Synopsis
On many of the other flight sim forums and particularly the official FSX thread here at OcUK I see a lot of people ask about how to locate an airport and land the plane correctly. At first this can seem quite daunting and when ATC [air traffic control] give you headings to follow they often give you just enough information to pick up the localizer. Now what? Visually you can see two airports and each airport has more than one runway. Great. Which way now? What's the localizer? How do I use it?
Below is a quick guide to understanding what's what and how to use the localizer to give you the perfect landing on the right runway at the correct airport.
This tutorial is based on a single engine prop, the Piper Warrior PA28 that I downloaded from somewhere on the web. The reason? I'm learning to fly in one and I love the plane. The instruments are common to all the props with analogue dials. I would recommend you learn this way first as props are slower and give you more time to correct settings and read instruments. Once mastered, you can apply what you know to the digital instrument planes and the big, fast jets.
OK, let's go!
First plan your flight
Below shows that I have used the flight planner to plan a very short flight from Rochester to Manston using IFR. Choosing IFR means ATC will vector me in to the localizer by giving me headings along the way. This simplifies navigation and is preferred for this exercise. I'm not routing the journey so I've selected Direct - GPS. If you wish to route your flight for some sight seeing then choose VOR to VOR. This will allow you to choose where you wish to route your journey to and ATC will give you the appropriate headings at the appropriate times.
Set flight conditions
You can see below that I've made sure the weather is good so visibility should be too. Also, it's a summer day. This means we can visually track what the instruments tell us which should aid learning. Once you gain confidence in the instruments you can start to deteriorate light and weather so you don't rely on the visual approach.
Let's fly
Once cleared, we can now take off. As stated below in the ATC menu, ATC have given us instructions to take off and climb to 3000ft. The frequency [130.775] and squawk [4244] is automatically taken care of by our comms radio so no need to fiddle with those. Just let the ATC menu instruct us with radio calls and headings.
On many of the other flight sim forums and particularly the official FSX thread here at OcUK I see a lot of people ask about how to locate an airport and land the plane correctly. At first this can seem quite daunting and when ATC [air traffic control] give you headings to follow they often give you just enough information to pick up the localizer. Now what? Visually you can see two airports and each airport has more than one runway. Great. Which way now? What's the localizer? How do I use it?
Below is a quick guide to understanding what's what and how to use the localizer to give you the perfect landing on the right runway at the correct airport.
This tutorial is based on a single engine prop, the Piper Warrior PA28 that I downloaded from somewhere on the web. The reason? I'm learning to fly in one and I love the plane. The instruments are common to all the props with analogue dials. I would recommend you learn this way first as props are slower and give you more time to correct settings and read instruments. Once mastered, you can apply what you know to the digital instrument planes and the big, fast jets.
OK, let's go!
First plan your flight
Below shows that I have used the flight planner to plan a very short flight from Rochester to Manston using IFR. Choosing IFR means ATC will vector me in to the localizer by giving me headings along the way. This simplifies navigation and is preferred for this exercise. I'm not routing the journey so I've selected Direct - GPS. If you wish to route your flight for some sight seeing then choose VOR to VOR. This will allow you to choose where you wish to route your journey to and ATC will give you the appropriate headings at the appropriate times.
Set flight conditions
You can see below that I've made sure the weather is good so visibility should be too. Also, it's a summer day. This means we can visually track what the instruments tell us which should aid learning. Once you gain confidence in the instruments you can start to deteriorate light and weather so you don't rely on the visual approach.
Let's fly
Once cleared, we can now take off. As stated below in the ATC menu, ATC have given us instructions to take off and climb to 3000ft. The frequency [130.775] and squawk [4244] is automatically taken care of by our comms radio so no need to fiddle with those. Just let the ATC menu instruct us with radio calls and headings.
Last edited:
)
never really got into this game, but seems as though its worth a shot