How to use the auto land function.

Ground School Community Tutorials
1

There are a few things to highlight when you want to use the autoland function in IF:

  • A new option is that you can select the approach that you want to fly, and if you make a flightplan it will be on top of the list. To access this list with ILS or GPS approaches, hold your finger on it for a few seconds and you will get this:

PNG
PNG2048Ɨ1536 508 KB

The * behind the ILS means you locked it and it will remain locked until you select a different approach or Auto.

PNG
PNG2048Ɨ1536 523 KB

  • Max intercept angle should be 45 degrees or less from the runway heading. So if you have a runway on heading 240 you should be between heading 195 to 285.
  • Donā€™t fly too fast, stay around 180-200 knots, otherwise the autopilot will make a few s-turns.
  • Only activate the approach when you are ā€œcleared for the ILS runway XXā€ by the approach controller.
  • Activate the approach not more then 20NM away from the runway, depending on your altitude. The airplane will climb slowly to reach the glideslope and then it will descend if you are too far away. A normal 3 degrees glideslope will give you the following altitudes and DME distances:
    image
  • You can use the following ground speeds to compare to your vertical speed:
    image

Here is a picture of how the g/s and the localizer will look when fully established on the ILS.

PNG
PNG2048Ɨ1536 598 KB

You can see ā€œILS EGLL 27Lā€ underneath ā€œ3.1NMā€. This distance is important when activating the APPR mode.
Also please read the following information about limitations which come from @Laura :
*Autoland/Approach Mode is a new feature that was added in August 2015 starting with the 737-BBJ. It only is available on one airplane for now because of the complexity of the system. We will gradually expand it to include other airplanes.

The autoland system in Infinite Flight isnā€™t designed to magically get the airplane to the runway. Just like in real life, the system has limitations and things to know about. This article outlines the most important ones.

  • Limitations:
  • 15 kts crosswind
  • 30 kts headwinds
  • 5 kts tail wind
  • Interception course with Localizer 45 degrees max
  • Landing configuration set 5NM out (final approach speed, gear down, full flaps, spoilers ARM, no changes past 5NM)
  • 200 kts max speed during entire approach
  • Spoilers in ARM mode
  • No de-crabbing is done by the system, pilot is responsible for alignment upon touchdown
  • Designed for full stop landings only
  • Terrain avoidance is the pilotā€™s responsibility
  • Standard ILS Approaches only (3 degrees slope max. Will not work at EGLC for example)

Difference between ILS and GPS:
ILS Approaches are extracted from real life data. If you are on a red approach, thereā€™s a guarantee that there will be no collision with terrain throughout the approach
GPS Approaches are not extracted from real life and are simply a projection of the runway centerline to create a ā€œfakeā€ localizer with a glideslope set for a 3 degrees descent. This does not guarantee that you will not hit terrain during the approach.

Tips:
Airplane has trouble stabilizing:

  • Adjust approach speed (recommended 130 kts for 737/BBJ with full flaps at 25% load)
  • Check winds
  • We recommend to lock the approach you want prior to engaging the Approach mode*

Added: An example of the auto land function in EGLL runway 27L with 100 meter visibility and a 5 knots headwind.

  1. The first step I do is lock the ā€œILS 27L EGLLā€.
  2. After that I make a left turn to get a 30 degrees intercept with the localiser heading, you can see a point called IFF75 on the map, I am aiming for this point as the platform altitude in London Heathrow for runway 27L is 2500 feet and this point is at 7.5DME of the ILS which identification is ā€œILLā€. From this point I will follow the 3degrees glide slope that will bring me to the runway.
  3. On the glide slope I configure the airplane is required to be fully established and configured before reaching 1000 feet.

All of this information is based on a normal 3 degrees g/s, but not all airports and runways are configured in this way. This could render the information invalid, but the basic principles will be the same.

A perfect speed schedule would be:
180 knots until 10 NM
160 knots until 5NM
From here on reduce to your final approach speed for landing.

64 Likes
2

22 posts were merged into an existing topic: Infinite Flight August 2015 Update

5

I canā€™t get this :( you need 20 perchases ;(

2 Likes
6

Can i just select like ILS approach runway 25R at KLAX and the plane will fly me there? I dint get the update yet

7

Do you have the nee update or how you made that

10

So this is only currently available for the Boeing 737? Or just the 737 BBJ?

1 Like
15

Thatā€™s for another topic.

1 Like
17

Pretty clear sky for an Auroland :P

18

Iā€™m not going to be using the auto land too much, I like manual landings. But if they decide to increase the frequency of fog on live servers then Iā€™ll consider. Like to feel the aircraft move with my hands :)

1 Like
19

Something tells me that everyone is gonna be flying using their 737/BBJ now šŸ˜‚

2 Likes
27

Yes it is only available for the 737-700 BBJ. I am still waiting for the update.

29

Only within more or less 20 NM from the threshold.

30

Great write-up Aernout! Keeping this one bookmarked.

3 Likes
34

Please explain.

35

Hold your finger for a few seconds where you normally see the ā€œILS EGLL 27Rā€ for example. In the right bottom of the screen :)

36

Okay thank you. @Aernout

1 Like
39

I flagged all post that have nothing to do with the tutorial, please make or look for other topics for questions which are not related to this tutorial.

40

Guys, this is not the place to discuss issues or features about the updateā€¦

5 Likes
41

If it is that much of an issue, why donā€™t you just lock tutorials? ā€¦

42

This is a tutorial thread. If you have questions about the tutorial itself, this is the place to ask. Off-topic chat is considered hijacking a thread.

2 Likes