VFR Airport Approach Procedures Tutorial - Part 1 (MSFS ONLY)

[onecheman]

Part 2 "is privated" :-/ Nice video, I enjoy it so much. English is not my native language but I understand you at 90%, I like the clear- not fast way you talk ^^

Thanks.

[liteswitvh]

I am impressed with your detailed planning for flight simulation. I study aviation a lot. Hats off to your prepared notes on your route. Are you a real pilot? It looks like it.

[therabbit0]

6:36 thats right slip that bitch in there! haha

[FSX404]

@therabbit0

Like that eh? LOL

[revowild]

were would you get one of those flight planning charts?

[FSX404]

@revowild

You can either buy them, make your own in Excel, or see if anyone has posted one online.

[cleekmaker00]

@revowild Send me a PM with your e-mail address and I can send you what I have.

[ciscotek1973]

You are from So Cal, right? I am from San Francisco, originally, but currently overseas. I am actually downloading as many of your videos as I can. Since you have so many, I actually had to start keeping track. E-mail me at ciscotek1973@yahoo.com. Please understand if you get a delayed reply as the country that I am in has electricity problems. You ever fly near SF Bay Area?

[houshidar558]

crap i was landing 747's visually not knowing airliners are always IFR o well good practice haha

[FSX404]

@houshidar558

The airliners are on IFR flight plans, but they do visual approaches all the time. I can't speak for all pilots, but all the pilots who are my friends and fly airliners prefer visual approaches.

[houshidar558]

@FSX404 not all the time obviously i meant in good weather they prefer it visually but on bad weather i think they prefer ILS

[FSX404]

@houshidar558

It's at the pilot discretion what they chose to use.

The difference between actual flying and simulator flying is that visual flying in real life is the preferred method, and the easiest, while in the flight sim, visual flying is very impractical and very unrealistic, so simmers have a very bad tendency to revert to instruments which is not at all true in actual flying. If you can see outside, there is no reason to have your eyes inside.

[houshidar558]

@FSX404 yes, i know that its the captains choice, my uncle fly's for delta airlines 747-400s and ive noticed how in real life visual approaches are so easy for them your right i agree as in flight simulators its kinda not realistic if you put a professional pilot with hunderds of flight hours under his belt i think he will agree also its just not that realistic i meant practice as in simulator gameplay

[TeamLeftmatch777]

I have a question, what happens when im approaching the runway directly like im allready lined up with the runway without doing the traffic pattern? Do i have to stop the approach and do the traffic pattern?

[FSX404]

@TeamLeftmatch777

depends on the airport (tower/no tower) & traffic around the airport. Tower will let you know what to do. If there's no tower you have to use your judgment

If you're approaching on a straight in with no traffic, then you can go ahead and land without the pattern,

if there’s traffic, then you will fly straight in at 500 feet above TPA on the runway heading (upwind), once you get to the crosswind point, you’ll turn on crosswind and descend to the TPA altitude and do the rest

[kylel002]

Hi

Do you have any forms that is shown at :36 in a document on your pc?

If so could you please give me a link if there is one.

By the way, nice tutorials, i have seen loads of your vids.

Thanks

[FSX404]

@kylel002

I made this form out myself, I either have in a MS Word or PDF fromat, send me your email thru a message and I'll send you the file, hopefully I still have it, LOL, I've reformated my computer a few times since, but I think I saved it somewhere.

[logstarful]

When should I begin the final decent when I am coming from NE and NW and how much decent rate?

[FSX404]

@logstarful

on final at around 2 miles from the airport, doesn't matter where you are coming from. Anyway, don't try to memorize everything, a lot of VFR flying is adjusting to the situation so a lot of times it is "what looks right" to you.

[FSX404]

@logstarful

oh yes, don't worry about descent rates in VFR, descent rates are something used in IFR, the whole point of VFR is you adjusting to what is going on outside with only minimal glances at you altitude and airspeed.

Try flying a plane that has no instruments except airspeed indicator, altimeter and compass. I believe that the basic "Real Air Simulations" Citabria is one of those planes. As I said, VFR is adjusting to what is going on outside, and those are the basics of all flying

[weswood151]

I really dig your highlighted freqs. I have always used a condensed kneeboard "cheat sheet", however your highlighting system would work great.

[FSX404]

@weswood151

Only thing you will cheat about in aviation is cheating yourself, as long as all the work is done correctly there is no cheating, and using anything we can to understand what we're doing better is just "relieving the workload", like the autopilot in IMC conditions :)

Thanks for the comment

[logstarful]

How do I know which is the entry point or to find it?

[FSX404]

@logstarful

VFR charts, they are marked on them using little flags, like I show really quickly at the end of this video. However it is very hard to fly VFR in MSFS, just because in VFR you do fly using visual ground points which is very hard to do in MSFS, there reallly isn't a good way in MSFS to do it properly, so you just have to use your best judgment when you spot the airport visually.

[logstarful]

How do I know which is the entry point?

[josias003]

thank for the tutorial it help me alotttt, thank

[FSX404]

@josias003

You're welcome, glad I could help you out and thanks for your nice comment.

[gustavo87467357]

i'm tired of doin ifr departure and arrival in the fs...i need some vfr flyin...

[radbcc]

very well done. tx.

[FSX404]

@radbcc

Thanks, I hope it helped you out a little.

[kazam9059]

Could you pls explain to me what IAF is? Does it help with approach and lining up with runway? i know how to read the charts but i dont know how to locate to IAF. If you can pls help. Thanks in advance

[FSX404]

IAF - Initial Approach Fix, only used in IFR. Located on an IFR approach plate. See your inbox.

[kazam9059]

excellent vid. well I am currently flying a 767 in fs9 and like you said for the visual app you let atc line you up. During ils app i autoland but for visual landings when i try to land my speed decreases rapidly and i undershoot the runway. Someone told me to use vnav or lnav during a visual landing. Want to know wat that is? Or if you have a better way helpng me land visually that would be great . Pls respond asap. Thanks man once again great tutorial

[FSX404]

What happens during landings is something called slow flight. It is one of the most important things a pilot will ever learn. Your airspeed is actually controlled using your pitch of the plane, and your rate of descent is controlled by your power settings.

What you are probably doing is losing to much altitude because you reduce your power, then you probably pitching up to get the altitude back, which slows you down even more. You cant do that in planes.

[FSX404]

What you need to do is go down to basics of slow flight, I will send you a tutorial I have on slow flight, Ill send you only part 3 which includes landings, but you should also review the first two.

Remember if you are too low, add power, if you are too slow, pitch the nose down during landings.

[skybluemovies]

Very clear and nicely explained! I think this can be of great use.

[FSX404]

Thank you S.

[TParvatton]

Thank you for an excellent tutorial. I too learned a lot.

There was no mention of trimming. Were you trimming the airspeed during this flight? I would love to get a tutorial on trimming. I use a throttle for my trimming, so far that is the smoothest solution. Thoughts?

[FSX404]

Trimming is one of the most important tools in aviation. In real life you have to trim, otherwise you're arm will go dead within 10 minutes into the flight.

There is no way to do a good tutorial, but here are the rules:

Every time you change a plane flight configuration you trim. Example: you put a plane in a climb and set the power, then trim it so the plane stays there, when you release all the controls.

Same for leveling off, once you are level and at desired speed...

[FSX404]

...you retrim the airplane so it stays there after you let go off all the controls.

Basically you set the plane attitude and flight configuration with the yoke and power, and then you use the trim the plane to stay where you put it without any more controls.

The rule of thumb is that anytime there is even a slight power change, the ariplane needs to be retrimmed.

Always alwyas always use trim

[FSX404]

MWARGAN POSTED:

@TParvatton What FSX404 said was right, but the most important rule to keep in mind is:

Trim controls Pitch

Pitch controls Speed

Throttle controls Vertical Speed

So you trim the airplane so it maintains a specific speed and you use throttle to control decent rate.

Try it out, that is the most important when trimming a plane.

Although you were slightly wrong there FSX404, when you change throttle settings you change decent rate, no need to retrim unless you are changing speed.

[FSX404]

Pitch-Power-Trim is the rule,

Every time you even slightly change the airplane's power setting, you need to re-trim, even if there is no noticeable speed change, the prop wash will affect the elevator.

So you do have to re-trim every time you change a power setting.

[MSFSX94]

Awesome! This was just what I needed=)

some essential information. This tutorial has answered alot of questions! Thanks mate;)

[FSX404]

Remember, one step at a time, no one was ever made "great" over night. Every one of those pilots that flies an airliner or a jet fighter started out with the basics. I know it's hard to do, but the basics is where it all starts.

You know how confusing actual flight can get :)

just master the basics and you'll master the rest :)

I know you have the talent, all you have to do is use it, from the beginning :)

[jonthedoors]

I really enjoyed this tutorial, you did it again!!

Haha!

My flight plans on paper consist of odd symbols, arrows and numbers, haha. It's dodgy, but I know what it all means, lol. Is it strange that I find planning a flight part of the fun, too?

[skycaesar]

Great video man

[cleekmaker00]

Another great video! This answers lots of questions I had, too!

[FSX404]

I'm so glad you guys like this video, it has no flying (except one little acutal part) in it. I really didn't know how you guys were going to take this video, but as usuall you guys surprise me for the better.

Thanks, I appreciate your comment and Happy New Year.

[heyjuju]

Hey Genc, I believe that many things are starting to make A LOT more sense to me now because I have been watching all of your videos. I just cant tell you helpful this has been over the past week or so and I have been simming for many years. Thanks

[FSX404]

@heyjuju

thanks K,

[TheyTookMyWoody]

Amazing job! Great tutorial, with tons of good information.

What makes your tutorials so awesome is you can apply real world experience to MSFS.

Keep them coming. Looking forward to pt.2!

[FSX404]

I amaze myself how much crap there is in my head sometimes, no wonder its so big it blocked the whole runway, LOL

Thanks man, have a good one.

[TorMartinDy]

Sidenote: The Dash 8-400 has been grounded in SAS as far as i know :P (Or was it the 400?)

Great video, answered several small questions which I haven't google'd yet, and you kept the interest level high enough to watch the entire thing, very good video! 5/5 (If that matters to you, because it doesn't to me, hehe)

[FSX404]

I don't know about the SAS Dash, I just used it as an example.

There was a lot of information in here, and this was just the surface of the basic stuff, but enough for the FS. I wondered whether I should even do this tutorial, because it really is hard to fly VFR (aside from having fun) in FS, but you are right, there is a lot of other information in here that is very helpfull, even more than just the precision of the approach.

[davenicoll43]

Mr. FSX404...That is a wonderfull video,you answered all my questions just as I was going to ask them...Looking forward to part 2...

Your vids are excellent tutorials..May I suggest you group them together so we can reference our particular topic...In this instance Traffic Patterns.

Keep up the good work...

Dave

[FSX404]

I was thinking about that exact thing, and a lot of topics are covered in different videos, I think I'm going to start putting links to them (some already have them), like I did to this one where I referenced an uncontrolled airport traffic pattern entry. I already had a video tutorial on that one. I should also do it at the end of the tutorial to, just have links to related videos.

[MrSolid95]

Yeah I kinda of look at the airport diagram and figure out where i am coming from to find the easiest way to approach it.....Nice tut there

[FSX404]

Not too long winded I hope, but it should help out a few people with a few things.

Thanks for the comment.