OnCourse Software

Ok - Here's the latest file and I don't think you can blame this on me, or infact, my co-pilot who was doing the lot this time.

We got on approach to Blagnac, were given runway 32, then they changed it to 14, then changed it back to 32. Fine, but as I've said before 3500 is too high for ILS to catch a runway at 499'.

We got permission to land and I got it down to 2500 so it had a chance of using ILS but then, with the runways in sight, it became obvious that the approach directions left us much too far to the right so the ILS couldn't work. Once more I had to take over from my co-pilot, steer it away from the runway to give me room to turn, lose altitude and land manually.....again!

It was really annoting because up to then we'd had a perfect flight.

debug thingy attached.

John

Quote:

We got on approach to Blagnac, were given runway 32, then they changed it to 14, then changed it back to 32. Fine, but as I've said before 3500 is too high for ILS to catch a runway at 499'.

Your FAF Altitude is set to 3,000 so PF3 got it right descending you to 3500

With regard to being over to the right, are you saying the last call to turn left to 355 came too late? It looks to me as if you were going rather fast at that stage (IAS=257) which of course wouldn't help and several minutes earlier you had been instructed to reduce speed to 220.

Code: Select all 18/09/2016 15:13:31: 530 - Wind DIR from weather station : 236 18/09/2016 15:13:31: 800 - FS Screen : Juliet Charlie Yankee 633 Turn left heading 095 expect vectors for the ILS runway 32 Left Approach 18/09/2016 15:14:43: 090 - Wind DIR from weather station : 88 18/09/2016 15:14:43: 280 - FS Screen : Juliet Charlie Yankee 633 Runway change expect vectors for the ILS runway 14 Left Approach 18/09/2016 15:15:46: 010 - Wind DIR from weather station : 30 18/09/2016 15:15:46: 240 - FS Screen : Juliet Charlie Yankee 633 Runway change expect vectors for the ILS runway 32 Left Approach 18/09/2016 15:16:50: 300 - Wind DIR from weather station : 346 18/09/2016 15:17:52: 240 - Wind DIR from weather station : 293 18/09/2016 15:18:53: 950 - Wind DIR from weather station : 293

And wind speed was 17 to 22 knots, so the runway changes were needed.

3500ft should be fine for a runway on 499ft with the FAF distance of 15NM, or does this ILS have an unusual angle?

I see you have used VCP mode 3. I haven't been very successful with that, too, because my aircraft seems to overspeed with that due to a rather simple autopilot.
Maybe you can try VCP mode 2 and fly the assigned headings (and speeds) yourself (optionally using the AP in HDG mode) to see if this makes any difference?

dmarch wrote:

With regard to being over to the right, are you saying the last call to turn left to 355 came too late?

Are you passing through the localiser? Sometimes on my very old PC, PF3's final turn-to-intercept call can be delayed a bit, in which case I may go through the ILS/LOC and need to come back to it a bit, but you should see this clearly in your aircraft's display if it is happening.

Regarding the frequent runway changes, this has been experienced by other users and can often be addressed by adjusting settings in your weather program to limit wind shifts near the destination airport. See viewtopic.php?f=8&t=2215#p12799.

Dan77 wrote:

dmarch wrote:

With regard to being over to the right, are you saying the last call to turn left to 355 came too late?

Are you passing through the localiser? Sometimes on my very old PC, PF3's final turn-to-intercept call can be delayed a bit, in which case I may go through the ILS/LOC and need to come back to it a bit, but you should see this clearly in your aircraft's display if it is happening.

Regarding the frequent runway changes, this has been experienced by other users and can often be addressed by adjusting settings in your weather program to limit wind shifts near the destination airport. See viewtopic.php?f=8&t=2215#p12799.

Since I made two changes in Active Sky Next settings, my approaches have been perfect. The two changes are under Options:

General Options/Prevent downloads on approach. Default is false, check True.

Wind Options/ Force ATC Windlock Check that box too.

Although John I noticed in one of your previous posts you really didn't want to make use of those features in Active Sky, but it's something to consider.

OK-I've taken on board those suggestions.

It is true I did have a couple of unexpected speed surges and must admit I thought the throttle was behaving badly. I'll go back to mode 2.

I'll also set the FAF altitude to 2500. Maybe that'll help. I must admit that although I've read the explanations in the manual I still don't understand what the FAF altitude is in relation to the actual ground level. It doesn't seem to match up somehow.

Thanks fellers.

John

JohnY wrote:

I'll also set the FAF altitude to 2500. Maybe that'll help. I must admit that although I've read the explanations in the manual I still don't understand what the FAF altitude is in relation to the actual ground level.

Global FAF altitude is above ground and the resulting altitude above sea level is rounded up to the next 500 feet.
So for an airport at 450 feet above MSL and global FAF 2500 feet, the result is 3000 feet above MSL.
And for an airport at 4000 feet above MSL and global FAF 2500 feet, the result is 6500 feet above MSL.

If you set it specific to an airport (on the SIDs/STARs/... page), the entered altitude is directly interpreted as above MSL, so you can enter what is listed in the charts.

Right. Got it Thomas. 2500' it is then at 12nm out. Thanks.

I've also given the co-pilot the sack from actual flying. All she's going to look after in future are the com frequencies!

John

bobsk8 wrote:

Dan77 wrote:

dmarch wrote:

With regard to being over to the right, are you saying the last call to turn left to 355 came too late?

Are you passing through the localiser? Sometimes on my very old PC, PF3's final turn-to-intercept call can be delayed a bit, in which case I may go through the ILS/LOC and need to come back to it a bit, but you should see this clearly in your aircraft's display if it is happening.

Regarding the frequent runway changes, this has been experienced by other users and can often be addressed by adjusting settings in your weather program to limit wind shifts near the destination airport. See viewtopic.php?f=8&t=2215#p12799.

Since I made two changes in Active Sky Next settings, my approaches have been perfect. The two changes are under Options:

General Options/Prevent downloads on approach. Default is false, check True.

Wind Options/ Force ATC Windlock Check that box too.

I forgot to mention something very important yesterday in these active sky settings, in order for this to work properly, you have to load your flightplan into Active Sky, otherwise the ATC lock will not work.