HOW DOES IT WORK?
On Approach feature
You have three types of approach to choose from:
-
On Final (start your approach lined up with the runway)
-
Intersect Final (begin flying a course that will intersect your final approach
-
Downwind (begin at the start of the Downwind leg of the traffic pattern)
FS Instant Approach PRO offers many different ways to set up these approaches using the following controls:
ICAO Code - enter the code of the airport at which you wish to practise a landing, for example KORD (Chicago) - the program allows any airport in the world!
Approach Airport - press this button to find the runway in the FS Instant Approach PRO runway data and set it as your approach airport.
Approach Random Airport - press this button to select a random runway - anywhere in the world - and set it as your approach airport. The runway information is displayed when the button is pressed. You can press again for a different runway if the runway randomly selected is unsuitable for your aircraft (for example - it is too short for your airliner!).
Start - check this box so that FS Instant Approach PRO will put you on approach to your chosen runway when you press Connect. If you do not check this box, the only thing that FS Instant Approach PRO will do is offer you the option to save a map of your flight.
Nautical Miles out from runway - this is the length of the 'on final' leg of your approach. (The length of the 'on final' leg is ignored if you choose to fly an approach starting you on the 'Downwind' leg of the traffic pattern.)
Flying at - choose the speed at which you would like to start the approach. (This feature is not available for FS2004 but can be set directly from within FS2004).
Intersect from - check this box if you wish to start your approach from a path that intersects your final approach path at an angle. The default is 45 degrees, but you can set this to any angle you wish. You will then be able to select it from left or right and to choose the length of the intercepting path.
Left - choose this option if you wish to start your approach from a path that intersects your final approach path from the left, at an angle you choose. You will also want to choose the length of the intercepting path. When you return to Flight Simulator to fly, you will notice that the runway is to your left.
Right - choose this option if you wish to start your approach from a path that intersects your final approach path from the right.
Nautical miles back - if you have chosen to intersect your final approach leg, this is where you specify the distance back from that intersection that you will start the flight. This distance is in addition to the distance you start your final approach leg from the runway. You can either specify the distance in nautical miles or choose the AUTO option in which case you will start approximately 1 minute back from the intersection point based on your initial speed. (In FS2004 AUTO will start two miles back from the intersection point.)
Downwind - check this box if you wish to begin your approach at the start of the 'Downwind' leg of the traffic pattern at that runway. This means that you will start with your airplane abeam the far end of the runway you have chosen to land at, facing in the opposite direction, at 1000 feet AAL (above airfield level) and at a distance based on your speed. (Several of these settings can be changed if you wish - see below). You will then be able to select it for a left or right traffic pattern and to choose the length of the 'Base' leg of the traffic pattern. If you specify a relative wind direction, it will be relative to the runway heading.
You can choose to begin to begin your approach at the start of the 'Downwind' leg of the Left or Right Traffic pattern at that runway. When you return to Flight Simulator to fly, you will notice that the runway is to your left/right.
Nautical miles Base - if you have chosen to fly the Downwind leg, this is where you specify the lateral distance from the runway at which you will start the flight.
You can either specify the distance in nautical miles or choose the AUTO option in which case you will start approximately one minute of flying from the runway based on your initial speed. (In FS2004 AUTO will set a two-mile Base leg distance.)
Show Approach Types Available - press this button to display a pop-up diagram of the three types of approaches available and instructions on how to quickly set them up!
ICAO Codes start with - if you wish to restrict randomly chosen airports so that they begin with a preferred letter or letters, you can enter the letters here. For example, enter 'K' if you want codes that start with 'K' such as KLAX and KJFK or 'EG' for airports such as EGLL.
Runway Types - you can filter randomly chosen runways so that they must have an Instrument Landing System (ILS), or they must not have ILS, or you can include all runways without regard to ILS being present.
Runway Elevation - random airports can also be filtered by elevation if you want to. Check this box if you want to specify the minimum or maximum elevation in feet of the airports to include in random selection.
Runway Length - random airports can also be filtered by length if you want to. Check this box if you want to specify the minimum or maximum length in feet of the airports to include in random selection. This is a great way to practise short field approaches... or to make sure there is enough room to land that big airliner!
Runway Surface - random runways can also be filtered by the type of surface. This can be left blank or you can select a particular surface type if you wish. How about landing on sand today?! Planks tomorrow?
Detailed Airports - check this box if you want to specify that only the 'detailed' airports supplied with FSX Deluxe or FSX Acceleration will be included in random selection.
Altitude - you can set the altitude (in feet) above MSL or AAL (Above Airfield Level) at which the aircraft begins the approach, but this is optional. If this is not chosen, altitude for the approach is computed automatically.
Surface Wind - you can set the surface wind at the approach runway. Check this box to set the surface layer wind - note that the altitude of the upper limit of the surface layer is controlled within FSX.
Kts (Surface Wind Speed) - set the surface wind speed here. Note that this speed is used regardless of whether the pilot chooses to set the wind direction in degrees or by choosing the relative wind direction option. The speed applies to either method.
For extra excitement, you can set this control to produce random wind strength.
Direction - you can either set the wind direction in degrees OR you can set the wind direction relative to the runway. For the latter, use Relative Wind Direction. Want variety? You can set this control to produce a random wind direction.
Relative Wind Direction - this sets the surface wind relative to the runway.
Gusts - check this box to turn on surface wind gusts. Use with caution - the gusts can be very challenging and their strength increases in proportion to the wind speed.
Visibility - use this control to set the visibility for your approach. Note that this does not change the overall weather and so it is possible to have very low visibility on what Flight Simulator otherwise describes as a clear day. Think of low visibility set this way as being haze, mist or fog. You can set this control to produce a random visibility.
Automatic Radio Set-up
Get some handy help with those radios!
ILS - automatically tunes NAV1 (Navigation Radio One) to ILS at the destination runway if it is available. Things can get busy - this can be very useful.
NAV1 OBS - automatically sets navigation radio (NAV1) OBS (Omni-Bearing Selector) to the heading of destination runway. Depending on your aircraft's equipment, this can help you with your approach.
ATIS - automatically tunes COM2 (Communications Radio Two) to ATIS (Automatic Terminal Information Service) at destination airport. Handy to save time and COM2 will not interfere with ATC communications.
Time Of Day
Practise day, night, dawn and dusk!
Set (local) Time - if you want to practise approaches at a particular simulated time of day, you can turn on this checkbox and enter the time here so FS Instant Approach PRO will set it when you connect to Flight Simulator. Note that this is local time, not Zulu (UTC) time.
Flight Mapping
Save & View Google Map of Flight - review your flight paths over real world satellite terrain using Google Maps, store them, review them at your leisure and share them with friends? Track taxi routes too!
View all Flight Maps - this button will open a browser which lists all the Flight Maps you have logged with FS Instant Approach PRO. You can review them at your leisure!