Auto Pilot not locking on

[bandonispcom]

Have flowned 2000. The aircrafts will not lock onto the ILS. Could it be something I am doing? The Auto Pilot seems sluggish.
any help apreciated!! Walt

[moth01]

Flowned? Thats a new one.. :)

Anyway, hi. What exactly are you doing to intercept the ILS?
Are you using the APR button on the AP? Are you intercepting the glideslope from below?
What do you mean sluggish?
Sometimes too fast of an approach speed will cause problems as the AP intercepts the ILS.
You have to tell us what you're doing otherwise we don't have a clue.
Let us know how you do an approach then we can begin to see if it is you, or not.
Take care,
Gary

[bandonispcom]

First Question. Do you have to have a disc 1 2 or 3 in the computer? I have flowned 2000 and you have to have disc 2.
It doesn't matter how I intercept. It won't lock on to the glide slope. It will grab the localizer, but will fly through the glide slope. Thanks Walt

[moth01]

Hi Walt,
No, you do not need any disc in the CD drive to use FS2002. Simpply use the shortcut to the FS2002.exe that should be oon the desktop. If it isn't you can put one there easily. Let me know.
To intercept the localizer and glidesolpe, you must make sure your airport has one. Some only have a localizer.
How far out are you trying to intercept, and at what speed?
The ILS becomes active about 25 miles out. Set the radio to the proper ILS freq, Turn the OBS to the correct heading, then hit the APR button on the autopilot. This approach button should track inbound ot the runway.
Check the HSI or the horizon indicator, for a glideslope indicator. Whether it be a needle, or a triangle off the the sides of the HSI.
Do you see them when you make an approach?
Set the approach speed further out, get into landing configuration too so the plane has time to adjust to the settings. The plane will not make large motions to capture the ILS, so you need to be set up as far out as possible.
Another thing, if the altitude hold is set to something too high, the AP will try to maintain it so perhaps set the altitude hold box to the airport's altitude.
Get back with me and let us know what happens now.
Gary
PS What airport are you trying to land at, and I'll check it out.

[bandonispcom]

http://www.flightsim.com/cgi/kds/fs2002/faq.htm

Check out the link above!

Why do FS2002 planes have such trouble doing ILS landings, this was never a problem in FS2000?

This was caused by Microsoft redesigning the way aircraft work in 2002. Basically, the autopilot functions used to reside in a section of the .air file - in particular the airspeed control and ILS capture, both laterally and glideslope - which worked well in FS2000.

In 2002 these parameters have been moved to the aircraft.cfg, and while MS have a comprehensive SDK in beta, together with a fairly good Flight Dynamics Editor, it is pretty clear that something has gone astray in the default planes. Third party aircraft have been very hard hit and many users are experiencing huge problems with a variety of autopilot functions including ILS capture, dutch rolling and pitch anomolies.

The problem is that this won't be solved until either (1) Microsoft patch 2002 - and at the time of writing there is no hint of whether they are even considering this; or (2) the third-party developers get their heads around the SDKs - once they are released and fix the planes.

[JWBoonenburg]

bandonispcom:

1)you could (and should) have thanked the guy who took your question seriously
2)your query was about two years late
3)next time, go to the FAQ section before you post any questions
4)"flowned" is a non-existing word

John (Holland)

[moth01]

Hi John,
How are you?
I just figured with 6 posts the fellow is new to FS, so I answer anyway. The search function works well here, wish more would use it, but that's ok. A lot of times a problem is solved and folks don't respond, that's ok too, but I'll remember :)
Since answering, I have used the ILS in default planes to see how bad it really is. I usually do manual ILS and adjust the glideslope with the power. Speed usually is a factor, where simmers will come in at 190 knots and think the AP will 'bully' the plane into the correct path. I know the AP is sluggish and I hear the the one in FS9 is no better. I'll stay with the manual approach on the ILS's.
Thanks again John.
Gary :)

[JWBoonenburg]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the ILS more or less automatic ?
If you set the frequencies right, then the plane will follow the path (localizer and glideslope)Of course, you need to control the speed.
Maybe I don't understand any of it
Probably not
Anyways, thank you for responding
Happy landings !

John (Holland)

[moth01]

Hi John,
Yes it should be more or less automatic. But sometimes the planes don't respond well. The plane should acquire the glideslope from below it, so I have heard. The localizer, further out. Both are true if the airport does indeed have glideslope AND localizer.
I tried a payware plane last night as an experiment. It followed the glideslope and localizer fine. Speed was handled by the autothrottle.
The default planes , well sometimes I have luck and sometimes not.
I think it is just the limitation of the program. I used to have folks ask why can't it guide the plane to the runway? Then they say their approach speed is something really high, or they are too close to the airport for the AP to take hold of the ILS. The ILS must be set as far out as possible so the AP can have time to intercept it and make small adjustments. Remember that with a crosswind, the AP must also correct the path to allow tracking toward the side the wind is coming from. But done far enough out, it should track fine.
Those ae just my observations on it. I will usually make a manual approach, just to have somethign to do. It really is not fun for me at least, to let the AP do all the work. Up to a point it can, then really close in itake over. And at the minimums (Around 200ft AGL) take over manually in any case.
I will do more experiments on this issue just to satisfy myself. I never though it was a big problem at all, but I see many posts looking for a cure all to the "ILS not working" issue.
Hey, take care John, and see you later :)
Gary