Flying the ILS - any good advice?

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sage
Airman First Class
Posts: 56
Joined: 05 May 2015, 23:15

Re: Flying the ILS - any good advice?

Post by sage »

Nick - A2A wrote:Hello All,

Since the release of A2A’s excellent Cessna 182, I’ve decided to make a concerted effort to improve my instrument flying skills. I’ve no real-world aviation experience, but since early FS5.1 days I’ve been interested in ‘old school’ VOR-to-VOR and ILS type flying and I hope I’m reasonably familiar with the principals. However, please forgive me if I come at this in a rather confused way! :wink:

In practice, I can do a reasonably good job of hand-flying set headings and altitudes under IMC. I can also fly visual approaches and landings without too much drama. However, it’s when I try and combine the two that things often go awry. I’ve real quite a bit of guidance such as extracts from the FAA Instrument Flying Handbook and threads such as this one on PPRUNE where rather varied advice seems to be offered.

In general, the main points I’ve taken on board when flying the ILS are ‘don’t chase the needles – fly a heading and V/S’ and ‘scan like crazy’! To be fair this usually works pretty well until the last 300-400ft before minimums. At this point I find myself tending to overcorrect and some fairly extreme attitudes can result. (I should add that in FSX I tend to set-up a rather artificial scenario where I need to fly right down to about 220ft AGL on instruments before I get any visual reference with the runway environment.) Anyway, here’s an initial question aimed squarely at those real-world instrument-rated pilots on the forum:-

• Is the lack of physical sensation in the sim a help or an obstacle in IMC flight? (I realise there’s not much I can do about this, but just interested to hear opinions.)

I’m trying to analyse why my ILS approaches become unstable at this point. Obviously the needles are much more sensitive as I approach the localiser. However, I feel the culprit is partly that using a rather springy joystick (Logitech Extreme 3D Pro) I tend to introduce an unwanted pitch command whilst trying to adjust heading (and vise-versa), So, question two:-

• Have any of you found switching to a yoke significantly improves your instrument flying?

The reason why the C182 is my preferred instrument platform is, of course, because of A2A’s excellent rendition of the KI 525A HSI. I find that (presumably because this simplifies my scan) my lateral control when using it is a lot better and the HSI is certainly a wonderful instrument. However, here’s another question:-

• Does using an HSI encourage bad habits including the ‘needle-chasing’? I’m not sure…

In general though, I’d say my pitch control on the ILS is much worse than my lateral control. Partly this is because I struggle to have the aircraft perfectly trimmed without visual references. This leads me to a little thought/question for A2A:-

• Would it be technically feasible to introduce a ‘cheating’ trim indicator under one of the shift + number windows? By this I mean a graphical indicator of how much force the yoke is applying? (Perhaps this info is available in the sim for force-feedback hardware.) I’d envisioned a kind of discreet vertical slider which would become centred as the aircraft moves towards being properly in trim and one can relax control input.

Anyway, If any of you are able to offer any suggestions/tips to help stabilise my ILS approaches I’d be grateful. Rob (‘Great Ozzie’) has already recommended the 'additional instrument flight maneuvers’ PDF. The flight patterns it describes look even more daunting than the ILS, but I’ll certainly give them a try! I do seem to have a tendency to balloon out of turns whilst flying on instruments, and I can’t just keep blaming my joystick... :roll:

Thanks,
Nick
The only additional thing you might try is at the FAF don't be afraid to use a little rudder to keep you on that localizer. This suggestion was given to me by my flight instrument several years ago and it has helped me considerable during real approaches. Everything you are doing is correct; approaches are not easy especially in windy conditions. Keep practicing! Pat

kevin.mccue2
Airman Basic
Posts: 3
Joined: 12 Dec 2018, 23:38

Re: Flying the ILS - any good advice?

Post by kevin.mccue2 »

Hey Nick, do you have a good charts app like navigraph charts? It helps a ton so you can follow the latest navaids and approaches, also do you have FSAERODATA? Fsaero will update all FSX/P3D Navaids and approaches (including adding all sids/stars to DEFAULT GPS's). These help me a ton and have made me a much better pilot, i'm working on my sport pilot license right now so not at instrument yet but having a good chart app can help you refine. Also navigraph charts allows you to see where your plane is at, which I only advise for the first few runs to make sure your technique is correct, but I like to fly them without knowing from charts or gps where I am, this will help you identify yourself using Vor's. And lately I've been working on NDB triangulation using two known points to find my location, fun stuff.

GaryRR
Staff Sergeant
Posts: 353
Joined: 26 Dec 2020, 22:32
Location: KSEG Selinsgrove, PA

Re: Flying the ILS - any good advice?

Post by GaryRR »

What I do is keep the vertical line right through the middle and the pips on the side centered and it works quite well. At a strange airport I also use the localized to sort left traffic from right traffic.
It is very good practice to locate intersections by their navaid references to instead of letting GNS/GTN do it for you.
That is the fun of non GPS or FMS equipped planes. Hands on navigation take off to landing.

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