Landing denied?

So I'm flying VFR into a regional airport. The weather has turned bad... rainy, windy, low visibility. I ask the tower for permission to make a full stop landing and receive a reply that the airport is ILS only and my request is denied.

So now I guess I'm supposed to try and find a flat piece of land somewhere? LOL.

What do you do in this case? I'm using P3Dv4, and am sure FSX is the same, in that there is no option to switch to ILS. Does this kind of thing really happen IRL?

receive a reply that the airport is ILS only

I think you mean IFR (Instrument Flight Rules), since ILS is just one type of instrument approach, and most airports, other than large ones, don't even have that type -- perhaps GPS, VOR or NDB approach.

However, in real life, if the weather started to get that nasty, and I were VFR only, I'd look for some other airport where I could land VFR, and I'd do it before the weather closed in on me, so probably well short of my destination. It's rare indeed that weather closes in with no warning, so one of many things a pilot must do in real life is to keep track of the weather along his route. It's not at all uncommon for the weather guessers to blow the forecast, so if you want a long life you must track that weather.

Pilots who are VFR only must deal with the fact that sometimes weather doesn't allow them to reach their destination (sometimes it doesn't even allow an initial departure), so they must be prepared to land short when needed -- sometimes WAY short. In 1990 I was headed for Oshkosh, but the closer I got the worse the weather. I wound up landing in Iowa and renting a car to drive to OSH. I was IFR rated, but not current, so I wasn't legal (or safe) to file. In any case, the embedded thunderstorms ahead of me dictated that I not try IFR, even if everything else had been in favor of doing so.

However even when you can file IFR, weather (in real life) can be such that it's not safe to continue, or maybe even to start. Embedded thunderstorms, freezing rain, ice buildup from heavy clouds and some other things can dictate that you'd better stop short, or perhaps not even start.

One year I was visiting relatives in eastern KY and I flew there in an F-33A Bonanza, and I was IFR current, as well as rated, but there were so many thunderstorms that I had to wait for one to pass (an hour or so) before departure, then I landed at LEX to wait for some more movement, watching the radar in FSS for openings. When I spotted one, I departed, but then wound up dodging storms and eventually wound up landing at Kentucky Dam airport (a little out of the way), after a total of about 3.5 hours of flying, where I spent the night. In good weather I'd have been that far along in less than an hour. The next day it took me 7 hours to get from Kentucky Dam to Albuquerque, with refueling and lunch at Amarillo. It had taken 7.1 hours to get to eastern KY from ABQ a week before.

The point being that in real life flying weather is a MAJOR factor, and when you're not flying a jet that can get above the weather it can get complicated -- even the jets have a lot to deal with on the takeoff and climb and on the descent, approach and landing. That's what happened to you, but you didn't have the training to understand what to do next. Fortunately the sim is rather more forgiving than real life. Hope these real life examples help.

This happens in IMC when you are using VFR. If you have a good weather engine and can see the weather at your destination, you'll know then if you should use IFR or not.

It's the same for AI. When you create flight plans for AI it's best to use the IFR trigger in the flight timetable otherwise AI will constantly ask to land and only be denied and will circle the air field.

Happens in real life. Weather falls below VFR minima, airfield switches to IFR.

Of course you KNEW this was likely from the pre-flight weather briefing...

Either wait for the squall to pass, or file IFR to the destination while in the air.

Fascinating. Thanks so much for the replies. I can see from the similar threads listed below on the page that I didn't do a very good job of searching before posting. Sorry about that. But reading the replies is so educational and entertaining also!

So, do your due diligence, PLAN your flight rather than just take off and hope for the best. Don't expect an airport to fix your mistakes for you. It's not like someone can transport into the cockpit and land your aircraft. With technology what it is in this day and age I suppose there's no excuse to find yourself in that position.

Fascinating. Thanks so much for the replies. I can see from the similar threads listed below on the page that I didn't do a very good job of searching before posting. Sorry about that. But reading the replies is so educational and entertaining also!

 

So, do your due diligence, PLAN your flight rather than just take off and hope for the best. Don't expect an airport to fix your mistakes for you. It's not like someone can transport into the cockpit and land your aircraft. With technology what it is in this day and age I suppose there's no excuse to find yourself in that position.

Correct. All flights should be planned. VFR or IFR. If not, expect things like this to happen.

Correct. All flights should be planned. VFR or IFR. If not, expect things like this to happen.

Whenever not just putting around my local airport in a GA, I always file an IFR plan. It's better to be prepared than to risk having any problems later. Once airborne and determining that there is no risk of my destination becoming IMC, I can always choose to cancel the IFR should I wish.