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Boeing 307 stratoliner. ILS landings. Advice please


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I am flying the above plane , a Jen Kristensen creation. I appreciate it is a 40s plane, but I cannot find how to "click" a button, or whatever, to get on the glideslope. IOW. The App button as in modern airliners.

 

The bare cockpit doesn't even have a radio to put in the runway ILS frequency, but I can do that by using the window "provided".

But when I am on the heading as instructed to intercept the glideslope beam, there is no button to click to turn me on to the glideslope.

 

Is there a way, or is the plane too old to have one? Do I have to manually fly it and try to keep the vertical and horizontal lines in the gauge lined up to ensure I'm lined up with the runway.

If that is the case, the pilots of these craft had a much harder job than modern day fliers😀

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Do I have to manually fly it and try to keep the vertical and horizontal lines in the gauge lined up to ensure I'm lined up with the runway.

If that is the case, the pilots of these craft had a much harder job than modern day fliers������

From what I've read, that's how an ILS approach is mostly flown by a nowadays commercial pilot as well.

 

Wim

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I am flying the above plane , a Jen Kristensen creation. I appreciate it is a 40s plane, but I cannot find how to "click" a button, or whatever, to get on the glideslope. IOW. The App button as in modern airliners.

 

The bare cockpit doesn't even have a radio to put in the runway ILS frequency, but I can do that by using the window "provided".

But when I am on the heading as instructed to intercept the glideslope beam, there is no button to click to turn me on to the glideslope.

 

Is there a way, or is the plane too old to have one? Do I have to manually fly it and try to keep the vertical and horizontal lines in the gauge lined up to ensure I'm lined up with the runway.

If that is the case, the pilots of these craft had a much harder job than modern day fliers😀

 

These are pre-war aircraft, I'm not sure that ILS even existed in those days - if it did it would have been at very few airports. There shouldn't be anything hard about a visual landing, this is often done in the present day.

 

But I would guess you might solve the problem with Ctrl-A to engage approach.

 

John

http://www.adventure-unlimited.org

 

My co-pilot's name is Sid and he's a star!

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Do I have to manually fly it and try to keep the vertical and horizontal lines in the gauge lined up to ensure I'm lined up with the runway.

If that is the case, the pilots of these craft had a much harder job than modern day fliers😀

 

In the heyday of that aircraft, yes, an ILS was flown manually (if available at all), and VORs weren't deployed until after WW II, so during the 307's service there would have been few of them.

 

I'm not sure that ILS even existed in those days - if it did it would have been at very few airports.

 

Yes, the ILS existed then but, as you say, it was not widely deployed, and so most instrument approaches were on the four course beam, where the pilot listened to tones in his headset for guidance, a Morse code N (-.) if he was "off the beam" to one side, or a Morse code A (.-) if he was off to the other side, with a steady tone resulting when he was centered.

 

It also took a number of years before all airliners had ILS receivers, since they were brand new and expensive and, of course, the airlines were reluctant to spend more than they had to, as is still the case today.

 

Of course in FSX it is possible to add and improved autopilot that will track it for you.

 

Larry N.

As Skylab would say:

Remember: Aviation is NOT an exact Science!

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From what I've read, that's how an ILS approach is mostly flown by a nowadays commercial pilot as well.

 

Wim

 

I don't think so. Surely they use the App button and ride the glideslope. Of course, from time to time they have to do manual landings to keep their skills honed, but mainly they use ILS landings by computer.

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Thank you everyone. As I suspected, the plane was too early for ILS. I did wonder though, because the Douglas DC4 by Jens has the full landing aids.

(That is a lovely plane to fly).

So, got to get the old joystick skills going better.😀

Thank you again

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I don't think so. Surely they use the App button and ride the glideslope. Of course, from time to time they have to do manual landings to keep their skills honed, but mainly they use ILS landings by computer.

Assuming there is an ILS provided. There are loads of commercial airports without ILS and many of those that do have them at one end only. Most of the latter do at least allow Backcourse ILS but visual altitude positioning is necessary as there is no glide slope. Visual approaches must actually be quite frequent at all but the largest airports.

 

John

http://www.adventure-unlimited.org

 

My co-pilot's name is Sid and he's a star!

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Cas141 - I too have this aircraft in my collection, and you are correct, the panel is bare of any modern day electronics. What's nice about 2d panels, you can be creative and modify the panel to your liking, ie, modernize the panel with today's equipment, providing this is for your own use, and not violating any UAC. You could add ILS capability to a Piper J3 Cub, should you have the desire to do so.

 

Freeware aircraft is something that is afforded to us as users and I do appreciate the efforts these developers put into this hobby that we have all come to love! In some cases, you might find that a developer inadvertently forgot to include a gauge/instrument which is appropriate to the aircraft you might be flying. Take for example, an aircraft that comes equipped with a constant speed prop, you should be looking at prop controls, a tachometer, a manifold pressure etc. The developer configured the aircraft for a fixed prop, no provisions for constant speed prop. If your freeware is a nice one, worthy of a little time and effort, you could fix this yourself, by just making some minor changes to the panel and aircraft.cfg file.

 

Cas, this particular freeware aircraft is worthy of making some changes to suit YOUR needs/desires, so don't give up just yet! With 2d panels, just about anything is possible! With 3d panels, what you see is what you get!

 

Enjoy the Stratoliner aircraft, great aircraft to fly and will even give you some tailwheel experience!

 

Rick :cool::cool:

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Thanks chaps. No, I shan't give up on the Stratoliner. However, I think I have been spoiled by David Maltbys wonderful Comet and Trident.

I would seriously contend that of any FSX aircraft, payware or freeware, none is better than those two.

As VCs go, they are beyond brilliant. Everything is clickable so that you can imagine it is almost like using your fingers to turn knobs and switches:

the semi auto pilot of Comet really keeps you on your toes. The autoland on the Trident makes it so easy for the pilot ( where there is ILS, JJ😀)

What is good, is that frame rates are not hammered by these planes.

I usually fly in conjunction with F S Commander, an excellent aid.

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