3 questions for you guys

1) I'm a little confused about this one because you refer to them as "intersections." All intersections are (the triangles in IFR charts and on FS9) are ways to get off an airway or get on one. The intersection can also be a point where you must report your arrival to with ATC.

If flying over the pond, you don't have radar contact and ATC may require you to report a specific point that you pass. You do this via HF radio to some Oceanic radio station that they give you. I don't know if it is that way in FS9 as I have not done an Oceanic flight, but I have done them in real life.

2) GLIDESLOPE?? That's what everyone has problem with in instrument flying, but with some practice, it will be like riding a bike. I don't know what kind of plane that you are flying, but it is pretty much the same as far as principle.

As you intercept the glideslope, which should always be from underneath, you will notice the glideslope start to fall. At about one dot below, you want to add a second notch of flaps to retard your descent rate. The glideslopes at most ILS approaches is 2.83 degrees, which equates to about 630 feet per minute. If you set your rate of descent on the VSI at about 650, you will fly the slope all the way down to the MDA.

You control your rate of descent with POWER, not pitch. Take the lessons that are in FS9 for the jet approaches and you will see what it takes. All planes are different as far as how much power, etc it really takes.

3) For this, you must calculate two things. What rate of descent do you have? Also, what is the current groundspeed? Example:

I am going 240 kts groundspeed. I know that is 4 miles.minute. I am planning to descend at that speed at 1500 feet per minute. I am at 15000 feet. It will take me 10 minutes, if I keep 1500 feet the whole way to reach 0 feet. 10x4miles per minute is 40 miles. I would need to start my descent at 40 miles out to be where I want to be for arrival.

Of course, that is in a perfect world where you keep 1500fpm, exactly 240 kts, and ATC lets you descend on doesn't step you down. Add a few more miles to that for padding. I would descend in that scenario at about 55 miles out. I like the 15 mile pad for most speeds because it matches the 1500fpm well.

Hope that helps!

1.) What you have to understand is that when you set up a airport as a intersection in a flight path, that's what ATC will treat it as. Not a place to land. They will not have you land there, because you cannot have multiple-leg flight plans loaded in one flight plan. As in, if you went (START)_________(MIDDLE AIRPORT)________DESTINATION.

ATC treats the (MIDDLE AIRPORT) as a navigation aid, not a destination. It's like using VOR's, but they're airports instead..

In short....you'l fly over them like you do a VOR.

2)
THIS IS FOR IFR FLIGHT!

1. When ATC says something liek "WifeBeater 767, you are 32 Miles away. Turn right heading 105, descend and mantain 2,500 feet, cleared ILS runway 36R Approach". You have to click on your MAP icon in your cockipt. Then, move your mouse over the destination airport. Mind you, the airport MUST have the ILS feathers (thes are the green things that point to the runway). Double click on the airport. A list will show up. Scroll down the list untill you see a chart that shows Runway numbers. FInd 36R, or whatever your runway is. You look to the right and see a radio frequency. We'll use 100.100 because its easy to remember. Don't forget the frequency.

2. Open up your Radio Stack, and enter in 100.100 in the NAV1 Radio, usually the righmost radio number is the one that can be messed with. After you enter it 100.100, using the mouse wheel or clickin it. Press the button that looks like thsi somewhat, its in the middle of the 2 radio displays <-----> That changes the NAV1 Radio frequency from whatever it was, to what it is now (100.100)

3.Turn on the NAV1 Radio by clicking the switch at the bottom of the radio stack, unless its already on, like with the LearJet.

4. If you have Autopilot, and you are using GPS to follow waypoints, switch the NAV/GPS button back to NAV!!!! YOU CANT FORGET TO DO THAT!!! YOU'LL BURN AND DIE IF YOU DONT!!

5. Follow ATC directions to approach. Now, when you approach the Runway, you will see the pink arrows near your attitude indicator move...usually Heading first, then Altitude. Simply fly in the directon and atitude of the pink arrows intull they center themselves, that means you're on the glideslope!

6. If you wanna use the autopilot to fly the approach, simply follow steps 1-4, then click the APPR button on the autopilot panel.

3) Approximately 125 miles out, at FL330, with descent rate of 2,200-2,500FPM, airspeed kept at whatever you were crusining at...NOT MACH NUMBER...Below 18000 feet, drop it to 265, at 11,000 go to 250 untill on approach and final descent

This almost always works!

Thank you for your help!
Av8r77, when you're flying from London to Spain and you set already a point (an airport) in your flight planner where you are going to get some more fuel. How do you call that point?
I need that point to charge fuel to my airplane. I can't do a long flight without charging fuel to my plane. That's why I need to land somewhere to get fuel.
How do I do that in Flight Simulator 2004?

You either fly VFR so you can land where ever you want, or you file one flight plan that takes you to your fuel stop, then file another from there...Example below

You want to fly from Heathrow to Dallas, Texas. However, you only have enough fuel to make it to Atlanta, then you would refuel and get goin. So, here's what you do...

1) Go and set up your flight from Heathrow to Atlanta...select cruising altitude, whatever you want. Pick IFR Rules and stuff like that.

2) get your plane ready and run through whatever steps you like to do preflight and whatnot.

3) Fly to Atlanta

4) After doing your flight and landing at Atlanta, taxi to the gate shut down, do whatever you wanna do

5) If you are gonna stay in the same plane, then just wait for a second before getting fuel...

6) If you stay in the same plane, go into the ATC window, and select CREATE OR OPEN A IFR FLIGHT PLAN

7) Create your plan from Atlanta to Dallas, figure out fuel, then hit ALT, select AIRCRAFT from the menu, then FUEL AND PAYLOAD. Add fuel as you see fit fo complete the flight

😎Request IFR Clearance like you normally would.

I second that one!

I just start my flights again when I reach my destination. That way, I know that everything is just the way I want it when I start and I don't have to wait for the clock either. I can set it for 10 mintues before departure time and that gives me time to do my checklists and set up my nav-aids.

I got it. Thank you FEM and Av8r77. 😀

No prob!

I generally fly over the States. I routinely start my descent in the 737 about 100-120 nautical miles out depending cruise alt. I try to be at 10000' msl about 30 mi. out, then I ussualy capture the glidslope about 20 nm out at 5000' agl. I always hand fly the ILS app. At glideslope capture I am at 250kt ias -----FAA mandated speed limit at or below 10000'msl. When gldslp is centered I start hanging out the flaps, at that point my descent rate has to be around 1300-1400fpm to stay on slope. I set the flaps out one or two notches at a time according to procedure. By the time I'm at 2500'agl my flaps are at 25 deg, I also hang out the gear then. At that point my speed is 200kts ias. As I slow down the descent rate is roughly 1000 fpm. I hang out the last flap setting 30 deg at 1000 agl and 170kts. I then bleed down my speed to 150, by then my descent is down to 650-700fpm. I do this for every app. Consistency is the most important habit to develope for safe operation. REMEMBER; as you slow down on app, your descent rate also has to decrease in order to maintain glide slope. I hope that helps you to understand ILS's better.

CORRECTION; At 2500' agl my flaps are at 15 deg. I set 25 deg. at 2000' and 30 deg. at 1000' One pointer, just after touchdown I set the flaps at full 40 deg. This considerably reduces rollout. With reverse and spoilers out full flaps after tchdn I can cut almost 1000' off groud roll.

You have to be carefuk however, you aren't always going to get a glideslope 30 miles out. On flat land, localizers come in quite well at lower altitudes.

Get into the mountains in Colorado and you aren't going to pick the localizer up until you are maybe 15 or less miles form the IAF.

Thanks for your help, leadfoot., It was very usefull. I only have one quistion:
What is "5000' agl"? I've never see that term. Sorry about that, but I'm curious. 🤔

AGL means above ground level, or the actual field elevation of the intended destination. The reason I go to AGL reference at glideslope capture is because the bottom of the glidslope ends at the elevation of the intended arpt. As a matter of practice, most all airports pattern altitude's is 1000' agl. That enables you set up a good landing pattern. When you look at an arpt directory you'll see field elevation, and pattern altitude. For instance; Newark-Heath arpt is 884' above sea level, The pattern alt is 1900' msl, subtract the field elev. and you get just a little over 1000' above the ground, or agl at Newark.---- KVTA is the identifier at Newark.

AGL means above ground level, or the actual field elevation of the intended destination. The reason I go to AGL reference at glideslope capture is because the bottom of the glidslope ends at the elevation of the intended arpt. As a matter of practice, most all airports pattern altitude's is 1000' agl. That enables you set up a good landing pattern. When you look at an arpt directory you'll see field elevation, and pattern altitude. For instance; Newark-Heath arpt is 884' above sea level, The pattern alt is 1900' msl, subtract the field elev. and you get just a little over 1000' above the ground, or agl at Newark.---- KVTA is the identifier at Newark.

That answered my question. Thank you! 😉