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How To Fly Dangerous Approaches: Kathmandu, Nepal By Andrew Herd Navigational equipment required: Standard basic avionics fit plus VOR indicator, DME, and ADF. Aircraft: This tutorial can be flown with the Microsoft 737 and I have included situations for that aircraft. If you are unfamiliar with the flight parameters for the aircraft I have included a crib sheet for the 737 here. Note that in the situations, the fuel load has been cut to about 33% for the sake of realism, which will allow you to land without using up the entire runway. Scenery: There isn't any Kathmandu airport scenery available for either FS2000 or FS2002 as far as I am aware, though there is some available for FS98. For the terrain, you might consider using Eddie Denney's RealSceneFS mesh for FS2000. The FS2002 default mesh is excellent and gives a very good impression of why the circling approach at VNKT is something pilots don't look forward to, although the airport is subject to one of 2002's Jeppesen/mesh data conflicts and stands on a low mesa, which isn't the way things are in real life. Downloads: For FS2000 - kathmandu2000flts.zip - extract these files into your \FS2000\pilots folder For FS2002 - kathmandu2002flts.zip - extract these into your \FS2002\flights\myflts folder View the approach plates by clicking on either of the images alongside (note that there is only one Jeppesen plate) Comments: The tutorial assumes that you understand the basics of VOR and NDB navigation. I am assuming that you have flown the earlier approaches in this series and have learned the techniques explained there. Kathmandu is treated with extreme caution by most pilots, and with good reason, because the airport has a dramatic location. The runway elevation is at more than 4000 feet above sea level and the airport lies in an oval shaped valley surrounded by mountains which rise on all sides to nearly 10,000 feet. The approaches are based on a stepped DME descent to a VOR situated 0.6 nm short of the runway and there is no ILS, so that flight safety depends entirely on the ability of the pilots to adhere strictly to the published approach profile even in the most trying conditions. In the most extreme case, an airliner full of passengers has to be flown within 1.6 miles of the threshold and down to a height of only 900 feet before the missed approach point is reached. There is little room for error in bad weather and crews must be even more alert than usual, because this is not a procedure which can be taken for granted. Approaches in poor weather have led to many accidents, for example PIA Flight 268, where an Airbus crashed with the loss of all onboard because the crew mistook the altitude restriction at 8.0 DME for the restriction at 10.0 DME and flew into a hillside at about 7300 feet. It is quite easy to understand why mistakes like this are made, because the approach requires high descent rates (up to 2000 feet per minute) in a mountainous area at a time when cockpit workload is very high, without the visual stimulus of a glideslope to alert pilots to the risk of too fast a descent profile. To make matters worse, the missed approach procedure on the VOR 02 procedure must be one of the most complicated ever published, and if you do manage to land, the runway has a pronounced hump, although fortunately for us this is not modelled in Flight Simulator. Take some time to study the approach plate series, which has been made available to us courtesy of the SAS Flight Support. Please click the top thumbnail to access pages showing the charts. Jeppesen have also allowed us to reproduce an approach plate and you can view this by clicking the lower thumbnail. This approach plate and others for this area, is available on the SimCharts CDs. Instructions: Please make sure you have Indicated Airspeed (IAS) set. If you have True Airspeed set, the instructions which follow will make no sense at all. I would suggest that the aircraft is flown using the Mode Control Panel (MCP) heading bug, altitude and vertical speed windows and other functions - I am aware that some simmers like to fly lateral navigation using the yoke, but this is problematic in FS2002 and isn't realistic, anyway. Ensure that the EHSI and the RMI of the aircraft are aligned, which is the default situation. Also, make sure that you do not have gyro drift checked under the realism settings, unless you are proficient at making corrections for this. Do not use the GPS on pain of death. The tutorials are written for the SAS Flight Support plates, but I have indicated where the Jeppesen plates differ. While the screen shots are taken for FS2002, the instructions work perfectly well for FS2000 and should be OK for FS98, although I haven't tested that version. Last of all, before we get going, if any real-world ATPs who have flown this approach would like to correct me on any points of procedure, I would be only too pleased to hear from them. Talk Through: Situation 1: VOR 286 non-precision approach - FS2000 - Select situation Kathmandu2000circling FS2002 - Kathmandu2002circling This is a circling approach, which means that the published procedure will place you in a position from which you can make a standard overhead join, assuming conditions are VFR. The problem with the approach lies in the topography - the one thing you wouldn't normally choose to do is fly an airliner in the circuit in tiny valley surrounded by mountains, but you can take some slight comfort in the knowledge that the missed approach procedure is a simple "turn 'em and burn 'em" straight out climb to a hold at the LDK NDB. Remember things could be worse - you could be doing this one in real life. The situation places you a few miles out from, and descending towards, the IGRIS intersection, identifiable as D15.0 KTM on the 106 radial from the VOR. Check the MCP - you need to begin a descent to 10500 feet, with Nav1 tuned to KTM on 112.3, and the ADF to the LNC NDB on 252. You are flying with the weather as it was on August 24th, 2001, and I strongly advise you to tune to a local ATIS and reset your altimeter as you go through 18000 feet, or alternatively you can do it the lazy way and just hit B on the keyboard. Anyone who has trouble with this concept may like to try the Aspen approach I did a while back (-: A rate of 1500 feet per minute should get you down easily; make sure to adjust your heading to keep the CDI centered - or select NAV mode on the MCP. Reduce power so that when you reach the target altitude speed has fallen to about 190 kias and drop 2 degrees of flap when the airspeed is on the button. Take a minute to check out the plate as you descend and work through the checklists. You need a reported ceiling of 5150 feet to even contemplate this procedure, which we will assume we have been given - incidentally, don't fly this with ATC enabled, or they are likely to give you vectors which are nothing to do with the approach procedure and you are likely to end up decorating a mountainside. From IGRIS, there is a slow descent to ECHO at D10.0 KTM, during which time you can establish the aircraft in approach configuration. Then from ECHO, there is a steep section with a gradient of 5.4 degrees to the LNC NDB at D6.5 KTM. This is an important fix, as you want to adhere exactly to the track shown on the profile; drift too far left and you risk hitting the two isolated peaks shown on the plate, too far right and you will overfly the airport, leaving you without enough room to get around. From there you continue a fairly steep descent until you reach the MAP, which on this approach is at 5600 feet, 1300 feet above ground level at D1.0 KTM. The plate makes it clear that you must reduce speed to a max of 180 kias below 10500 feet, which is a departure from the normal 250 kias restriction - the reason for this being that it would be impossible to execute some of the procedures at a faster airspeed. Screenshot 1 shows the panel at IGRIS. In a sense I was quite fortunate with the weather for this approach, because it is just good enough to provide glimpses of the mountains sliding past, while at the same time it is just bad enough to make the flight IFR down to just before the MAP. I flew this one several times and you should get in, no problem. Screenshot 2 shows the cockpit at ECHO. The aircraft is rather nose high because I didn't set any flap on the way down and so the autopilot is compensating by altering the angle of attack. Incidentally, you might like to take a look out the window at this point, or to pan around in spot plane view, because if you are using FS2002, or have mesh installed in FS2000, you will appreciate how tight this particular way in is. There is one route through the mountains and if you don't stay exactly on course, you won't be in it. While we are on the subject of difficulties, this is the best approach for appreciating Kathmandu's sloping runway, which sadly doesn't exist in Flight Simulator, but then neither do the flocks of birds which enjoy loitering on the airport. So cheer up, things could be worse. Screenshot 3 shows the cockpit just after passing LNC. The descent rate I needed to get the aircraft down on time was around 2500 feet per minute at 180 kias. Now this is OK with a pressurised aircraft, but reduces the margin for errors, as the plane is virtually standing on its nose. One way around this would be to reduce speed and drop more flap, which would allow you to reduce the descent rate some and would also have the benefit of giving you a little more time to check things out - so feel free a descent at say, 160 kias after you have done this the first time. Apart from the scramble to get down to altitude (and remember that the figures on the profile are minima, you can go higher if you want, but if you can't get down fast enough at the bottom, it may mean you won't be VFR at the MAP) everything else looks OK. The ADF is swinging as the aircraft crosses LNC, and it is time to tune it to 358, to pick up the LDK NDB, where the missed approach hold is set. Screenshot 4 shows the aircraft going VFR as it nears KTM. If this hadn't happened, we could have flown all the way down to the minimum of 5600 feet at D1.0 KTM (at which point, incidentally, the threshold would be visible just ahead of the starboard wingtip, easy to miss in marginal weather), but as it is the runway is clearly in sight and so a circling approach can be made. Whatever you do, resist the urge to pull a sharp right and slap her down. Apart from anything else, the plane is too close to the threshold of 02 to make short finals, given that doing so would involve a turn of more than 90 degrees, right on the end of the runway, which is hardly a safe option with only 140 IAS on the clock... OK, it can be done if in Flight Simulator if you have the reflexes of a cat, but just don't try it with real passengers, please (-: A proper landing would involve descending to 6300 feet (the threshold elevation of rwy 02 is 4313 feet), making a 180 degree turn to cross over the end of runway 20 at 5300 feet, then turning through 90 degrees shortly after crossing the centerline and flying downwind parallel to the runway on a heading of 200 degrees, dropping 30 degrees of flap as you do so, before turning base and descending to land on 02. The tricky bit of this approach in Flight Simulator is getting your height right and making the turn onto finals at the right moment. In a real plane you can keep half an eye out the window as you do this to time your turn, but unless you are running something like WideView on multiple PCs, you won't have this luxury in FS, although opening another view window can help. In FS2002 there is a conspicuous road which makes a good visual reference point and as long as you begin your turn short of the road you should be able to get down without overshooting the centerline, but whatever you do, make sure that you are at about 600 feet above ground level as you straighten up over the extended runway centerline, or you may have to go around. I agree that flying a circuit isn't the sort of thing you don't often get to do in a passenger jet, but then you don't usually get to land places where an ILS isn't provided either. For interest's sake, I notice that China Southwestern operates a flight from Lhasa in Tibet, to Kathmandu, using a 757 - it isn't unreasonable to assume that that flight might use this approach if conditions were favorable. Anway, I included a flight plan in the zip, which works in both FS2000 and FS2002 - enjoy the flight from Lhasa. I would suggest using a wee bit more flap than usual on departure. The exit is a tiny bit steep. Situation 2 - VOR 02 non-precision approach. FS2000 - Select situation Kathmandu2000MAP FS2002 - Select situation Kathmandu2002MAP This is the most commonly used approach to Kathmandu, and consequently the one on which most of the accidents have happened. If you study the plate, it isn't too difficult to understand why. The procedure begins at the NOPEN intersection, and after a gentle descent to D10.0 KTM, there are gradients as steep as 6.6%, before the profile flattens out towards the MAP, which once again is at D1.0 KTM. SAS Flight Support have taken the unusual step of publishing an extra sheet dedicated to the approach profile, which is presumably intended to keep their crews and passengers alive. This additional profile is well worth a look, because it compares a "flat" 4.7 degree descent to the published procedure, which includes a variable rate descent designed to give the crew as much opportunity as possible to go VFR, while keeping the plane as far away from the mountains as possible. And, while I hate to say it... this might be time to take a look at the missed approach procedure. Who knows, we may need it... Okay. The situation places you inbound to the SMR VOR on G336 at FL270. You have just changed from Calcutta to the Kathmandu FIR and you have been cleared to descend to FL150 at SMR. The weather at Kathmandu is reported as broken cloud with the base above the 5150 foot minimum and so you have informed the cabin staff that you are about to begin your descent, and reset your altitude window to 15000. Your route takes you to SMR on 357 degrees, which you must cross at 15000 feet, then you transition to RATAN on 054 degrees, finally altering course to NOPEN on 022 degrees, the IF for the approach, which you should aim to reach at 11500 feet. From NOPEN, you maintain the same course, descending to the 9500 feet to cross the FAF at D10.0 KTM (if none of this makes any sense, please go back and work through the introductory articles in this series). Please make sure you stick to the airways - if you get tempted to stray off course, a glance at the Minimum Safe Altitude circle should cure any latent wanderlust. You definitely don't want to go too far northwest even at FL330 unless you are a dedicated mountain watcher. Incidentally, at this stage, if you are running FS2002, you can enter 112.3 into the standby freqency for Nav1 and 112.9 into Nav2. Not only will this allow you to change the Nav1 frequency quickly at SMR, setting up Nav2 to the VOR's frequency will allow you to use the RMI's DME to estimate when you are approaching RATAN, although you should make the turn when you intercept the KTM radial, rather then waiting for the DME to give exactly the right reading from SMR. The reason for turning on the radial intercept rather than the DME reading is that if you turn even slightly early or late at SMR, the distance to RATAN will be different to the one on the chart and as you can see from screenshot 5, it isn't desirable to fly on too far here. So, begin your descent to SMR, at about 1800 feet per minute, 280 knots. At about 3.5 DME from the VOR (remember you are 15000 feet up, so you will never get closer to it than about 3 miles), alter course onto 054, towards RATAN, keeping the bank angle to about 15 degrees - with a bit of practice you should be able to make a perfect intercept. Now, if you have already set the course window to 054, you should have no trouble flying out on the radial. Reset the altitude to 11500 and keep descending, reducing airspeed to 180 at about 12000. If you look at the STAR plate, you can see that the leg is 14 nm long, so if you have FS2000, tune Nav1 to the KTM VOR on 112.3 and dial 022 into the course window to set up the intercept. If you have FS2002, you can just switch the frequencies on Nav1 and watch the DME on the RMI. Don't get misled by the "41" next to the track on the FSS plate - that is the MEA, not the distance to go, which is 14 miles - and bear in mind, as I hinted above, that the most important thing is to intercept the radial, not to turn exactly on the correct DME, although it is desirable to do both. Screenshot 5 shows the aircraft making the turn on the intercept of the 202 radial from KTM. Now we are inbound. Don't the tops of the mountains look lovely as they shyly peep out of the clouds all around you? The NOPEN intersection lies at D16.0 KTM, and you have to get down to 11500 by then, so check that you are on target. Remember that you must keep under 180 kias below 10500, so this is a good time to begin reducing speed in stages. After NOPEN, you have to descend to 9500 to make the FAF at D10.0 KTM. Don't be afraid to use the airbrakes to get your speed down and whatever you do, make sure you drop five degrees of flap as you get down to 180 kias. Screenshot 6 shows the situation at the FAF. There does seem to be a lot of cloud about, and tower confirms that visibility is deteriorating pretty fast, although their opinion is that conditions will still be VFR at the MAP, when the aircraft gets there. On the basis of their advice, and your assessment of the situation, you decide to make the approach. As you near the FAF, reset the speed to 140 kias and drop the gear and lower the flaps in increments to 40 degrees. Bearing in mind our groundspeed will be about 160 knots, a descent rate of up to 1800 feet per minute will be needed until D5.0 KTM, so set the first altitude restriction of 8200 feet in the window and dial in a vertical speed of 1700 fpm, which should be about right for the 6.1% section of the profile. Once we reach the shallower section, after D5.0, we can slow up to a more leisuredly 5-600 feet per minute. The best tip I can give you here is to ensure that the aircraft is in landing configuration before you reach the D10.0 KTM. If you are still getting dirty as you pass the FAF, then the aircraft will tend to balloon and you will need to set descent rates of over 2000 feet per minute to get down. But the cloud continues to close in, and at D6.0 you realise that it is unlikely you will be visual at the MAP. At D5.0 KTM, you alter the descent rate to 700 feet per minute, and set 5800 feet in the altitude window without much confidence. Note that you may go briefly visual somewhere on the approach, but don't rely on it. Screenshot 7 shows the MAP. Note that I have elected to fly the approach in Nav mode on the MCP and have committed the cardinal error of not backing up the aircraft course with the heading bug. The aircraft is slightly high at 5200 feet, one nautical mile from the Kathmandu VOR and with nothing on the clock but the maker's name, there isn't anything but cloud up front. Given that there is only 900 feet between you and the threshold, it is time to clean up and get out - this is where you can make a horrible mistake if you didn't set the heading to back up the course in Nav mode, because when you hit the heading key so that you can use it to alter course, the 737 will fly off on the last heading you set, which happens to be 054 - straight into a hill. First priority is to increase airspeed to 180 kias - then, as the 737 begins to accelerate, raise the gear. Once you are up to speed, then begin a climb on 022, passing overhead KTM to D2.0 KTM on the far side of the airport. Pick up the flaps in stages to five degrees after you reach 180 kias and reset the course window to 289, which is the outbound course to the hold. Now we have to fly the DME arc. Begin a fifteen degree turn, watching the DME as it begins to increase, and adjusting your rate of turn when it hits DME 4.0. Needless to say, it isn't easy to get this right, and in real life, you would fly this one using the procedure programmed in the FMC, but if you don't happen to have one of those, there is nothing like trying the hand-rolled version. Assuming you can keep the bank rate constant, and you get the rhythm of your mouse clicking right, you shouldn't have too many problems getting round. The alternative is, of course, to leave the aircraft on autothrottle and fly it manually, but whatever you do, don't get into too steep a turn, as you aren't that far off your stalling speed. You can keep climbing in the turn, but I would restrict your rate initially to around 1500-2000 fpm, just to make sure you don't run out of airspeed. Although a textbook missed approach would have you fly the entire arc at 4.0 miles, the key point is to ensure that you don't stray outside it, because ground rises to above the mimimuns all around the east side of the airport and some of it is uncomfortably close to the arc itself. Now you have to intercept the 289 radial. This isn't as easy as it sounds, because the intercept occurs very close to the VOR, and the CDI will begin to wander almost the instant you straighten up and want to use it, so just establish yourself on a heading of 289 and reset the ADF to 258, which is the frequency for LDK, the NDB on which the hold is based. Maintain a heading of 289 until you are far enough from the VOR to know which side of track you are, and watch the ADF needle, which will also give you a clue which side of track you are on. While you are outbound, you can increase your rate of climb and when you reach 10500, increase speed to 220 knots and clean up some more flap. The most difficult part of this procedure is undoubtedly the DME arc, which presents a high workload even in Flight Simulator. Just imagine what it is like doing it for real... but the advantage of the simulation is that you can do the procedure again and again, until you get it right. If you can fly this one perfectly, there isn't much going to faze you. Just for kicks, I have included a situation for the VOR 02 approach where the weather isn't socked right in, and you can fly it by selecting situation Kathmandu2000vor02 for FS2000 or Kathmandu2002vor02 for FS2002. Situation 3. SID rwy 02. FS2000 - Select situation Kathmandu2000SID02. FS2002 use Kathmandu2002sid02 Now you've got all that practice flying DME arcs, it seems a shame to waste it, so we are going to fly the DHARKE 1E SID out of Kathmandu. This the most complex SID I have ever seen constructed off a single navaid and once you have figured the procedure out, it will stick in your memory for a long time, as an elegant solution to a difficult problem. No doubt connoisseurs of SIDs speak of this one in hushed tones - "Yep, but just think of that one Ragu did for VNKT, Jed. Come up with a better one than that!" In fact, if anyone can come up with a better one than this, I will feature it in a special article in the series. We had better get on before I break into song. The reason why DHARKE 1E is done the way it is will be obvious the moment you finish loading the situation and take a look out the window. You can climb a fully loaded 737 straight out over that hill up front, but if an engine failed on the way they would be posting your remains back to mom in an envelope, so a circling departure is pretty much the only way out. The plate looks completely incomprehensible until you realise that the intention is for the aircraft to carry out two ascending circuits of the airport, using the same left hand 4 mile DME arc based on the KTM VOR. After takeoff, the SID begins with a turn to port at D3.0 KTM, then you fly right around the arc to pass over KTM, but instead of following the runway direction, you take the 038 radial from KTM to D2.2 and then fly another DME arc (higher than the first), before intercepting the 310 radial from KTM, where you turn to starboard onto the 289 radial from KTM. This takes you to the LDK NDB, which must be crossed at not less than 10500 feet. The key to flying this rather neat procedure is to tune both Nav radios to KTM and to use the RMI to fly the arc and the HSI to intercept the radials. Committed the procedure to memory? OK, let's go. The weather I have chosen for the flight isn't too bad, chiefly because it allows you to appreciate just how dangerous the departure would be if the SID wasn't followed exactly. Use flaps 15 and retract the gear once you have a positive rate of climb. If you take off with the autothrottles armed, all you have to do is flick in the IAS button and you can forget about the power setting - there is plenty else to do, because I do not recommend flying this one on autopilot until you have completed both the DME arcs. Climb until the DME reads about 2.9 and then make a seriously steep bank to port - at least 30 degrees will be necessary to begin with, because otherwise you will trespass outside the arc, which is a no-no. The danger here is that flying a fully loaded plane close to its stall speed in a climbing turn is not an insurable risk, so the best policy is to climb out as steeply as you can to DME 3.0, then flatten off some as you begin the turn. As soon as you intercept the arc, begin to roll the aircraft level, or you will turn inside the arc and find yourself flying directly towards the VOR with no hope of intercepting the outbound radial on the second pass - you can tell if this is happening because the DME will rapidly fall. Screenshot 10 shows how steep the initial bank angle must be, though as I say, it would be sensible not to climb the aircraft as steeply as I did in the turn. Once you are flying the arc, keep an eye on the EHSI so that you don't miss the CDI beginning to move as you near the 310 radial - this marks the point at which you complete the first turn around the arc and tighten the turn to intercept the 038 radial outbound from KTM. The 038 intercept throws up its own set of challenges. The first is that the only way you have of knowing you are passing over the VOR is bymonitoring the DME or picking a landmark and watching it (easier said than done in FS2002, even if you are VFR) - and then you have to align yourself with the 038 radial in the very short space of time available between the CDI stabilising after passing over the VOR and the aircraft reaching DME 2.2, at which point you have to pull yet another turn to intercept the 4.0 nm arc again. Bearing all this in mind, the secret of flying the second arc is not to make such a steep bank as you did going round the first time. 2.2 DME on the 038 radial puts you that little bit further out and means that 25 degrees or so of bank should be enough to pull the plane round onto the arc - once again, as you begin to parallel the runway, take care to roll the aircraft a little more upright, or you will get too far inside the arc once again, although this time it isn't so crucial that you get it right, because you don't have to pass over KTM. Screenshot 12 shows the 737 at the 310 radial, having completed the second arc. At this point you can set the course to 289 and intercept that radial outbound to the Dharke NDB at D13.5 KTM. Check out your altitude at this point, because you should be at a minimum of 10500 feet when you cross over the NDB. The 289 intercept is probably a good moment to quit flying the plane by hand and engage the autopilot, but one final point is that it is worth using heading mode to alter course just slightly to starboard, so that the aircraft intercepts the radial at a 30-45 degree angle, rather than 90 degrees, as it naturally would if you just switched to NAV mode when you crossed the 310 radial. Sure, the autopilot will intercept the radial at right angles, but the plane has a tendency to do a messy series of lazy esses while it locks onto the centerline and in some cases it might fly straight through just to spite you. And that is Kathmandu - a uniquely challenging set of procedures, I think. I learned a lot from flying it and I hope that you did too. Andrew Herd andrew@flightsim.com

How To Fly Dangerous Approaches: Innsbruck, Austria By Andrew Herd Click LOWIunl.pdf to get large size PDF image Navigational equipment required: Standard basic avionics fit plus VOR indicator, DME, and ADF. Aircraft: This tutorial can be flown with the Microsoft Lear and I have included situations for that aircraft. If you are unfamiliar with the flight parameters for the aircraft I have included a crib sheet for the Lear here. The Microsoft .air file for this plane is not one of their better efforts and I would recommend using Steve Small's .air file if you want the aircraft to fly anything like the real thing. The other thing that I must warn you about on the Lear is that whoever did the panel forgot to put the autothrottle on it. Yeah, I know, hilarious, good job Microsoft don't make real planes, is it not? This means that you will have to ensure that the autothrottle arm is checked by going to the menu and visiting \aircraft\autopilot. Note that in the situations, the fuel load has been cut to about 25% for the sake of realism, which will allow you to land without using up the entire runway. Scenery: I used the Innsbruck airport from Aerosoft's excellent German Airports 1 payware package and Eddie Denney's RealSceneFS mesh. There are various freeware versions of Innsbruck around on this web site which are worth a go if you don't have German Airports 1, and Eddie's mesh isn't the only one available for this area, so shop around and use something else if you prefer - but I would recommend using a mesh add-on as the approach will make more sense if all the mountains are actually there! The one thing you must do is to download Andreas Widmann's Innsbruck navaids correction (lowioej.zip) which is available here on FlightSim.Com. Without it, you will be missing most of the rather complex localiser setup that Innsbruck possesses - it isn't there in the default scenery. Andreas has implemented the localiser as a VOR, but it is correct that it lacks a glideslope. If you don't install it, then parts of this tutorial will not make much sense. Downloads: INNSBRUCK_APPROACH.ZIP - extract these files into your \FS2000\pilots folder Comments: The tutorial assumes that you understand the basics of VOR and NDB navigation and that you know the basics of how to fly an ILS. I am assuming that you have flown the earlier approaches in this series and have learned the techniques explained there. Innsbruck must be one of the most beautiful airports in the world, but it isn't in the most convenient place. The runway is at an elevation of 1900 feet and the final approach has to be made in a narrow valley with enormous mountains on either side. The descents are steep, at over 400 feet per minute, the tolerances are tight, the localiser is offset five degrees, the final approach is visual and the missed approach procedure involves a steep climb followed by a terrifyingly tight turn. If this isn't enough to put you off completely, there is the added challenge of Foehn wind conditions. The Foehn is special to the Alps, but similar sorts of winds occur in mountainous regions all over the world, (the Chinook in the Rockies, the Sirocco in Italy and the Khamsin in Egypt, for example.) In each case the principle is the same. When humid air reaches mountains it has to rise and it cools down in the process. Eventually the air saturates and it starts raining, which dries the air; usually when the air masses reach their highest point. Then the air begins to fall and as it does it warms up again. It doesn't sound too bad when it is put like that, but the result is a surface wind which at Innsbruck has a direction of 100-180 degrees, average windspeed of 15-22 knots, and gusts to 30-50 knots, which can make the approach fairly challenging. The notes on the approach make the admirable understatement that severe turbulence, associated with horizontal windshear, and severe downdrafts can be expected below 5000 feet, especially over the town of Innsbruck itself, which can make approaches from the west particularly tricky. Take some time to study the approach plate series. Please click the top thumbnail to download the PDF file containing all the approach plates you need. Jeppesen have also allowed us to reproduce an approach plate and you can view this by clicking the lower thumbnail. Instructions: Please make sure you have Indicated Airspeed (IAS) set. If you have True Airspeed set, the instructions which follow will make no sense at all. Ensure that the EHSI and the RMI of the aircraft are aligned, which is the default situation. Also, ensure that you do not have gyro drift checked under the realism settings, unless you are proficient at making corrections for this. Do not use the GPS on pain of death. The tutorials are written for the FSS plates, but I have indicated where the Jeppesen plates differ. Last of all, before we get going, if any real-world ATPL holders would like to correct me on any of this, I would be glad to hear from them. Talk through Situation 1: East procedure Rwy 26 precision approach - select situation InnsbruckLearVillach1a The situation places you inbound to the Rattenberg NDB at 16000 feet, with an IAS of 280. You are about 64 nm from the Villach VOR and the aircraft is in Nav hold mode. Looks good out of the window, doesn't it? Nice day and all. Heh, heh. Anyway, you are are planning to set your passengers down in Innsbruck very shortly, so tune in to the ATIS (126.025, welcome to European fractional frequencies - visit options, setting, instrument and click 25 khz so the radio will receive it) and get the weather report. Those of you who didn't reset the altimeter on the Aspen approach will remember to do it now - for the rest of you this is a friendly reminder. Now take a look at the glass. In these winds, the aircraft is tending to stray off the airway, so it might be worth unchecking the nav hold and switching in heading hold to get back on track. Your ADF should be tuned to 303, which is RTT NDB, and the white needle should be pointing straight up if we are heading toward it, so make any alterations of course you need. One of the reasons for choosing this approach is that it is a good demonstration of how far commercial pilots has to anticipate - and do remember that we aren't doing any radio communications here, which adds to the workload. If you look at the STAR plate with VILLACH 1A on it, it seems as if all we have to do to align with the approach is to alter course onto approach once we reach RTT and fly straight in - but there are two reasons why we can't, which will be apparent if you study the East Procedure plate as well. The first reason why we can't turn straight inbound is that to begin the approach we would need to alter course by nearly ninety degrees, which would spill everyone's drinks, not to mention being an illegal turn. The other problem is that we are at 16000 feet and the profile begins at 9500. Given that the airway we are on has a minimum enroute altitude of 15000 feet, somewhere along the line we are going to have to lose at least 5500 feet, even if we are down to the MEA at RTT. The solution is to fly around the holding pattern in order to lose height and align course, and with one minute legs, if we lose 1800 feet on each inbound and outbound leg, one turn should be enough. The one thing in our favor is that our approach angle to RTT means we can make an uncomplicated direct entry to the holding pattern. By the way, if you don't know how to fly a hold, then I recommend reading Jaques Zahar's superb tutorial on the subject, which explains everything you need to know. Reduce your speed to 250 knots and watch the white NDB needle - the moment it begins to swing, begin your holding pattern entry. Screen shot one shows the Lear making the first turn after crossing the NDB. Don't be in too much of a hurry to turn onto 048 - if you judge your turn so that the CDI needle is deflected about a dot and a half as you become established on the outbound course, you should be well positioned to make the distant turn of the pattern without having to tighten up too much in order to prevent an overshoot. Once you are established outbound, get the instruments set up to intercept the inbound leg. The holding pattern is centered on RTT, but is aligned on the 228 radial from the Salzburg VOR, so you need to tune Nav1 to 113.80 and twist the course to 228. If you watch the EHSI on the outbound leg (one minute legs, so use a timer), you should be able to correct for wind drift by making sure your course parallels the CDI, a neat trick which cannot be done without a glass cockpit. You can descend in the turns as long as you restrict your bank angle to fifteen degrees, but beware the Lear's horrible tendency to lose height very rapidly as it is going around - you can easily end up a thousand feet too low here, which could be a fatal mistake. The solution is to set your target height to 10500 and to add quite a lot more power in the turns, being careful not to let the airspeed balloon. Dropping 8 degrees of flap won't hurt either. Screen shot 2 shows an almost perfect intercept of the inbound leg, with the aircraft coming nicely down to altitude. The inbound leg requires a certain amount of concentration. You must identify the OEV localiser no later than overhead the RTT NDB, so tune Nav1 to 111.1 well before you reach it. Reduce speed to 180 knots, drop 8 degrees of flap if you haven't already, and the moment the white needle swings again, indicating that you are crossing back over the NDB, which is the initial approach fix, alter course to 211 and maintain height - assuming you have the localiser - if not, you will have to go around the pattern again. Now set a course of 255 on the OBS. The object of the exercise is to allow us to identify D22 from the localiser. In these weather conditions, this is a really tricky one to get right, and I failed to do it first time too. You should be able to see the localiser on the EHSI, so if you don't intercept it exactly at D22 just fly on until you do. This is only a simulation after all - if real life you would want to do it perfectly - that is why they pay the professionals the money they do. Screen shot 3 shows the D22 intercept. When you reach this point alter course onto 255 and maintain altitude. Now the kind people who did the plate obviously appreciated that the cockpit workload is rather high up till now, because they allow you a short breather before making the descent, which begins at D17.2 from the localiser. At this point the reason for the D22.0 intercept becomes clear - the main problem if you overshoot RTT by a significant margin is that you can end up intercepting the localiser as close as D20, which gives you very little time to prepare for the descent; and descending from above the localiser could easily result in a controlled flight into terrain. At this point you can tune the Absam NDB on your ADF (313) as you may need it for a missed approach. Once you are established inbound on the localiser course, drop 20 degrees of flap, and start reducing speed. Now the big question is what IAS we actually need here. The SAS FSS plate is optimised for a Boeing 737 and suggests a fairly high approach speed of Vref 30 + 15 until visual, which builds in a good safety margin for adverse weather conditions. Later, if you want, you can fly the approach in a 737, but I would recommend a bit of practice in a smaller aircraft first. In the Lear, I would recommend is an approach speed of 130-140 kias, which allows a similar safety margin, and so we need to need to reduce speed to 140 knots and drop 40 degrees of flap as we begin our descent at D17.5. Once you have the localiser, drop the gear and get on down. You will find that a rate of up to 1200 fpm is needed initially, depending on wind and turbulence, and pay very, very close attention to the altitude restrictions, because the clearance over obstacles isn't that great. The missed approach is at at D4.0 from OEV, the localiser, at 3700 feet. Screen shot 4 shows the situation at about D14 from the localiser. Depending on your luck, you should be visual fairly early on in the descent, and you can fly her in the moment you feel happy to do so. When you cross the threshold, cut the thrust to idle (I would suggest that you knock out the autothrottle at about 5 nm from the localiser, or you may have trouble getting your airspeed right given the wind conditions) and get ready to deploy the spoilers on touchdown. You can let her roll to a halt with a touch of brakes, reverse thrust would be overkill. Situation 2: ILSDME Rwy 26 precision approach in bad weather - select situation InnsbruckLearVillachBad OK, that first approach shouldn't have been too difficult if you have flown the other tutorials in this series, now let's do it in worse weather. The problem in this situation is the gusting wind, which plays havoc with the autopilot and means that you have to pay extremely close attention to the airspeed and sink rate on the turns in the holding pattern. Depending on which way you are travelling, you will probably find that you need 30 more knots set on the autothrottle than you need in order to maintain a given IAS. I found I had to fly the descent with 180 knots set in the autopilot and a descent rate of 1200 feet per minute to begin with, easing to 800 feet per minute later. As you descend, be prepared to alter your descent rate if you look to be going down too fast. Once you pass RTT inbound ensure that you tune the Absam NDB on your ADF (313) as you may need it for a missed approach. The missed approach point is at D4.0 from OEV, the localiser, at an altitude of 3700 feet, which is the best height to set on the autopilot. There is a hell of a lot to watch out for on this approach - the wind is blowing you all over the place, so try not to stray off the localiser, and watch your height like a hawk, because going below one of the restrictions could pile you into a mountain. Too high is better than too low, believe me. The critical restrictions are at D8.0 to D6.0 as at that point you are flying over a mountain with only a thousand feet to spare (screen shot 6). This is not the place to discover that you haven't reset the altimeter, and in these weather conditions it is all too easy to forget your altitude while you are fighting to keep the plane on track. This is, as you have probably already guessed, a missed approach. You might be visual at the MAP, but I doubt it. When you take the decision, lift the gear, knock out the autopilot, push the throttles forward and pick up your flaps to 20 degrees once the airspeed exceeds 140 knots. I can't emphasis too much that you need to climb as high as you can by the time you reach D1.0 from the localiser, and then make the sharpest turn the aircraft is capable of, because there is no room at all for executing this manoeuvre. I suggest at least a thirty degree bank, forty five if you have the airspeed, and flying the aircraft by hand on full throttle - and at the risk of repeating myself, make sure you gain all the altitude you can before doing the turn, because if you try to simultaneously climb and bank steeply a stall is almost inevitable. At the NDB, lift the flaps, set 9500 altitude and a 1500 fpm climb rate, set the heading to 075 for the outbound course (if you leave the OBS set to 255, the localiser will sense normally, even though you are flying it the wrong way), reset the autothrottle, and switch the autopilot back in, if you are cool enough. This is probably the moment to say something to the passengers like, "Er, we just had a slight problem and had to go around, did any of you see the expression on the face of that bird perched on top of that cliff back there?" Once you are past Absom, tune the RTT NDB on 303 and at D14.0 on the localiser, alter course to it and enter the holding pattern using a teardrop entry. Not much fun to do that in real life, I think. The Jeppesen plate has an important difference from the FSS one, in that the missed approach outbound track uses the back course of the OEJ localiser, yup, there are two of the little varmints (unless you are using the default MS scenery, in which case OEJ is missing). The trouble with the Jepp plate is that it isn't very clear, and it is all too easy to fail to appreciate what is going on, especially given the single letter difference between the localiser IDs and the sheer amount of clutter on the chart. Flying the Jeppesen missed approach is much the same as flying the FSS one to begin with, except that Jeppesen put a minimum altitude constraint of 3700 feet on the climb before the turn at D1.0 OEV. You then intercept the OEJ (109.7) localiser front course on 068, and once you have passed over the beacon, fly out on the back course (hit the back course button on the dash) on 066 with maximum climb gradient until you reach 9500 feet, after which you turn left and fly direct to the RTT NDB where you hold again. One of the disadvantages of this procedure is that at the very moment you need all the help you can get you are very close to the localiser, with the needle is so sensitive it isn't much good, though to be fair, this is partly down to the way the localiser has been implemented as a VOR in the fix. Situation 3: West procedure Rwy 26 precision approach - select situation InnsbruckLearWest If you have got this far, I consider you to be an experienced pilot, so no more Mr. Nice Guy. We are now going to fly the west procedure, which is one of the most difficult ones in existence. I suggest that anyone who needs to empty their bladder does so now, to save embarrassment later. By the way, the screen shots show much better visibility than you are going to get. I thought you might like to see the mountains just once. The situation places you about 18 nm outbound from the KPT VOR at 13000 feet, the MEA for this transition. Nav1 is tuned to KPT on 109.6 and the ADF to 413, which is the KTI NDB, which is the IAF. You will reach KTI when the DME reads 42 nm from KPT, so sit back and enjoy the view for the time being. At about 35 nm DME, reduce your IAS to 250 knots and prepare for the turn. At about 41 DME, alter your heading onto 104 degrees, retune Nav1 to the OEJ localiser on 109.7 and twist the OBS to 068, your inbound heading. Reset your altitude to 11500, with a sink rate of 1500 fpm and once you have made the turn, reduce your IAS to 180 knots and drop eight degrees of flap. Unless you have eight pairs of hand, use of the pause key might be appropriate here. According to the procedure, the OEJ LLZ/DME must be identified not later than overhead the KTI NDB and with Andreas' fix applied this is exactly what happens, as shown in screen shot 8 - see the white ADF needle falling. Looking at the plate, you should intercept the localiser at D20.0 at 11500 feet. As the CDI begins to center, alter your heading to 068, reset your altitude to 5000 feet with a descent rate of 1000 fpm, and once you have the localiser, drop your gear and reduce speed to 140 IAS with 40 degrees of flap. This should allow you to make the altitude restrictions without any problems - just make sure that you don't get so obsessed with playing around with the descent rate that you wander off the localiser! The MAP is at D6.0 at 5000 feet, at which point you have actually crossed Innsbruck and must conduct a visual approach after making a tight right hand turn assuming you are VFR. I would recommend flying this one by hand, because once again, there isn't a lot of room to get around, and the autopilot is unlikely to manage it. This turn is very problematic: if you make it too wide, then you will have trouble establishing yourself on finals; too tight and you may not have the airspeed to get around. I chose a bank angle of between 30 and 45 degrees and had just enough room to get in. In real life, this one would be very sweaty first time. Not to mention twentieth time - it is bad enough in Flight Simulator. By the way, you did remember to contact ATIS and reset the altimeter, didn't you? Andrew Herd andrew@flightsim.com

How To Fly Dangerous Approaches: Funchal, Madeira By Andrew Herd Navigational equipment required: Standard basic avionics fit plus VOR indicator and DME Aircraft: lpma1.pdf This tutorial is written for the Microsoft default 737. I have an unreasonable hatred of the color scheme on this plane, so the screen shots were taken using Hiroshi Igami's repaint of Sandro Bernardini's 737-800 (DAH738TC.ZIP). However, by the time you read this, the DreamFleet 737 will have been released and this would be my aircraft of choice. If you don't use the default 737, please check the fuel load and cut it to around 30% - landing a fully-fuelled 737 at Funchal is just a little tricky. Scenery: FS2000 has Funchal as it was, with runways 06 and 24. They have completely rebuilt the place and the new orientation is 05/23 - if you download Jeffrey Lung's LPFU2000.ZIP, you can try it the way it is now. The only problem with Jeff's scenery is that the PAPI doesn't show up as well as the default lights, and this is a factor when you are on finals. Since we aren't doing this for real, you can use the same approach plates with either scenery, why not fly both? Downloads: funchal.zip - extract all these files into your \FS2000\pilots folder Comments: This is a non-precision VOR DME approach. The tutorial assumes that you understand the basics of VOR navigation and can fly an ILS approach. If you don't, read the tutorial. Funchal is not an easy airport. There is high rising ground to the west and the runway has been shoehorned in under the shadow of the hills. In IFR conditions, the final approach is fraught with difficulty, as there is no ILS and some difficult turns are required. It is not unknown for pilots to mistake the rising ground on the right of the final approach for hills, so be careful. Instructions: Please make sure you have Indicated Airspeed (IAS) set. If you have True Airspeed set, the instructions which follow will make no sense at all. Also, ensure that you do not have gyro drift checked under the realism settings, unless you are proficient at making corrections for this. Do not use the GPS on pain of death. The approach plates for this tutorial have kindly been supplied by the FSS project site, and we encourage you to visit their web site. Talk Through Situation 1: non-precision VOR DME approach runway 24 select situation Funchal737vordme24 This situation is designed to introduce you to Funchal. Visibility is perfect, and the 737 is on a heading of 173 degrees at 4000 feet, approaching the FUN VOR at 190 knots with flaps set at 2. There is some light turbulence, but nothing you can't cope with, the radios are set and all you have to do is fly her in. If you have the DreamFleet 737, and you want to create the right atmosphere, you can imagine a full load of tourists in back, singing "Espana por favor" loudly and tunelessly, blissfully unaware that Madeira is Portugese. Take a good look at the plate. We are going to fly most of the approach on autopilot, and all you will need to do is alter the heading, course, speed and altitude until we get near to the MAP. The plate actually shows two different approaches in one: the approach we are flying, which crosses the IAF at the FUN VOR, does a loop course reversal starting at D8.0 FUN, and flies inbound on 213; and a straight-in approach from the IRSAN intersection, complicated by a holding pattern at D12.0 FUN. The Final Approach Fix (FAF) is at D7.0 FUN inbound, and the Missed Approach Point (MAP) is at FUN at 1330 feet. You require 3 miles visibility to fly the approach. Missed approaches require a left turn to 140, intercepting radial 173 to FUN and a climb to hold at 3000 feet at the FUSUL intersection. OK, we are set. Hit the pause button and let her fly. The autopilot is engaged and you can expect to sink about a hundred feet while Flight Simulator gets its act together, before the 737 recovers altitude and speed. The HSI CDI needle will begin to drift laterally within D3.0 of FUN, which is your key to start preparing for the turn. When you reach DME 1.0 from FUN, alter course to 011, and fly outbound. Once you are established on track, reduce speed to 180 knots, set 5 degrees of flap, and begin a descent at 500 feet per minute to 3000 feet. Set the course to 011 degrees, which will allow you to line up on the outbound radial, but remember the CDI won't read true until you are at least 3 nm out. Keep watching the DME - at D8.0 exactly, alter the course to 150, and let the old lady come around until she begins to roll out. Set the course to 213 degrees, which will allow you to line up with the inbound radial. The CDI needle will still be deflected two dots out of line, but it should begin to move in fairly soon. When it reaches one dot off center, alter the heading to 213. The one thing you don't want to have happen on this approach is to find yourself tracking in any distance west of where you should be - it doesn't matter so much now, but in IFR conditions, you could hit something solid. In any event, you must be as accurate as possible when you fly an approach. The screen shot above shows the aircraft just beginning to fly around the course reversal - the shot adjacent shows the aircraft beginning to roll out of the turn, dead on track, with the CDI lining up beautifully and the DME just beginning to drop to 8.0 again. Let the aircraft steady on 213, and as soon as the DME reads 7.0 - the FAF - you can set a new altitude of 1400 feet (the nearest the default 737 can get to 1330) and a descent rate of 1200 feet per minute with the aim of arriving at the MDA with one minute to go before the MAP. Then reduce speed to 140 IAS, drop the gear, and as permitted, drop the flaps in increments down to 30 degrees. If you have a panel which supports it, now would be a good time to set the missed approach altitude. Incidentally, I use a CH Products yoke, and I have found that the neatest way of getting the Microsoft 737 down without a panic about power settings when the autopilot is knocked out, is to bring up the throttle quadrant on screen so I can eyeball the position of the levers, then switch out the autothrottles early on finals and match the lever position again. This avoids big alterations in the power settings as the software adjusts to match the yoke. Once I am happy with the way things are, I let the autopilot fly the plane down, making small adjustments of pitch and throttle to maintain 140 IAS - and sometimes it even works. In the next screen shot, we are nearing the MAP, with 1.8 miles to go, and the outer marker light has lit, but we are visual, so we can go straight in as soon as you are happy. The inbound course is 237 for the "new" runway. If you were doing this for real in IFR conditions, you would disconnect the autopilot when you were at 1400 feet and fly down to the MDA - speaking of which, you might like to save the flight at this point? I certainly didn't get in perfectly first time I tried. The key thing to making a successful approach here is to get lined up on the lights as soon as you can, and to maintain a steady rate of descent on the VSI all the way until your wheels touch. The default 737 has decidedly squishy handling at approach speed and its inertia means that it doesn't turn like a fighter, so you want to plan to get in without any major changes of heading at the last minute. That means you need to get lined up out here, while you can. You will find there is plenty of runway available, and as long as you touch down near the threshold, the autobrakes are all it should take to get you stopped. Situation 2: non-precision VOR DME approach runway 24: poor visibility and crosswind - select flight Funchal737vordme24cloud This time the weather conditions are slightly less friendly, because I have given you a 15 knot crosswind from 100 degrees. There is light turbulence and 4/8 cloud, so you are going to be pushed towards the island all the way in. There will be a slight tailwind component on approach, so be careful! You have just about got time to work out how much wind compensation you need to apply as you head inbound to the IAF, so I suggest using this leg to good advantage. Otherwise, just fly the approach the same way as you did before and you shouldn't get into trouble. You have ten miles visibility, so you should be visual at the MAP - which is below the cloud base, so all the minimums are satisfied. You could easily find these conditions on a real approach to Funchal. Situation 3: circling VOR approach runway 06 - select flight Funchal737circling06 In many respects, this is the big one, the approach that makes Funchal so notorious. As you fly the final approach segment, you get a great view of the airport, and everyone there can see you too. The reason the approach is potentially so dangerous is that you have to execute a course reversal at less than a thousand feet and nerve-wrackingly close to the threshold. In real life Funchal has a magical curved line of sodium APL and EFAS lights leading you in, but Microsoft didn't think to put them there, so we are going to have to do without them. This approach is so lethal it actually has a segmental wind limitation on the plate, and guess what? We are going to fly in right at the limit of wind strenght that is permissible for this approach, so turn your hat the wrong way around and get ready to burn some gasoline. The situation puts you descending to the FUN VOR, at 140 knots - where you would be if you had completed the procedure turn in the approaches above - if you want you can start this approach by loading the first scenario, and flying that segment first. You have 25 degrees of flap and the gear is down. We want to cross the VOR at around 1400 feet, then descend to 1140 feet and fly out from the beacon on 215, descending to 1140 feet; which means you are going to have to fly manually. All the time that wind is going to be trying to push you nearer to the airport than you want to be, so use the descent to the VOR to work out how much wind correction you should apply. Once you have crossed the VOR, set the course to 215 and the heading to allow for the wind. The MAP is at D4.0 FUN at an altitude of 1140 feet. If you are visual at that stage, you should be able to see the runway out of the right hand window, and you can descend to 940 feet on the same course. Lower flaps to 30 and get ready to make a turn inbound at D6.7 FUN - remembering to increase power as you go around the turn or you may wish you had floats. This is where judgement comes in. In a real aircraft, you can see the threshold out of the corner of your eye all the way around the turn, but in Flight Simulator that is denied you unless you open another window and sacrifice frame rates. It may take you a few attempts to get the turn absolutely right, and if you find it difficult to begin with, go ahead and reduce the wind to make things easier. One hint is that it pays to roll out of the turn just before you reach the shore, then bank right again a few seconds before you cross it, so that you can fly down the shoreline and make a relatively small alteration of course to land. The problem here, of course, is the wind. If you don't keep to the approach plate track and make the course reversal at D6.7 FUN too close inshore, then you will either have to make a vertical bank to get around, or else you will run out of airspace and end up picking olives out of your teeth. Even if you do get around, if you don't make it a priority to kill the momentum by rolling out as I described above, the plane will line up just fine with the runway, but then will carry on skating past it, carried by its own inertia. Either way, the wind will make judgment very difficult until you have had a lot of practice, so be prepared to do short finals at some very odd angles. I reckon that setting down anywhere on the airport is good for a first effort. To anyone who isn't used to flying the 737, this will seem an almost impossible approach, but I think that is the correct message to take away from the tutorial. To put things in perspective, to be able fly from Madeira at all, the pilot in command must have a minimum of 200 hours as captain on the aircraft type in use, and a minimum of one take-off and landing at Madeira in the last six months, or one supervised flight accompanied by a pilot qualified to land there. If you check out the SASFS pdf which contains the approach plates, you can read all about it. This is not an easy place to fly into without breaking into a sweat. Good luck. Let me know how many attempts it takes you to make the pavement - and don't forget that the one strength of the Microsoft 737 is that whatever angle you find yourself adopting on short final you can always kick the bird straight at the last minute with the pedal! And, if you think doing it in the sim is exciting be sure to take a look at the real Funchal airport via the phototour. Andrew Herd andrew@flightsim.com