Simviation Forum - Auto pilot landing

Oct 4^th, 2004 at 2:02am

Logan Ex Member

Hello

This is probably a stupid question but is it possible to land using auto pilot?and if show could someboy tell me how to do it?

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Reply #1 - Oct 4^th, 2004 at 7:00am

yales Offline
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It,s certainly possible to make your final approach to the runway on autopilot. You need to know the ILS frequency for the runway you're using and tune this on NAV1. Begin your approach a few miles out and at an angle of about 30 degrees off runway heading. Select the APR (approach) mode on the autopilot and the aircraft should acquire the ILS glideslope and make its approach automatically. Obviously you will need to operate th gear and flaps manually (and the throttle if you aren't using autothrottle) and you will need to resume manual control of the aircraft for the flair, touchdown and rollout. The "autoland" feature found on many modern airliners is not available in MFS as far as I'm aware but I could be wrong.
Hope this helps.

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Reply #2 - Oct 4^th, 2004 at 8:17am

Raiden_vf1 Offline
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Jolly Tommy
South Africa

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sorry i am new to this but is the ILS the frequency that the atc gives u?

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Reply #3 - Oct 4^th, 2004 at 9:59am

yales Offline
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No, unfortunately you need to find the frequency yourself from an approach chart or airfield guide. The best thing to do is look at the lessons in FS2002 on instrument flying, there should be one on flying an ILS approach with sample approach plates provided. Some of the adventure flights, eg. european airline pilot, provide approach plates for the runways used, don't be put off by the wealth of information on the plates, just look for the ILS or LOC frequencies. For other airports you might find you need to buy an airfield guide for the area you're interested in.

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Reply #4 - Oct 4^th, 2004 at 11:18am

ziliu Offline
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Or, you could go to Flights->Flight Planner... in FS2002's menu and click on your destination airport. Then there'll be a pop-up window appearing showing loads of information of that airport. Scroll all the way down and there is a table with information of all the airport's runways, including the ILS frequencies.

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Reply #5 - Oct 5^th, 2004 at 2:27am

Raiden_vf1 Offline
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Jolly Tommy
South Africa

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thanx guys.i got the ILS frequency.now i put it into my nav 1 and activated my auto pilot with hold approach on.the plane made n few turns but never got me on the glide path.am i doing something wrong?

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Reply #6 - Oct 5^th, 2004 at 5:17am

yales Offline
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I'm sure the lessons in FS2002 explain how to go about it far better than I ever could, give them a go.

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Reply #7 - Oct 25^th, 2004 at 10:07am

Hoffyaus Offline
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Quote:

thanx guys.i got the ILS frequency.now i put it into my nav 1 and activated my auto pilot with hold approach on.the plane made n few turns but never got me on the glide path.am i doing something wrong?

How far out were you from the runway when you set it you usually need about 6 miles to configure fully

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Reply #8 - Oct 25^th, 2004 at 12:21pm

garymbuska Offline
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Here are a couple of ideas to try.
1. Make sure you set your heading to the direction of the runway you are about to land on. This is not the heading of the plane.
2. Make sure you intercept the glide slope from below and far enough out to give the system a chance to lock on to it.
3. As stated you will have to control speed to keep you on track.
4. I also suggest you set your flaps you want to use before you turn to final. If you lower flaps the plane will climb and the system will have a hard time responding to the climb and will probably over correct which can lead to bobbing all over the sky.
But to be honest with you I would not recemend you use auto pilot to land with it is not really ment to be a auto land.
Its sole purpose is to get you on course then you take over.
Also I can not rember if fs2002 has this or not but look in the aircraft tab in the main menu you may be able to put red rectangles in the sky that you can see to help you to both find and track the glide slope.
It is called visual flight path in fs2004. I can not rember if fs2002 has this it has been a while since I flew this, and no longer own a copy.

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Reply #9 - Oct 28^th, 2004 at 6:22pm

beefhole Offline
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You also want to make sure the GPS/Nav mode switch is set to Nav. If it's set to GPS hitting APPR will get you nowhere.

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Reply #10 - Nov 1^st, 2004 at 11:34am

The_Gunner4745 Offline
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Another thing - when you are looking for the ILS info for a particular runway, there are generally 3 pieces of critical information : Frequency, Heading Runway elevation.

Often you will fing that a runways listed heading and its actual heading can vary by upto 4 degrees.

For example you are expecting to land on Runway 28.
This means that it is going to be on a heading of 280 degrees. You check the ILS data and discover that in fact the ILS approach heading is 283 degrees.

I enter that heading into the "Course" window as opposed to the "Heading" window of the autopilot.

Next select the radio stack and ensure that when you enter the frequency into NAV 1 or NAV 2 that you activate that particular NAV and also turn on DME.

At about 28nm out your ILS should begin to lock in (This can vary).

Fly to enter the descent apron at the correct altitude - use the 3:1 rule for a guide.

Example: Lets assume the runway elevation is 0 feet Above Sea Level (rare!)

If you are approaching the airport at 32000 feet

Take the 32 from that figure and multiply it by 3.
96 is the result and that is how far out to start your descent - 96 nm.

Personally I would add a little to that, so that you can control your airspeed - so I would start my descent at about 115/ 120 nm out and level out at about 5000 and approach the point where you meet the glideslope at about 3000.

Dont forget to auto arm speed brakes, and set autopilot airspeed to about 160 for final.

This all applies to a 737.

Works for me

Gunner

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Reply #11 - Nov 1^st, 2004 at 11:52am

maskrider_01 Offline
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Alpine, CA ( San Diego, Co. )

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Altitude is an issue, too.

In addition to wanting to approach the runways ILS glide path heading from a 30 degree angle- you also want to enter it at an altitude 2100 to 2300 feet above the runway altitude.

Ther is another, slightly cheesy, way of doing basically the same thing and not have to worry about ILS glide paths that don't line up with the runways (as many do not- try Ronald reagan airport sometime! Grin

).

FSNavigator will guide you right on in using pretty much the same height distance parameters but will always get you lined up with the runway.

As with the standard ILS approach mode, you have to handle the flaps, gears and throttle (unless on auto throttle) yourself. FSNav cuts out at about 100 feet or so above the runway, plenty of time to flare out (if necessary), cut off your auto throttle and make a nice worry free landing!

Cheers,
Chris

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