 |
|
|
|
|
Standard basic avionics fit plus VOR indicator, DME, and NDB.
This tutorial can be flown with the Microsoft 737 and I have included situations for that aircraft. If you are unfamiliar with the flight parameters for the aircraft I have included a crib sheet for the 737 here. You can, however, use any other plane which has adequate equipment, and I had a great deal of fun testing the tutorials in one of the IADG's rather wonderful Fokker F50s. I used the Air Baltic aircraft just because I happen to like the paint job. Air Baltic don't fly into Tromso, but one of the beauties of simulated flight is you don't have to do everything by the book. The panel I used was designed by by Espen Oijordsbakken of the Freeware Panel Designer Association and is available here but I wouldn't recommend using it unless you are used to complex panels, and though it is a fantastic piece of programming, it has its share of peculiarities and beginners will find it very frustrating. One hint to anyone who uses it is to make sure that before you load this panel for the first time, make sure that the engines of the previous plane are switched off.
Now that the DreamFleet 737 has been released, I would recommend using one of their aircraft instead of the Microsoft 737 as almost every aspect of this package is a huge improvement the Microsoft version.
Note that in the situations, the fuel load has been cut to about 25% for the sake of realism, so don't suddenly alter course for Iceland, unless you plan swimming the last few hundred miles, pursued by your passengers.
I
used Norway 2000
(norw42k.zip)
and
Eddie Denney's RealSceneFS mesh, but the
default scenery is perfectly adequate.
tromso_situations.zip - extract these files into your \FS2000\pilots folder
There are many approaches to this airport, but the big one is the ILS DME to runway 01. The tutorial assumes that you understand the basics of VOR and NDB navigation and that you can fly an ILS.
Tromso lies at sea level in a steep-sided fjord. If this was not trouble enough, the airport is within the arctic circle which means that approaches must very often be made in complete darkness. It is worth taking some time to study the approach plate series.
Please click the upper thumbnail to download the PDF file containing all the approach plates you need - do note that the full retail version from FSS contains 13 plates for this airport alone. Jeppesen have also allowed us to reproduce an approach plate for the Rwy 01 ILS DME and you can view this by clicking the lower thumbnail.
The
approach to Tromso is pretty challenging and the plan views on the plates reflect
it. No fewer than four transitions are shown on the ILS DME 01 plates: via the
Andoya VOR; the Senja NDB; the Sorriesa NDB; the Malsely NDB; and the Hestvik
NDB via the Tromso VOR. All these transitions terminate at the KBV NDB, where
in the case of the Jeppesen plate a course reversal is centered on a holding
patten with left turns.
Each transition has an altitude minimum of 5500 feet, with the exception of Malsely and Hestvik, which are at 6000 and 5000 feet respectively. On the Jeppesen plate the course reversal isn't mandatory for the Senja, Sorriesa and Malsely transitions if a straight-in approach clearance is requested and given by approach (notes numbered 2 and 3). The FSS plate is more up-to-date and none of the southern approaches require a course reversal, but the transitions aren't as clearly shown as they are on the Jeppesen plate - to find them you have to study the "Routes INBD" plate.
The plan view goes as far as specifying the course for the base turn within the holding pattern depending on aircraft category (note 4 on the Jeppesen plate - this is actually labelled with what looks like a "1" on the plate). As usual, pay careful attention to the MSA circle, which shows four quadrants, and a different altitude in each.
In
addition to the ILS approach, there is a non-precision approach hidden on the
profile view - the dotted line on the Jeppesen plate - in each case the MAP
is at the middle marker although there are different DAs for each category of
approach (if you don't remember what these are, please check the "anatomy"
tutorial). Incidentally, OCA(H) given on the Jeppesen plate is the obstacle
clearance height, which is defined as "The lowest altitude (OCA), or alternatively
the lowest height above the elevation of the relevant runway threshold or above
the aerodrome elevation as applicable (OCH), used in establishing compliance
with the appropriate obstacle clearance criteria". This is a very tight
approach.
The missed approach involves a climb straight out over the runway to the TM NDB and then to a hold at the Kvalsund (KV) NDB - this has right hand turns at 5000 feet.
Finally, note that the angle of the glideslope on 01 is slightly steeper than normal, at 4 degrees. Once you have eyeballed the territory, you will understand why.
Finally, if you would like to see what an approach to Tromso is like in real life, I strongly suggest clicking here.
Please make sure you have Indicated Airspeed (IAS) set. If you have True Airspeed set, the instructions which follow will make no sense at all. Ensure that the EHSI and the RMI of the King Air are aligned, which is the default situation. Also, ensure that you do not have gyro drift checked under the realism settings, unless you are proficient at making corrections for this. Do not use the GPS on pain of death. The tutorials are written for the FSS plates, but I have indicated where the Jeppesen plates differ.
Last of all, before we get going, if any real-world ATPL holders would like to correct me on any of this, I would be glad to hear from them.
Situation 1: Precision ILS DME approach runway 01 - select situation Tromso737UW11 for the default 737. Using the Microsoft panels puts some limitations on flying the approach, but it is still quite do-able. If you want to fly this approach with the IADG Air Baltic F50 and Espen Oijordsbakken's panel, load this situation - TromsoAirBalticUW11 - and click here to read a customised tutorial. Otherwise you can use the DreamFleet/FlightOne 737, which I used to take the screen shots.
This
situation places you in the left hand seat of the King Air or the 737, flying
north up the Norwegian coast at FL180, on a winter's afternoon. You have a light
fuel load and are readying the aircraft for descent.
The active Nav1 frequency is tuned to the Skagen (SKG) VOR on 112.8 and the ADF is tuned to the Kobbe (KBV) NDB near Tromso. Your flight plan takes you via SKG on your current heading, then to Andoya (AND) VOR on a heading of 028, from where you will alter course to fly the transition to KBV. You have planned to begin your descent about 9 miles from SKG. You have an altitude of 18000 set and ALT and HDG modes should be selected - if they aren't select them now. Cruise in to SKG, and when the DME reaches about 3.5 nm, alter course to 028, tune Nav1 to the Andoya VOR (112.2) and twist the OBS to 028 as well.
The
RMI needle should spring to life about 17 nm from AND, alerting you to the imminent
descent. At 9 miles on the DME, reset the altitude to 15000 and set the vertical
speed to 1500 feet per minute and pull back the throttles to flight idle.
You should reach AND at 15000, and when the DME reads about 3.5, begin a turn onto 073 (075 if you are using the Jeppesen plate - Jeppesen fans please click here to skip the next few paragraphs). Tune Nav1 to the TRO VOR on 113.8 and twist the OBS to 205. Screen shot 1 shows the state of the panel as you begin the turn onto 073.
Now watch the ADF needle so you can bracket your course for wind drift. Reset your altitude to 5500 and begin to descend again at flight idle. Now watch the DME - when it reaches 19 you must prepare to fly the arc. Screen shot 2 shows how the panel should look at this point.
If
you have flown the
DME arc tutorial,
you will have a pretty good idea what to do, but this is an arc with a difference, because
it effectively only has two segments: the first from our current location on
about the 220 radial to the 205 radial, and the second from the 205 radial to
the 194 radial, which takes us onto the ILS. So fly on until the DME reads 17.5
nm, then turn onto somewhere between 115 degrees, and watch the CDI until it
begins to move. The DME shouldn't drop below 16.5 nm at any time; if it looks
like it is going to, add a few degrees to your heading to compensate. This would
be an appropriate time to reduce speed to 190 IAS and drop flaps 5.
The CDI will center as you cross the 205 radial, which is the signal for you to change the Nav1 frequency to 110.9 (the ILS), and twist the OBS to 010 magnetic - it is reasonable to hit pause while you do this. Screen shot 3 shows how the panel should look just after you have crossed the 205 radial from TRO.
Once
the radio is tuned, set the aircraft heading to 040, which should give an easy
intercept on the localiser. Incidentally, the plate is slightly misleading here
- it looks like you have plenty of time to make the turn after you intercept
the 205 radial, but in practice if you don't begin the turn almost immediately
you will fly right through the localiser. As soon as you are established on
040 arm the APPR mode on the panel and wait for the plane to fly onto the beam.
Drop the gear, call flaps 20, and begin your final descent check.
When the glideslope indicator reaches the dot just above "center" on the EADI localiser scale, make sure ALT mode is disengaged, call for flaps 25; when it centers call for flaps 30. At this point you should decelerate to the "target airspeed", which is Vref (1.3 x the stalling speed in landing configuration - about 135 IAS at a guess for the 737 in this config) plus half the headwind component and all of any gust speed, and ride down to the MDA. At the MDA remember to disconnect the autopilot and you can fly right her in. Screen shot 4 shows the panel with the aircraft stabilised on the approach. You have control.
Using the Jeppesen plate for the 01 approach
Jeppesen fans need to fly a slightly different approach from the Andoya VOR. Select a heading of 075 and watch the ADF needle so you can bracket your course for wind drift - you should be headed straight for the KBV NDB. Reset your altitude to 5500 and begin to descend again with the throttles in flight idle. Set Nav1 to the localiser frequency on 110.9 and twist the OBS to 010, which is the inbound course on the localiser. You now have to fly one turn of the holding pattern to line up with the ILS - the reason we know we have to do this is that the holding pattern is indicated with a thick black line, showing that it is part of the approach procedure. The angle our heading makes with the inbound course means that we can make what is known as a "direct entry" into the pattern - overflying the holding pattern fix (in this case KBV) and then making a turn straight into the pattern itself.
When the CDI begins to move, or the RMI needle begins to swing, make a standard rate turn onto 190. Once you are established on this heading, fly outbound for one minute, descending to 5000 feet as you do so, before making another standard rate turn onto 010, which will line you up with the ILS, inbound. Once you are established on a heading of 010, engage APPR mode, drop the gear and flaps and fly on in.
Situation 2 - Senja 6D STAR Rwy 19, ILSDME Rwy 19 - select situation Tromso737Senja for the default 737. If you want to fly this approach with the DreamFleet 737, you should be able to just swap the planes after loading the situation. The screen shots show the DreamFleet 737 panel and SAS livery.
This
time we are going to fly in with the weather as it was on June 9th, 2001. There
is some scattered stratus and the wind is about 170 degrees 10 knots with some
gusting. The aircraft is at FL280, flying at Mach 0.62 on the UW11 airway about
60 nm from the SKG VOR on a heading of 010 magnetic. Nav1 is tuned to the Skagen
VOR (112.8), with the OBS set to 190 which is your track and the ADF is tuned
to the Senja NDB (414); so everything is set, bar the fact that you need to
tune your Com radio to Tromso ATIS to get the latest and set the barometer (those
of you who flew the
Aspen tutorial may have remembered to do this already <g>).
The plates you need for this approach are both in the FSS set - get out the
Senja 6D STAR Rwy 19, and the ILS 19 sheets.
You will be relieved to see that the sun is out and it looks like a pleasant trip into Tromso. The stewardess has just brought you both a cup of coffee and all in all, you are in a pretty good mood, so you ask your first officer to give the passengers an update. Under normal circumstances you would let the Flight Management Computer (FMC) handle everything, but today you are going to fly the bird in yourself with a bit of help from the Mode Control Panel, just to keep in practice.
If
you have worked your way through the earlier tutorials you should be familiar
with the principles of VOR navigation - so what I want you to do is to follow
UW11 until you are 6 miles short of SKG (remember that at this altitude the
DME is never going to zero), then turn onto 057 magnetic and descend on the
dog-leg that UW11 takes to the Senja NDB where UW11 terminates and the STAR
begins. You will need to be at around 18000 at Senja in order to make a relaxed
descent and fit in all the checks. Although you can fly in to the NDB using
the RMI alone, precise navigation is easier if you keep Nav1 tuned to the Skagen
VOR and twist the OBS to 057. Remember to correct for that wind! If you stay
on track you will be at the NDB when the DME reads 70 nm - just remember to
begin your turn onto 017 magnetic at Senja about 3.5 nm before you reach the
NDB to avoid overshooting - the panel situation here is shown in screen shot
1.
After
you make the turn at Senja, you will begin to fly the STAR - which you begin
with a turn onto 017 as described above. Retune Nav1 to 113.8, which is the
Tromso VOR, and set the OBS to 224, so that you can identify the SKARV intersection
(note the altitude restriction there, but you should be way above it). Then
begin a descent to 5000 with the throttles at flight idle and a descent rate
of about 1500 fpm - and don't forget to keep your IAS down to 250 or less below
10000.
Once the CDI flips at SKARV, set the OBS to 307, so that you can identify the MACKA intersection, which lies 28 nm on from SKARV. Now this is where flying without the aid of an FMC calls for a certain amount of judgement, because you have to cross the 307 radial from TRO at 13.0 DME in order to fly the arc which aligns you with the approach. Given that the ADF needle on the RMI will always point directly towards the NDB, the only way you can stay on course in this wind will be to bracket the course in order to keep the needle pointing to 197 - the penalty for wandering off a track of 017 from Senja is that you will miss MACKA and will cross the 307 radial from TRO at some DME reading other than 13.0, which could make executing the DME arc difficult and might even lead you to declare a missed approach. Screen shot 2 shows the 737 crossing MACKA.
When
you reach MACKA, set the autothrottle to about 190 knots and drop 5 degrees
of flap. Now you have to fly the arc - so twist the OBS to 349. Adding a hundred
to 307 gives you 407, which isn't on my compass rose, so I guess it means 47
degrees magnetic must be our next heading. Watching the DME, fly this course
until the RMI needle is horizontal, then come around onto 067 and do the same
again. If you are a bold pilot, you can fly the arc just by watching the DME
and altering the heading setting a few degrees at a time. I am old, and therefore
not bold. Screen shot 3 shows an intercept of the 349 radial at 13.0 DME.
As the CDI begins to center on the 349 radial, switch the Nav1 frequency to 109.9. Whatever you do, don't accidentally set it to 110.9 as this will give you a back course reading on the 01 ILS - triple check this - then begin a descent to 4500 feet, drop the gear and the flaps for final, and turn the aircraft onto 145 as quickly as you decently can, engaging the approach mode on the autopilot. From there you should be able to fly it straight in on the localiser, remembering to disengage the autopilot at the appropriate time. There is an unnerving moment (well, several, actually) during the turn onto finals when it looks like you are going to fly straight into a mountain, but if you fly the procedure as published you will always make it onto the pavement - just don't land before you get to the displaced threshold or they will take away your 737 and you will end your flying days pushing freight in an airplane that time forgot.
Situation
3 - SID Rwy 01 - select situation Tromso737sid01.
Note that this situation is set up for the Norway 2000 scenery and that if you are using the default scenery you will need to slew the plane onto the runway. The more adventurous of you may like to slew the plane right in front of the terminal, but I leave this up to you.
I beg your pardon? Did I read the title correctly? A SID? I thought this was all about dangerous approaches?
Well, so it is, but I couldn't resist throwing this one in. You never hear about dangerous departures, but there is no doubt that this one qualifies. This is the nearest FS2000 will let you get to flying any kind of Category III departure, but given that this is a simulation, we are only going to pay attention to the really important stuff.
The first thing we have to check is that the Runway Visual Range at Tromso is at least 150 feet. There must be an alternate airfield within 60 minutes single-engine flying time, where the weather forecast is for Category I limits or better - in other words, good enough conditions for an instrument rated pilot to make an ILS approach according to standard approach plate minimums. By contrast, the destination airport must be forecast to be at least Cat III conditions - again, usually around 150 feet RVR, with adequate (and fully working) lighting.
Taxiing
in this kind of visibility has to be done slowly, in order to avoid missing
turns and hitting solid objects so that you end up having to fly 707 freighters
until your retirement. It can be pretty tough judging speeds with no clues except
the centerline lights, so don't let impatience get the better of you. You may
actually find that it is easier to use the localiser to line up on the runway
than anything else, with vis this low. I am not kidding, by the way, commercial
pilots have been known to do exactly this.
Check out the plate. We are going to fly the Senja 2A departure, which takes us out via the Lanes NDB, then calls for a standard rate turn to 189 degrees as soon as 2600 is reached. Note that maximum IAS is 185 knots in the turn, and that our climb gradient must be a minimum of 6.2% to 2600. For those of you who want to know how to calculate the bank angle for a standard rate turn in a 737, it is best done by dividing true airspeed in knots by 10 and adding 5 - so that we are looking at around a 23 degree bank here. We need to maintain a heading of 189 until we intercept the 214 radial from TRO - along which we then fly to the SJA NDB. At SJA the SID is finished and we can route out via the airway in our flight plan.
I
have chosen just about the worst weather conditions compatible with a takeoff
from Tromso, so I suggest listening in to the ATIS (and setting the altimeter).
The RVR is actually about 330 feet, which is the minimum FS2000 allows, but
I have thrown in some rain, turbulence and a little bit of wind shear for interest's
sake.
Once you get off the ground and have a positive rate of climb, lift the gear and accelerate to 195 IAS, applying enough correction for gusts to ensure that your airspeed does not fall too far below your target. The wind is almost directly abeam but even so you will find you have problems maintaining flying speed due to a combination of gusts and turbulence, so this might be a good time to fly the throttles by hand, as the autothrottles may not be able to handle it. At 2600 feet, cautiously reduce speed to 185 IAS and make a turn to port; but be careful to do this in stages if you are using the heading setting on the autopilot as the fact that this turn is more than 180 degrees means that you may end up doing it to starboard instead.
Level out on 189, increase power so that your airspeed rises to 250 knots and continue your climb to 6000 feet, as cleared by the ATC, watching the EHSI for the intercept of R214 from TRO. As soon as the CDI begins to move, alter your heading to 214 and then climb to FL100 as cleared. At the Senja NDB you are free to resume your own navigation.
This is a moderately difficult departure, as your speed is restricted just when you don't want it to be and the weather makes it extremely easy to stall the fully-loaded 737. According to Stein-Erik Sandvik, a procedures designer for the Norwegian Civil Aviation Authority, the speed-restriction is intended to restrict the radius of turn of the aircraft in order to reduce the design area and hence keep the plane clear of the mountains. ATC cannot deviate from this instruction and in real life the pilot would not request it, so the departure has to be flown by the book. I recommend setting flaps 15 on takeoff, to save the airline having to send a crew to dig your flight recorder out of the hill you need to clear immediately after completing the turn. And whatever you do, remember to pick up flap as soon as you complete the turn, as the 737 isn't cleared for flaps 15 above 195 KIAS - forget about 'em and you are back to those 707s again, boyo.
Situation 4 - flight plan for Oslo-Tromso (alternative is Skagen)/ Tromso-Svalbard (alternative is Honningsvag)/ Svalbard-Tromso (alternative is Skagen)/ Tromso-Oslo (alternative is Trollhattan)
I thought I would throw this in as an extra. This is a flight plan for the Braathens flight you saw if you visited the web link at the beginning of this article. Click here to download the flight plans in FS2000 format and extract them to your FS2000 folder - and click here to download the plans in FSNavigator 4 format. And have fun.
Andrew HerdRead the tutorial on basic instrument approaches.
