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gpbarth

ILS Approach w/FSX, Garmin 500, and Autopilot

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Back to basics, I'm afraid. After flying the big stuff, I have reverted for the time being to flying the GA fleet, in this particular case, the A2A Cessna 172. I didn't want to go crazy right away, since I haven't been in a small plane for awhile, and wanted things to go slowly. Anyway...

 

For some reason, I cannot complete an ILS approach to (in this case) KRDG 13. And I cannot for the life of me figure out what I'm doing wrong. So I thought I'd describe my attempts and see if someone can point out what is probably an obvious screw-up.

 

Flight is simple: 69N Slatingtom, via OUTLT intersection to KRDG ILS RWY 13. About 45 miles. Made up a flight plan using FS Commander, saved it and loaded the 172, cold and dark, at Slatington. Opened up the FSX Flight Planner and opened the plan (69NKRDG). Did my preflght, cranked 'er up, and set up my avionics - KRDG ATIS 127.1 on COM1 and ILS 13 110.55 on NAV1 - I even set the heading bug on NAV1 for 133º, the approach track, as a reminder.. Checked the GPS to look at the track, which was initially 250º after T/O, switched from NAV to GPS, set my autopilot for 4500, taxied out and took off on RWY 1.

 

Got my climb established, turned to meet the track to OUTLK, and switched on the autopilot. And cruised along on the first leg nicely. Since the turn to intercept the approach is at OUTLT, at 3200', I started my descent a few miles out, and let the A/P fly me around the turn and onto the inbound track, and began a gentle descent toward 2100'. So far, so good. I now checked my NAV freq and the heading bug, and switched from GPS to NAV, and hit the HEADING button, and off went the Cessna in a sharp left turn. Turned off the A/P, flew back onto the 133 track and once again turned on the A/P (set to NAV and HEADING), and once again, it started a left-banking turn.

 

Got it back on track again and this time clicked on the APP button, thinking that this close...the needles were working, so this should have, too. But the A/P would not hold the track. So I turned off the A/P and hand-flew the approach, with both the G/S and LOC working perfectly. Now I'm thinking that I may be able to fly the entire flight using NAV and HEADING instead of GPS, using the heading bug for my final turn and then try to intercept the glideslope that way. But shouldn't I be able to fly the whole course using the GPS and then switch to NAV on the final? Every time I tried that, the plane immediately left the course and began a left turn.

 

Any ideas out there?


-= Gary Barth =-

 

Boeing777_Banner_Pilot.jpg

 

 

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Is the ILS frequency in FSX also 110.55?

 

Fsx data is 2006 era - that freq might not be in FSX or that ils might not even be modeled. Open up map view or look in the default gps to verify


| FAA ZMP |
| PPL ASEL |
| Windows 11 | MSI Z690 Tomahawk | 12700K 4.7GHz | MSI RTX 4080 | 32GB 5600 MHz DDR5 | 500GB Samsung 860 Evo SSD | 2x 2TB Samsung 970 Evo M.2 | EVGA 850W Gold | Corsair 5000X | HP G2 (VR) / LG 27" 1440p |

 

 

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Well, as I subscribe to Navigraph and keep all of my nav data up-to-date, I just assumed that the airport would be current. Now I'm going to have to go and look it up. That's what happens when you don't fly into smaller airports too often.


-= Gary Barth =-

 

Boeing777_Banner_Pilot.jpg

 

 

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Don't have the A2A, but are you loading/activating the procedure and transition into the GPS?  I would suggest using "wings level" AP mode (if the A2A has that) then shift from GPS to NAV on final, then you can select APP mode (assuming loc and gs are alive).

 

scott s.

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Well, as I subscribe to Navigraph and keep all of my nav data up-to-date, I just assumed that the airport would be current. Now I'm going to have to go and look it up. That's what happens when you don't fly into smaller airports too often.

 

Well navigraph updates don't update anything a2a related, nor do they update anything GA related (except the Carenado Hawker/Citation and older Eaglesoft products).  Also, they change nothing with default FSX navdata.  


| FAA ZMP |
| PPL ASEL |
| Windows 11 | MSI Z690 Tomahawk | 12700K 4.7GHz | MSI RTX 4080 | 32GB 5600 MHz DDR5 | 500GB Samsung 860 Evo SSD | 2x 2TB Samsung 970 Evo M.2 | EVGA 850W Gold | Corsair 5000X | HP G2 (VR) / LG 27" 1440p |

 

 

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Navigraph doesn't really help in a situation like this since what counts is the ILS 13 frequency put into the FSX database back around 2005 or so when FSX was developed. However, since the Loc and GS needles responded appropriately when you hand flew the approach, the freq of 110.55 must be correct as far as the FSX database is concerned.

 

I know the KAP 140 AP in the A2A C172 is not as simple to operate as the default FSX AP. You have to follow the procedures outlined in the manual. If you are doing that, then I'd suggest posting on the A2A C172 Tech Forum, they should be able to help you. That forum is at http://www.a2asimulations.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=108&sid=1136e1bd0c354ff73c8028120c0992fc

 

Al

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Yes, the needles seemed to respond when I flew the approach manually, so I would suspect that the freq is correct. I say "suspect" because I'm still not sure. I'll load the sim again tonight and look at the approach inside FSX and see if the freqs are correct. But if the needles DID respond, I don't know why switching from GPS to NAV on the course sent the Cessna into that turn. I'll also look into the A2A A/P to see what's different from the FSX default.

 

I just seemed to pick the wrong approach to fly, it seems. Reminds me of Lloyd Bridges in "Airplane"! :blink: I was going to try it with the turbine Duke, but that would have really got me confused - too much happening too fast!


-= Gary Barth =-

 

Boeing777_Banner_Pilot.jpg

 

 

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Well, I double-checked the FSX airport data, made sure the ILS information was right, read up on the A2A C-172 auto-pilot, and re-flew the entire flight, in foul weather, low ceilings and rain, and greased it. Flipped off the A/P at DH and flew the last bit manually.

 

So I can't figure what went wrong before, but problem solved. Now I have to do it again with the Duke to verify things. I'm going to put away the tube-liners for awhile and get back to the GA fleet for now.


-= Gary Barth =-

 

Boeing777_Banner_Pilot.jpg

 

 

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