MS Flight Simulator X: an ILS mess

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MS Flight Simulator X: an ILS mess

Rebel_Terrorist
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Post by Rebel_Terrorist » Sat Apr 18, 2009 6:52 pm

Okay, for those who have Flight Simulator X, try this. Imagine that you wanna land your precious learjet in that airport in front, and it happens to have an ILS. You check the map, and it tells you that the frequency is 110.10 and the heading is 213º. You tune the frequency in the NAV1 radio, set the runway heading into the HSI needle and start the approach. But... what the heck? You're following the HSI heading but you're not flying towards the runway! Maybe some crosswind? No. The thin is, the runway headings on the map doesn't correspond to the real heading in game. That happens on almost EVERY airport in FSX. You can chech it in KSEA (seattle international). If you start the flight on runway 34R and press Shift+Z, the magnetic heading reads 343º, but the map says the 34R ILS's heading is 341º. Try to land with that heading instead the real one...
Thats very annoing. I've been looking for some way to fix this but i've found nothing, no patches, no threads on forums, absolutely nothing. Could you help me please?

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Q
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Post by Q » Sat Apr 25, 2009 8:49 pm

It sounds to me like your problem is related to magnetic heading vs. true heading. All runways in FSX use true headings while the runway numbers reflect the magnetic heading. The heading value is meant as 'heading TRUE north'. If you go to CYFB you will see that runway 17 has a heading of 136°. The airport has a magnetic variation of 34° west. The magnetic heading (which is indicated on the Jeppessen Chart) shows 170° (mag). You need to fly with your instruments adjusted for magnetic variation changes. FSX does replicate magnetic deviation. It's easy to measure local deviation by comparing GPS heading and Sim heading indicated by pressing "Shift+Z".

Here is a simple tutorial on doing FS approaches which may help:
http://www.flightsimulationforums.com/v ... .php?t=566
I also found other users with problems doing approaches and it looks as if they simply overlooked some things during their approach:
http://flyawaysimulation.com/postt34950.html
http://flyawaysimulation.com/postp170339.html
You also you may want to update your software, there are so many AFCAD updates for FSX that it's nearly impossible to keep track of them all. I personally use http://www.flightsim.com/ and http://www.avsim.net/ to update my scenery AFCAD files. I hope some of this information helps you out.
"I like work; it fascinates me. I can sit and look at it for hours."

Rebel_Terrorist
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Post by Rebel_Terrorist » Wed Apr 29, 2009 12:31 am

Hmm... i think i see the problem here. My charts also say that CYFB's runway 35's heading is 350º. But a nearby VOR says that the magnetic variation in the area is 37º West... :/ In the sim, pressing Shift + Z says that the runway heading is 348º...
37ºW - 34ºW = 3ºW...
350º (charts and map) - 348º (true thing) = 2º
Maybe the magnetic north pole in FSX is not where it should be?? :motz:
Also, where you find the true headings?

Rebel_Terrorist
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Post by Rebel_Terrorist » Wed Apr 29, 2009 10:03 am

Ok, take a look at KTCM. The chart says that the airport's magnetic variation is 19ºE (like all seattle area), BUT the SEA vor, wich is inside the airport, according to the info in the GPS inside FSX, has a magnetic variation of 22ºE :/

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