Man I just freak out when I approach busy airports even on training sites. I always lose altitude and this puts me over speed violations and learning the approach directions using auto pilot vs manual is a disaster for me. I know what to do but I lose control fast and I fly every night. Any wisdom I am more than open… I truly hope practice makes perfect… and you can withstand my learning curve… I am studying after every flight but tonight —- real ugly.
I was so bad I was dropped as my screen went dead and I was flying all by my little self! Not a good plan to go int JFK — right?!
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No offense but what’s the point of this topic?
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I think your best friend here would be repetition. A lot of it is developing the muscle memory of the flow of an approach. If you stay at it long enough, it’ll get easier.
Also, the #tutorials from this community are hugely beneficial.
If you have any questions, feel free to message me or any other regular. We’d be happy to help!
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Planning ahead is always key for a good approach and landing.
Before I start my flight I always check out the airport charts for both departure and arrival so I know what to expect.
I also work out my Top Of Descent ( TOD) in advance so that I can arrive at the right height and speed. A good rule of thumb is your Flight level / /3 + 15 gives you your distance to start your descent, ie at FL380 = 380/3 = 127 + 15 = 142 nm.
Lastly to manage my speed I always level off at FL120 and slow down to 240kts before descending below 10000ft. Once below 10000 I slow down to 220kts and gradually manage my speed so that I arrive at the ‘top of the red cone’ ( ILS) at 3000 ft and 150kts.
Good luck.
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To back up David’s post… Check out the IFR procedures for airports… If you follow these you’ll be on speed and altitude at many airports. Check out the ROBUC3 into KBOS for example-presume you’d be using the transition to RWY27 which takes you to HOKDU, then to KLANE (you’ll see KLANE just left of HOKDU.
Then you can descend to 4000 to cross KLANE and lock into the ILS 27.
If you follow the speed and altitude restrictions on the arrival using the correct runway transition and a guideline of 170kt to the marker waypoint in the chart below it would be RIPIT which you cross at 1700’ (the 170-180kt (usually 170kt-and this is based on study of LiveATC) then slow to your final approach speed, you can fly with a friend (or five) and pop right on to the ILS with a near perfect, real world type spacing, speed and altitude setup. If you use @epaga’s excellent IF-Assistant, it’ll actually allow you to setup the altitude and speed constraints for each waypoint.
Here’s how it looks from ROBUC on down to the ILS27
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Landing is the busiest time of the flight. You have to pay attention to your speed, altitude, the controller, everyone around you, and your flight settings. It’s a habit for me to put out flaps and gear out at the right time without even thinking about it. Just keep doing it, pay attention to your plane, and you’ll be a master in no time. If you’ve ever used APPR mode (try it in solo - there’s only a select few aircraft with this atm) it shows that you should average your descent at -870 FPM, and slightly pull up right before landing for a smooth touchdown. Hope this helps, @trayside.
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Hey! If you mean descending too early or disengaging the AP too early I think I have an answer for you. First what @FBWFTW said you should definitely use waypoints on approach. I used to be at 5,000 ft. at 100 nm away. I would recommend starting you descent at between 150-170 nm. You should cruise at between FL340-FL400. Also at the most your VS should be at -2,000. I know this may sound weird but don’t get too focused on your landing. What I mean by this is that don’t get nervous if you crash. You need to be relaxed and ready to land. And you should be at around 3,000 ft. when the approach guider thing starts.
-Riley :)
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Lol, really?
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yes, I would lol I was very nooby back then
I just did a stream-if it uploads to YouTube I’ll put it on here and if not, I’ll do another stream and throw it on here. Our VA is planning a landing competition toward the end of the month.
Thanks for the encouragement
New to all of this and learning this site is part of that learning- no offense taken… sorry your time was taken
I used to struggle with this as well, what I found was watching youtube videos of people flying on IF to learn about how and when to descend.
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Thanks FBWFTW
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You’re welcome-here are a couple of virtualBlue’s in depth videos we did yesterday.
In this one, the first hour or so covers flying the STAR (speed/altitude constraints etc) and has a soft but less than excellent landing-the second part (cause I was so mad at the first landing is ALL landings with different winds)
The landings start about 1:07:00 or so in
[virtualBlue In Depth Landing Tutorial - YouTube
This one shows the same arrival-but with traffic on the STAR and has a pretty good landing.
THIS one is the crosswind landing tutorial-but be advised, while the technique is the same-FDS changed the rudder bias/exponential gain in the A320 so it’s a bit more sensitive now than it was prior.
I hope these can help-I realize they’re long, but I try to show every angle and explain things as we try to get max realism out of IF. If you’d like to join us at vB-feel free, we’ve got a bunch of pilots that have improved their skills!
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I have a technique of landing or approach in easy way. You don’t need to be perfect at landing with other strategy. Becuse this game is a pocket edition, I land manually but, my Speed A/P is always turned on during approach. Your transition must be above or ranging from 2,000-3,000 feet. And your speed must be at less than 170kts depends on the aircraft ur using. Dont forget the flaps and the spoilers especially the gears. When you’re inside the three red lines at the runway ( I dont know the callsign of that) when you’re in final, you must point the circle thing at the middle of your screen at the start of the runway. And make sure that your nose is pointing in a positive degree to land your body gears first than the nose gears. When the callout starts 500,400,300,200,100,50,40,30,20,10 when you heard ten U must retard or idle the throttle and kinda tilt your phone like 10 degrees will be fine. Then you can make a smooth landing in easyway
Hope this helps.
Sorry for my bad english
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I actually use this method. But for me, I always navigate my ETE to dest. When it hits 10 mins with FL320 below. I imediately lower my speed to 220 to 240 knots. And it’s fine. Then I turn my VS to -2000ft/min. And the transition is fine until final.
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Yes I started off using that system, however changed to DTG as that’s more accurate, especially when coming in from a high altitude. My current process is a simplified version of what real life pilots do as well.
Captain Joe here explains it well in a recent video
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Captain Jazz thank you! You did not make me feel stupid! As I am new to this and not a professional pilot & hitting 70 years old but I do love flight and want to excel, as well I have a doctorate but understanding the approach charts is not easy so I am reading everything that passes by me and it is not always easy to understand nor implement I might add! The Acronyms as well is a part of the learning curves- so again thanks
T
What is the best way to ask questions within the system as I believe by my friend in Japan starting a new line (thread) of questioning is not proper?
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