ils problem

[corh]

I have flown ILS landings successfully on FS2004 on many occasions and am familiar with it. I have just bought FSX and seem to have a problem using the same principles as with FS2004 . When flying to JFK in New York in a Boeing 777,I set the ILS frequency for runway 4L of nav1. On the final approach still on autopilot I set the APP on. I have the heading, altitude and auto lights on. When established, the heading and alt. lights go off as normal, but the aircraft becomes uncontrolled and starts to fall and stall. Also tha app. light goes off and to recover I need to fly manually. Am I asking too much of my PC or do I need to set the ILS freequency on both nav1&2. Ive never had this problem on FS2004. Any help much appreciated.
Graham

[jeroen79]

What are the localizer and glideslope needles doing?
What is happening with your airspeed?
What about trim?
So you are flying it on autopilot?
At which point does the APP light go off?
Are you using the (auto)throttle to maintain airspeed?
Try flying it manually while watching the flight director.

[corh]

Thanks for quick reply. I am 73 and not very computer literate so please be patient. Let me explain my actions on FS2004 to see if I am missing something on FSX. When I set up the flight I set the radio nav1 to the ILS frequency of destination. Also set Alt and Bearing. I very rarely set speed. After takeoff I fly on autopilot by clicking Z. At the approach to destination I take instructions from ATC and reduce height and speed. When told to establish localiser, I then press APP and wait for establish and alt & brng lights go out. All I do then is control speed and flaps and the sim does the rest. This where it goes wrong in FSX. Speed drops ,height drops and starts to stall. By then the app light has gone and I am back on manual and hard to control.What else should I be doing? I never look at the glideslope needles or flight director. So far as I can see there no articles in Learning Centre to show how to set up for ILS landings,I may be wrong. Any help appreciated.

[kennyhall]

Thanks for quick reply. I am 73 and not very computer literate so please be patient. Let me explain my actions on FS2004 to see if I am missing something on FSX. When I set up the flight I set the radio nav1 to the ILS frequency of destination. Also set Alt and Bearing. I very rarely set speed. After takeoff I fly on autopilot by clicking Z. At the approach to destination I take instructions from ATC and reduce height and speed. When told to establish localiser, I then press APP and wait for establish and alt & brng lights go out. All I do then is control speed and flaps and the sim does the rest. This where it goes wrong in FSX. Speed drops ,height drops and starts to stall. By then the app light has gone and I am back on manual and hard to control.What else should I be doing? I never look at the glideslope needles or flight director. So far as I can see there no articles in Learning Centre to show how to set up for ILS landings,I may be wrong. Any help appreciated.

Graham,
not far behind you

What "777" are you using - freeware file details - or - payware model?

Inserting the correct frequency into Nav1 and setting the course/heading as detailed for the relevant runway should be sufficient to bring you onto the localiser (you also need to be running on "NAV" and not "GPS" on your panel).

The only other thing I can think of is that you might be approaching TOO HIGH.

You always need to approach the localiser/glide-slope from "below" in order to intercept correctly.
If you are too high you will just continue on your heading regardless.

I use FS Commander and on the map display it gives you the intercept altitude for each airport/ILS approach.
Very handy if you are not using charts.

I also use a GoFlight MCPPro
With that, I push the button for VOR/LOC(aliser) - the Nav1 setting and course heading already being selected.
That turns the 'plane onto the localiser and when I reach the correct altitude (below the glide-slope) I push the APP button which then flies me down the feathers.

Ken

[corh]

Hi Ken. Its nice to think that there is someone like you out there.
The 777 is from Just Flights TrafficX. Where is the Nav/Gps button on the flight deck? I cant find it anywhere. I know where it is on the Cessna. What is FS Commander and GoFlight MCPPro? Am I right in assuming there is no article in Learning Centre on how to set up. Sorry to be a pain.
Graham.

[uriahms]

Hi corh and others. This has happened to me before and I couldn't figure out why until I sat down and looked at what was happening. What I have noticed about the FSX ILS is that the glideslope needle does not become alive until AFTER the localizer (about inside of 25 nm). By 'alive' I mean the glideslope needle is stuck in the middle and when it starts to receive, it will position itself to the correct spot to show if you're above or below the glideslope. If you engage APP mode before the localizer becomes 'alive' then the autopilot pitches the aircraft violently into a dive and you have to disengage it and do a manual recovery. God forbid if you're holding at 2000 ft.

So to solve this, ensure that you only engage APP mode until you see that the glideslope needle is receiveing. That's it.

[Flying Officer Jevans]

corh,

The GoFlightMCPro is a piece of hardware that connects to your computer via USB that replicates the Autopilot( or Mode Control Panel/MCP) of a typical jetliner. Looks like this:

http://www.goflightinc.com/ShowProduct.aspx?ID=6

FS Commander is an external program that runs alongside FS. According to their website: "FlightSim Commander is a professional flight planner, GPS, Moving Map and navigation tool for Flight Simulator 2004 and Flight Simulator X . Being a stand-alone program, FlightSim Commander can also be used in a network or with single-monitor or multi-monitor systems."

It can be found here:

http://www.fscommander.com/

[corh]

Hi corh and others. This has happened to me before and I couldn't figure out why until I sat down and looked at what was happening. What I have noticed about the FSX ILS is that the glideslope needle does not become alive until AFTER the localizer (about inside of 25 nm). By 'alive' I mean the glideslope needle is stuck in the middle and when it starts to receive, it will position itself to the correct spot to show if you're above or below the glideslope. If you engage APP mode before the localizer becomes 'alive' then the autopilot pitches the aircraft violently into a dive and you have to disengage it and do a manual recovery. God forbid if you're holding at 2000 ft.

So to solve this, ensure that you only engage APP mode until you see that the glideslope needle is receiveing. That's it.

Many thanks for that. What you describe is exactly what happens to me. I will now press APP after going "live" on the ILS. I assume you use the flight director on. Im grateful for all the help and will try again and see what happens

[kennyhall]

Hi Ken. Its nice to think that there is someone like you out there.
The 777 is from Just Flights TrafficX. Where is the Nav/Gps button on the flight deck? I cant find it anywhere. I know where it is on the Cessna. What is FS Commander and GoFlight MCPPro? Am I right in assuming there is no article in Learning Centre on how to set up. Sorry to be a pain.
Graham.

Graham,

This must be one of the "flyable" AI aircraft from the traffic programme.
It is, therefore, aliased to another panel within FSX.

To find the Nav/GPS button I would suggest turning "on" cockpit tool tips so that when you hover the mouse over the various switches etc it should then show the name of the switch.
Also a good tool to use to discover just which switches/buttons are active in the panel.

FOJ has already answered your other queries.
Hope that all helps.

Ken

[gandy]

Traffic X does break the ils on some airports EGLL is one that i know of but i can remember reading that there is a few more, to fix if that happens to you is to disable there airports in the scenery library.