches the middle, the ALT hold button will disengage.
This is when you put you gear down and guide the aircraft so that it stays in the middle of the glideslope. Extend flaps and reduce speed in order to do so.

Thats about it.

ZKSUJ

How to make a successful ILS approach on autopilot in FS2002

The main thing to watch out for is speed.
Let's assume it's one of the jet airliners.

Start off by entering the ILS frequency in NAV1.

*Set yourself up on autopilot at about 12-15 miles from the airport on a heading that will intercept the localizer at about 10 to 20 degrees (no more).

*Your intercept altitude should be below the glide path. Go for about 4,500 ft. when 6-7 miles from the airport. Hold this altitude on autopilot.

*Reduce your speed to below 200 kts, say 180 kts. using the autopilot IAS hold.

*Just before you intercept the localizer, you should be flying steadily with your autopilot
holding altitude (about 4,500ft., heading (10-20 degrees to the runway heading), and speed (say 180 kts.) Ensure you are below the glide slope)

*Engage APR (approach) hold on the autopilot.

*As the aircraft intercepts the localizer, the HDG hold will automatically disengage (light goes out on the autopilot) and the aircraft will start its turn towards the runway heading.

*It will still be holding its altitude on the autopilot until it intercepts the glide slope. At this point the ALT hold will disengage (light goes out on the autopilot) and the aircraft will start its descent.

*REDUCE SPEED NOW to about 160 knots on the autopilot and lower your gear.

*Keep your eyes on the glide slope indicator and :
*Extend your flaps if you find you are dropping below the glide path.
*Reduce your speed if you find you are above the glide slope.

*You will probably find that with flaps fully extended and gear down, your approach speed should be about 140-150 kts.

*At an altitude of about 200-300 feet, disengage the autopilot AND THE AUTOTHROTTLE, and land the aircraft yourself.


Note* have a play around with the speed and the flaps to see what configuration works best.
I also want to acknowlege the website I got this from, I dont know the address or who's it is but just saying that it ain't my material

ZKSUJ

Your intercept altitude should be below the glide path. Go for about 4,500 ft. when 6-7 miles from the airport. Hold this altitude on autopilot.

Thats a steep decent. At that kind of distance you sould be looking at 2200ft. But really you should try to intercept the ILS at 10 miles at 3000ft.

Also with speed control, intercept at about 180kts, and then fly at 160kts to about 4dme, and then slow to VREF (depending upon a/c type and flap config for landing can be as low as 120kts).


Jamo

Yeap, agree with Jamotcx. Usually start finals at about 2000-25000ft AGL. But this was what I got from the net. I usually do what ATC tell me to, then when the tell me to turn to intercept the vectors for finals, I switch on the APP hold.

ZKSUJ

Yeap, agree with Jamotcx. Usually start finals at about 2000-2500ft AGL. But this was what I got from the net. I usually do what ATC tell me to, then when the tell me to turn to intercept the vectors for finals, I switch on the APP hold.

ZKSUJ

Once you get the hang of relying on APR hold, try flying it all by hand by turning off all AP functions when you are around 10NM out. That is where the real challange is. To do it, you must watch your localizer/Glideslope, stay on it with a good descent rate and speed, check heading, and fly with visibility < 1NM. Instead of flying all autopilot, you should work to get to this point. Being a computer babysitter is one thing, flying is another.

As for the instructions above, go with the 2000-2500' starting altitude. Puts you in a better situation, and 6000 should be well above GS anyway. You also really don't have to worry about the 10-20* off rwy heading if you are "ahead of the plane". You just have to start your turn a littler sooner so you dont overfly the localizer. I'm normally anywhere between 10-90* off localizer heading when I intercept. And finally, as mentioned, your speeds are determined only by your aircraft. All aircraft have different V speeds.

-Jason
N139j

All very useful stuff, cheers guys. BUT...  

How do you find out the ILS freq? Up until now, i've hand flown ALL my landings, it would be nice to know if I have to and make a coffee!  

I get the ILS freqs by going to alt/world/map view and scrolling to
the destination airport (once I've been told the runway for the airport).
Click on the airport and scroll down for the ILS freq for the specific
runway.

You can also get them using the GPS, but, I am no expert on that one.


Jim

Cheers Jim! I'll have a go. Now, where's the AutoTaxi?  

One last question and i'll leave you all alone. When pushing back, how do I get it to go to the side? I'm sure the manual/help/whatever says Shift-P to start/stop then 1 or 2 to go left or right but it never works! I have to push back half a mile so I have enough room to swing the whole thing round!

Cheers!

Yeah, I have the same problem with pushback too. 1 & 2 only move the rudder but the plane still pushes back in a straight line.

you need to hit the 1 or 2 button *immediately* after "shift P"..shift P
then 1 or 2 in rapid succession..if you wait more than a couple seconds..you're
too late.


Jim