nagpaw

pdmike, What we call the "speed brakes" and the "ground spoilers" are different functions of the same hydraulically actuated panels atop the wings. Both functions are controlled using the speed brake handle on the Captain's side of the pedestal. Pulling the handle aft in flight will extend some of the spoilers only part way to act as speed brakes. When the aircraft touches down with the spoilers armed, all the spoiler panels fully extend to kill the wings' lift. The SPD BRAKE ARMED light refers to the ground spoilers. So in flight you use the spoilers as speed brakes. On the ground, the spoilers work as spoilers. (In flight, the spoilers also assist in roll control...but that's beyond the scope of this answer :) )

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The Caravan does indeed have spoilers, but they're only for roll control and can't function independently as speed brakes or ground spoilers. IIRC, they extend once you reach 5 degrees of yoke roll input...or something like that :confused: Speedbrakes on a Caravan would sure be impressive, though! ;)

It appears that there are currently two ILS procedures to that runway: the ILS 2 and the ILS 2N. The ILS 2N is for use only when a portion of the runway on the rollout end is closed, probably for construction. I don't see a change in the approach itself, just the minima, and then only for Category B aircraft, so I'm not certain why the descent path would go wonky. Try comparing the fixes, courses, and altitudes between the ILS 2 and the ILS 2 N to make certain they're the same. Also try checking what the FMS flightplan wants to do between the last fix on the SID and the first fix on the ILS. Is there a Discontinuity or a direct track from one fix to the other?

What you're seeing is different versions ("revisions") of the same SID. IIRC SimBrief defaults to navigation data (called an AIRAC) from 2019 (you'll see that in the "AIRAC Cycle" portion of the New Flight Plan page.) Sometime after the release of that AIRAC the regulating authorities updated the SIDs you're trying to use. For example, if the KALE2P was revised to change an altitude crossing restriction over a certain fix, it might be reissued as the KALE3P. The next revision might be the KALE4P. So what you're seeing is SimBrief's navigation database being out of date for free users. If you want the latest AIRAC in SimBrief I think you'll need a Navigraph subscription. Can you use the newer data? In our FS world, you sure can. What you have in the sim should match the currently published charts for the SIDs, so you'll need to reference those charts. Generally speaking the SID's end points won't change, so as long as you exit the SID at the same point as SimBrief's flight plan, you should be fine. (I see that the KALE2P joins the airway network at SABDA. As long as the KALE3P in the MSFS FMS also crosses SABDA, everything should work, although if the routing to SABDA changed, your fuel burn might be slightly off. It's not a perfect solution, but such are the nuances of flying in a simulated world!) Hope that helps!

Unfortunately I don't have any information or data for the A-10 or B-17. But here's a quick and dirty method that works for almost any airplane. Not all flight models correspond perfectly to their real world counterparts, so using speeds from a real world manual can sometimes lead to flying too slow or too fast for the FSX flight model. Normal approach and landing speeds are approximately 1.3 times the stall speed in any given configuration. So you can try this method: 1) Set the aircraft weight for what you intend to land with (bearing in mind that your airplane likely has a maximum landing weght...i.e. don't land too heavy. Unfortunately I don't know the A-10s max landing weight). 2) Set the aircraft configuration that you intend to land with, usually landing gear down and the highest or second highest flap setting. This method will even give you a landing speed for zero flaps. 3) Go out and stall the aircraft. I usually turn on the SHIFT+Z data at the top of the screen to see the airspeed better. You don't have to take the airplane into a full stall. The warning horn or word STALL on the screen is good enough. Make a note of the airspeed. 4) Multiply the stall speed from Step 3 by 1.3 to find your landing speed. It's a little more complicated than that in real life, but following this procedure for a new airplane will get you in the ballpark and keep you out of the weeds short of the runway. Hope it helps! There's a few websites out there that have manuals that may contain the information you're looking for. You'll probably have a hard time finding publications for modern combat and commercial aircraft that are still in front-line service. Avialogs.com is one that has a pretty extensive library, including quite a few manuals for the B-17. The Pilot Training Manual should answer most of your questions.

That's the old Cargolifter blimp hangar at Brand-Breisen (EDUC) airfield. It was intended to house Cargolifter's CL 160 cargo airship ("CL" = Cargo Lifter, "160" = 160 ton payload). Alas the airship was never built and the company went insolvent sometime in the early 2000s. Is that "default" scenery?

Greg, First off, welcome! :D I appreciate what you're trying to do. But alas, I feel it's not going to work. The stock navigation aids in FSX are quite out of date. Unless you can draw that information out of FSX directly somehow, I don't think you'll be able to find a list of ILS frequencies that is accurate. For most of my flying, I go VFR. But for IFR flights, I always peruse the FSX map to make certain the navaids I'm using from real charts are still included in FSX. Quite often, I'll find communications and navaid frequencies that have changed or navaids that are either gone (especially NDBs) or nonexistent (i.e. weren't yet built when FSX was released). Now, a list of updates and changes to navaids that is updated frequently? That would be really nice!

Just out of curiosity (because I've had the problem before), are you certain your throttle is actually reaching idle in the sim, and that you're not inadvertently carrying extra power? IIRC, a quick press of F1 should make sure the throttle fully retards to idle.

Great choice, but don't forget Restauravia's Mirage IIIB. I hate flying alone!

jbearnolimits, you're absolutely correct! Flying at the higher airspeeds required by the 737 requires a greater rate of descent. Here's why... First, let's assume you're trying to fly the same path down to the runway--the standard three degree slope downward--in a slow airplane and a fast airplane. That slope yields the same change in altitude for both airplanes over a given distance, about 300 feet per each nautical mile across the ground for our purposes. Now let's say the first airplane approaches the runway at 60 knots, or one nautical mile per minute. If you need to descend 300 feet per nautical mile and you fly one nautical mile every minute, the rate of descent required is 300 feet per minute. Not let's say the second airplane approaches the runway at 120 knots, or two nautical miles per minute. If you cover two nautical miles per minute on the same 300 feet per nautical mile slope, you can see that the rate of descent is doubled, or 600 feet for minute. Keep in mind this is based on speed over the ground. So the 120 knot airplane with a 30 knot headwind (which results in 90 knots over the ground) would need to descend between 300 and 600 feet per minute to maintain that same slope. 180 knots? 900 feet per minute. 240 knots? 1,200 feet per minute. Make sense? ;)