How To...Runway Alignment

By Steve Sokolowski (8 September 2005)

In the 1990s, I lived in a place called Waikoloa, a village located on the island of Hawaii. On those lazy days in paradise, flying a Piper Tomahawk with a buddy of mine was one of those experiences I'll not soon forget. Taking off from Kailua-Kona Airport in the early morning, with its sunlight glistening like the sparkle of diamonds upon the crystal aqua blue water of the Pacific; I reached my cruising altitude of 2000 feet. With ocean water below, majestic mountains, topped with a light sprinkle of newly fallen snow reminiscent of wipped cream covering the top of a childhood ice cream sundae, to my left. If this wasn't heaven, it was a close second. With only 5 hours of flying time under my belt, I left the black sand beaches of the Big Island for the state of Florida.

Leaving my friend and his Tomahawk behind, I longed for the days of strapping myself in the seat; releasing the parking brake and pushing that throttle to the firewall; waiting for that moment of freedom. Freedom from the bonds of earth called gravity.

I had it. I admit it. I had the flying bug, deep within me. And the only "fix" that would satisfy this strange addiction, was the purchase of Microsoft's Flight Simulator 2002. Nothing can compare to flying with the clouds, but Microsoft has come close.

The biggest problem I have with FS2002 is trying to visualize a three dimensional world, while being confined to the realm of a two dimensional computer monitor. While on "final" to Ocala Regional Airport (Florida - KOCF) it's hard to visualize the attitude in reference to the airport. To help with a VFR landing, I made use of the available ILS signal from Ocala. At a frequency of 111.5 MHz, both horizontal location and altitude above the airport is easily made available at a glance. But it stilled lacked "reality".

While surfing the Internet one day, I came across the "How To..." articles found on the FlightSim.Com web site. There was one of the many fine articles that caught my attention. It was titled:

"Stay Aligned With The Runway On Approach" by Bob Allison.

Figure 1
Bob came up with a novel yet simple modification that literally painted a small blue box on the computer monitor in the approximate location of the runway threshold. But when I tried the "trick", I found out pretty fast that the blue box was moving out of the range of the viewing window when descending 500 feet per minute to an airport. So why not convert the small blue box to a 4 inch long blue vertical line?

Take a look at Figure 1. Just by changing the box into a line, you can easily align your "172" for perfect landings without the use of the ILS. With just the use of the VOR (130.70 MHz for Ocala Regional), compass and the magical blue line, you can easily maneuver your aircraft until the runway threshold is located within the boundaries of the blue line (lets call it the "Alignment Bar").

Modifying the Panel.cfg File

To get the Alignment Bar to appear on screen, a small number of lines must be added to the panel configuration for the aircraft you wish to change. To add the Alignment Bar to the Cessna 172 for example, just locate:

C:Program Files/Microsoft Games/FS2002/aircraft/c172/panel/panel.cfg

using Windows Notepad editor. Just remember; it is a good idea to save the PANEL.CFG program to another file or hard drive BEFORE making any changes. Then, if any errors are made, the original .cfg file can be easily re-installed.

With Panel.cfg displayed on your Notepad editor; let's tell the computer that we will be adding another window to the program. Under [Window Titles] - add the following: window05=target (see below). The original configuration is colored in "brown" while the added material is in "blue".


// Panel Configuration file
// Cessna 172sp
// Copyright (c) 2001 Microsoft Corporation.  All rights reserved.

[Window Titles]
Window00=Main Panel
Window01=Radio Stack
Window02=GPS
Window03=Annunciator
Window04=Compass
window05=target   // <== Add this Line

[Window00]
file=panel_background_640.bmp
file_1024=panel_background_1024.bmp
size_mm=640
position=7
visible=1
no_luminous=1
ident=MAIN_PANEL

Now we must define the color, position and thickness of the Alignment Bar. To do this, just add the following 11 lines to the .cfg file as seen in Blue (below) after [Window04]:

[Window04]
file=172SP_compass.bmp
size_mm=70
position=2
visible=0
ident=COMPASS_PANEL
gauge00=Magnetic_Compass!Magnetic-Compass,0,0







Figure 2


//------------------------------------------------

[Window05]
// VERTICAL BLUE LINE
Background_color=41,200,253
size_mm=512
window_size_ratio=1.00
position=0
visible=0
ident=Target
window_size= 0.003, 0.407   
window_pos= 0.505, 0.07     // Position left, Position Up-Down
//  Increase this Number '.505' Line goes RIGHT  Lower this number '0.07' - Line goes up

// ------------------------------------------------







Figure 3


[VCockpit01]
size_mm=512,512
pixel_size=512,512
texture=$C172s_1
background_color=0,0,0
visible=0

gauge00=Bendix_King_Radio!Bendix-King Radio Nav-Comm 1, 0, 0, 205, 77
gauge01=Bendix_King_Radio!Bendix-King Radio Nav-Comm 2, 206, 0, 205, 77
gauge02=Cessna172!Clock, 413, 1, 93, 93
gauge03=Bendix_King_Radio!Bendix-King Radio DME, 0, 86, 198, 51
gauge04=Bendix_King_Radio!Bendix-King Radio . . . . . . . . .

Figure 4

With the added lines complete, save the file to its original hard drive location:

C:Program Files/Microsoft Games/FS2002/aircraft/c172/panel/panel.cfg

It's now time to run Flight Simulator 2002 and take a look at our handiwork.

When loaded, select the Cessna C172SP and hit "Fly Now". With the 172 file running, you will be greeted with the usual Cessna Panel display and scenery window. To activate the Alignment Bar; hit the SHIFT-6 buttons. Magically the Blue Line will appear. To remove the Bar; just hit the SHIFT-6 buttons again.

Using The Alignment Bar

Figure 5

Let's say your flying at 2100 feet and you're at 30 degrees to the left of the centerline at the desired airport (Use the ILS if available). Turn on the Alignment Bar (See Figure 2). Notice the ILS indicates that you're over too far to the left and need to compensate. The idea is now to maneuver your Cessna so that the runway "centerline" is parallel to the Alignment Bar. Figure 3 indicates that you are on the glide path and that the Alignment Bar is parallel to the runway's centerline. Figure 4 is from a previous flight, note the Alignment Bar is centered with the runway. The ILS indicates proper positioning; although a bit low. I've also included the GPS in this photo. See how the GPS shows proper alignment with the runway.

Figure 5 shows your Cessna about .5 miles from the runway; the Alignment Bar is still centered with the runway. Continuing your final descent on this approach will guarantee you a successful landing time and time again.

Steve Sokolowski
SteveSokolowski2004@yahoo.com

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