Overview
This is a tutorial covering the infamous Innsbruck LOC-DME East Runway 08 approach. I flew this on a Eurowings Airbus A320, callsign EWG7278.
Charts
Here’s a link to the relevant charts I will refer to in the tutorial. I highly recommend using them!
VACC Austria - LOWI Charts
Arrival
There was a point in time where you had to manually enter coordinates as waypoints for the approach, but the legends at FDS added not only the relevant waypoints, but also both the localizer and the VORs! Unfortunately there’s a glitch that prohibits you from selecting these from the map, but there’s a simple workaround for this.
Simply search for the VOR/LOC identifier, followed by any random waypoint. You will be able to select the VOR and tune to it if it is part of your flightplan. Once you tune to it, simply delete the waypoints from the flightplan, and you will still be tuned to your desired VOR.
In this tutorial, you’ll need the OEV Localizer tuned in NAV1. Also be sure to enter the correct approach, labeled L26 (not L26-R)!
Part 1: Initial Approach
If you’re coming from a STAR (which you should be), your first waypoint should be the Rattenburg NDB (RTT). Put this in your flightplan if it isn’t there already. By RTT you should be at 9500ft. Turn to heading 210 degrees upon crossing the waypoint to intercept the localizer. At this point, make sure you have your source set to NAV1, not GPS. Also, set the course to 255 degrees. You should be established on the localizer (Radial 255 OEV in this case) by the time you cross waypoint ADWIG.
I’d advise turning on VNAV at this point, which will allow for a smooth precise descent. However, keep LNAV off and stay on course manually. The wind is usually high at this point in the approach, and LNAV doesn’t do a great job staying exactly on course while correcting for winds.
By the final approach fix (FAF), which is at 19DME from OEV, you should be in full landing configuration. This includes your gear down, spoilers armed, and flaps as needed. Keep a close eye on your DME.
6.3DME from OEV is your missed approach point. If you aren’t stable on your approach (too high, too fast, low visibility, etc.), execute a missed approach. If ATC is present, just let them know you are executing a missed approach and wait for instruction. If there’s no ATC, you’ll need to make a sharp climbing left turn with a radius of no more than 1700m. You’re surrounded by mountains so there isn’t much room for error here. As long as you keep your speed low and stable, but also adding enough power to maintain your speed to climb, you should be fine. Simply return to RTT and hold.
Assuming all is well on your approach, continue to 4.2OEV. Here you should disengage LNAV, and you may also disengage altitude autopilot. If you choose to keep autopilot on, set your altitude to 3700ft. Make a left turn to heading 230 degrees. You are now ready for the most challenging part: the visual approach
Part 2: Visual Approach
Now that you’re established on a 230 degree heading, this is about what you’ll be seeing:
Stay on this heading until you reach a sort of plateau, just off to your right. Turn right heading 264 degrees, but try to time this turn so that you end up in about the center of the plateau. You should still be maintaining 3700ft. Now you want to keep an eye on your DME again. In real life, pilots use a church to know when to make their final right turn, but in Infinite Flight it is very difficult to see. Instead, begin your final turn at 3.5DME OEV. Your surroundings should look like this:
This final turn will be a sharp ~30 degree right turn to line up with the runway. This is also where you should start descending for landing. Your descent rate should be around 1200fpm. This descent is challenging and precise: too low and you risk running into infrastructure, and too high and you will overshoot the runway. LOWI has a PAPI light system, so use this as your guide as you level out on final.
Landing is a bit tricky because the runway is relatively short. Assuming you are descending properly, however, you shouldn’t have much of a risk of overrunning the runway. Just be sure to apply rudder brakes and a decent amount of reverse thrust.
That wraps this tutorial up. I meant to do the LaGuardia Expressway Visual approach next since that’s that my poll last month dictated, but @Sashaz55 beat me to it lol. Please leave questions or comments below, I’m looking for ways to improve these and I will take all the feedback I can get. Thanks for reading, check out my other tutorials too if you want…
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