Still Can't Make ILS Landings

Try this, the member that wrote it is very good.

https://forum.flyawaysimulation.com/forum/topic/8080/ils-approach-guide-tutorial/

I will read it and try it right now and let you know how it goes

I just finished and it worked pretty well though I still ended up short of the runway but not too far away.
I am still pretty sure that it is my speed or possibly the flaps being put down at the wrong time. Is there anything I could see that tells you about what speeds and flaps you should be at from certain distances from the airport or something else that might help?

Thanks

A few things to check that commonly cause problems...

1) Make sure that your GPS/NAV switch is set to NAV and not GPS - if you don't do that, your AP won't have a clue whether its supposed to be following the GPS or a navigational aid, such as a VOR / NDB / ADF or an ILS routing.

2) Make sure you don't engage the APP button too far from the airport. The ILS feather doesn't eminate as far into open air space as many like to think. It is purely an approach method so don't engage it more than 10nm from the runway threshold. (Check the GPS for the actual distance).

3) Make sure you approach the runway from below, i.e. 2800ft as not to encounter False Glideslope Lobes (FGLs).

4) As for getting the velocity / lift (i.e. speed / flaps) 'continuum' correct - have a go at reading some of the checklists for the aircraft you are flying in this link...

Click -> Aircraft Checklists...from small Cessnas to large Boeings

everything goes fine until the final approach where my ILS landings always come up short

From that, it sounds as though you are using the APP feature as an Autoland capability. They are far from the same. The APP feature merely acts as a "seeker and holder" for the glideslope to the runway, by which I mean that it will seek to 'line up' with the runway and will then hold that vector or change accordingly. Thus, it should be relinquished at around 300-500ft AGL at which point you should take over the controls and fly manually. The reason you might be falling short is that the APP simply isn't designed to land an aircraft, so will not do it accurately.

I hope that helps - let us know how you get on 😉

Jolegg, I made sure to do everything you said, I had the Nav switch on, I approached the runway from about 2300 feet, and I pushed the APP button a little less than 10 miles from the airport.
After I pushed APP it lined up but then brought me down very short, somewhere between 3-5 miles from the airport. Any ideas of what could of caused this?

Thanks

Is it actually bringing you down as in to a point at which you crash into something?

Yes it is bringing me down very short of the airport where I crash into the ground a few miles before the runway.

And is the AP keeping you on the glideslope before that? i.e. both the lateral and vertical axes are centered all the way down, and then it just drops to the ground.

The vertical axis usually starts high on the glideslope once I push APP(which means I'm too low), then starts to center out, and after that it begins to go back up(I go down) and I get lower and lower then eventually crash.

It sounds as though you aren't really locked on to the glideslope in the first place - the most common cause being the GPS/NAV switch being incorrectly set to GPS. If you have got that right, then try another aircraft and another runway with an ILS and see how you get on 😉

I used a Learjet at O'Hare and the landing was perfect. I could hear when I intercepted the localizer(beeps) and it guided me down perfectly although the reverse thrust wouldn't work for some reason so I went off the end, but thats okay.
I guess I'll have to keep trying with the 737.
Two more questions:
Is is possible to get ATC to give you an ILS landing clearance?
Also, is there is autoland feature in FS2002? I 've heard about it but I have never found it or seen it before

Thanks for all your help.

Anonymous wrote:

I used a Learjet at O'Hare and the landing was perfect. I could hear when I intercepted the localizer(beeps) and it guided me down perfectly although the reverse thrust wouldn't work for some reason so I went off the end, but thats okay.

It sounds like you forgot to disengage the AP, namely the AT so it tried to maintain the speed you had set in the MCP. Make sure you disengage the AP at no less than 200ft AGL.

Anonymous wrote:

I guess I'll have to keep trying with the 737.
Two more questions:
Is is possible to get ATC to give you an ILS landing clearance?
Also, is there is autoland feature in FS2002? I 've heard about it but I have never found it or seen it before

Thanks for all your help.

If you are flying IFR, i.e. have filed an IFR flight plan within the sim, then yes, they will give you vectors for a precision approach i.e. an ILS approach.

For some payware aircraft, there is an autoland feature, but I'm not so sure for FS2002.

https://forum.flyawaysimulation.com/forum/topic/15408/some-useful-files-all-freeware/ - Autoland download is near the bottom of the first post. I'm not sure whether it'll work for FS2002 but give it a go.

😉

Remember this: The ILS is designed to get the aircraft to a point in space that you can see the runway and land(200 feet and approximately 1/2 mile visibility). It's not designed to land the aircraft(the exception is auto land which requires a special panel not included in default FS9).
🙂