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Note: To fly this tutorial, it is necessary to have the scenery for Los Angeles installed. It is not included with the base package and MUST be downloaded and installed.

We start with flight planning. The first thing we have to plan is which standard departure route we need to fly and which standard high altitude route we are going to follow. For now we need to get up and level at 300-320 knots around 15000-20000 ft and follow the VOR (and VORTAC) beacons as specified in this tutorial.

What you need to know

Vwiki123.jpg

The Automatic Direction Finder uses a transmitter and aerial on the ground , an NDB (Non Directional Beacon) that allows the ADF instrument to point to the aerial that is tuned at a specified frequency . So, no matter what direction you are travelling in , the main part of the needle points to the Actual Radio Aerial Position .


In the RMI (Radio Magnetic Indicator) we can select a plain ADF frequency or the more information rich VOR signal, which is similar but has more information. It also points directly to the antenna but can also be set to indicate a bearing from the antenna called a RADIAL

If you have the needle is pointing at twelve o' clock or straight forward , toward your selected VOR ( vor = Vhf (very high frequency) Omnidirectional Range-finder )you can press F12 and enter your current heading plus or minus 180, in the Radial Box Input on the Nav 1 line . You can also plot a Radial using a Sectional , En-Route or Terminal Area Chart (TAC).

The current setting in that input box should read 280 , change that to the heading you are on when the needle is pointing forward ie 12 O' Clock plus or minus 180 degrees . Again ! A radial is the direction in degrees FROM the actual VOR antenna or if you prefer , Aerial Mast .


(On the Green Needle there is often "middle" portion that moves from side to side , which tells you , how close , or far away , you are from your Desired Course . This part of the needle is called the CDI (Course Deviation Indicator)...if you are not too badly off course you can steer AWAY or to the opposite side indicated , to bring it to the center this will indicate you are On The Radial , you have selected .



All of these instruments are combined in the left screen of the 777-200ER

Note headings work in 360 degrees 0/360 is always North 90 east 180 South 180 East 270 West so adding 180 degrees to your salinas heading which sould be 140 will give a RADIAL of 320 no matter wheather you add or subtract , in the Radio Comms dialog enter the heading plus or minus 180 deg. for your RADIAL

Messing with George, the autopilot

We are doing this to set the OBS LIne which is set as "heading Bug" in F11 autopilot popup menu ...press F11 and enter your HEADING appox 140 in the heading bug section' to get the purple dotted line to it's correct position Press Close

Autopilot Basics

Head out and get onto , your desired course , turn the inner part of the HDG dial to that course , the outer part of the dial sets the maximum bank angle and is not vital to use at this stage. Once you have set the dial to your desired course click the heading button it should lite up yellow indicating that it is now engaged . This will steer the plane but will not maintain hight or speed .Do not engage autothrottle ! Rather , when you have levelled out a bit click the VS button (this will maintain your current rate of climb and decent) so as soon as you click VS immediatly set the VS dial to zero and then experiment with positive or negative rates of climb .Note even if you set the VS dail to zero BEFORE your click VS button it will still use your current climb or decent rate when you activate it , so be ready to scrable to set it to zero when you click it , and if you try to use VS make sure you are flying reasonably level , it has caught me a few times , you can change your heading and climb /decent rate while the buttons are engaged which is an ablity that makes it possible to tweak your flight . At this stage it is preferable to operate the throttle manually although you can experiment whith the SPD controlls remember that using VS (vertical speed) will require you to watch the throttle setting and airspeed VERY CAREFULLY! Again VS does not set the throttle so using the VS feature will require you to add or subtract throttle as required to maintain the desired airspeed !

Using the Auto Pilot for the first time

Assuming you are in the air and at above 3000ft get the 777 roughly on course and to cruise speed ,now set the heading dial on the Autopilot to your heading (the inside part of the dial) of say 150 and press the hold key (it should light or yellow) now set the altitude to 19500ft using the altitude dial and press alt button ,you can change the settings while you have these functions engaged so instead of de-activating them to make ajustments you simply set the desired course and altitude while they are engaged . Note please read the flightgear Autopilot wiki carefully to more fully understand the Auto pilot There are many things you need to know.

Salinas nav1 117.3

Pick a runway at KSFO (San Francisco intnl.) use 28 R (right) . Get off the ground and turn on heading of 150 degrees .Now set nav1 to Salinas(117.3) DME about 65 naughts away and steer the 777 toward the needle ( if the needle deviates from the 12'o clock position ) you steer toward or into the needle ,it will begin to move back toward 12'0 clock . Doing this frequently is called bird dogging (or bracketing) and should be avoided.


Paso Robales 114.3

Lets now set Nav 2 (be sure to switch both nav toggle switches on on the panel and set nav 2 to 114.3 , when you are approx 20 -30 dme away from salinas steer onto the nav 2 needle to 12'o clock ie pointing straight ahead and set nav 1 to our next beacon , make sure you remember which needle is for nav1 and which is for nav 2 , Nav Two is the " Double Bladed One "

San Marcus 114.9

This shows the san Marcus and Oxnard VOR sites

Using the same strategy to avoid to much bird dogging ((chasing the needle), Turn onto the nav1 needle 20 DME from Paso Robales and maintain your chosen flight level .do not exceed 25 000 ft (you're a beginner /Flight Level 250 ) ,once on route to San Marcus immediatly switch nav 2 to Oxnard and use the same procedure.

Santa Monica 110.8 Coming Down

30 Dme from Santa Monica Beacon bring the aircraft down gently (no more than 150 ft per min) to 8000 ft and level out at 285 knts..do not use speedbrakes


Now do a visual check , as you come into the bay area over the water Klax is close stay 4-5 DME out to sea , and descend to 2500 ft The Runway Localiser(ILS)... and Inner and Outer marker Information

Your first all instrument approach to KLAX

 
This is the Air chart showing The airport

Your first all instrument approach will be to runway 6 L ,which is the 2ND of 4 main runways as seen from left to right in your current approach . ILS (Instrument Landing System . which is a special type of radio beacon for landing ) or 'Localiser' Now set nav 1 to 108.5(the localiser beacon) set nav 2 to KLAX VOR 113.6 (note you must be under 2500ft for the vertical guidance or Glide slope portion to Intercept it's signal so ,lining your approach up to set up the ILS is vital. (We will tackle this in our next flight from Boston to New York)The localiser gives you traditional VOR guidance from up to 20 DME away and vertical "glideslope Guidance" 4-5 DME and under 2500ft directly in front of the runway .(note the vor CDI green needle will not point to the correct heading of your runway when close by or on approach as it it not situated on the runway , establish the exact magnetic and true headings for you runway and set your heading bug in the F11 autopilot menu , you can obtain all the information you need from airnav.com) I have also included the headings you need in the next section.

Set nav1 to the localiser for runway 6 L (left) (that the 2nd leftmost runway visable from out at sea maintaining your heading untill the needle is at 10 o' clock (ie pointing left ) now turn the aircraft into the needle so it point forward or upright again... you should be on a heading of approx. 69 degrees magnetic degrees you need to be on this heading as it is the EXACT direction of the runway (069 in the heading bug )... to make sure you can land you should plot a position PAST the oxnard vor , out into the bay area and then at the right moment turn left onto the runway heading of 69 degrees , this is called your Final Approach Fix (FAF) do this using a chart if you intend trying this in anything other than perfect visual conditions.

To land correctly you should use a chart to plot a series of WAYPOINTS...these are markers on the map ...that are created , by you , or others to designate course arrival points , using a GPS systenm and charts , or using radial "crosschecks" to FIX a point in space that you should fly AT . The last of these is the exact point at which the 777 should be on 69 degrees magnetic (ie you compass heading) Magnetic headings also , vary an Isogonic Variation Chart must also be plotted if flying only by compass. Pilots mostly use Pre-Planned Routes and GPS systems . Navigation is changing with technology , but using radio systems , VOR Beacons and the like , to navigate , is required knolledge for the 'real 777 Jockey !

Át the bottom of the left flightscreen (primus 1000 efis) there are white markers and another white indicator will appear , if this indicator is in the centre of the marks , there are two sets , one for heading into runway and the other(verical white ticks on the right of the left screen) for pitch or "glideslope" these scales and thier markers should always be Dead Center , if they are you are bang on line for your runway , this only happens if you are in the radio CONE between 3 and 10 degrees of your heading and glide slope information only occurs at UNDER 2500 ft practise makes perfect . In real life an IFR (Instrument Flight Rules) landing will require SID , TAC , RUNWAY , SECTIONAL , EN ROUTE , Approach Plates and NOTAMS Notices to Airman) that the pilot must obtain . You can obtain most of these free on the Web .

NEVER do an instrument approach with the nose of the 777 pointing down more than 3-5 degrees or you may crash ! Your decent and heading into any runway must be carefully planned ! The weather ALWAYS PLAYS A CRUCIAL ROLE !

Head for Runway 6 Left and land as usual . Remember ! Runway Numbers are reciprocal , 180 degrees , so runways are marked with thier Approximate Headings , typically numbered as such , the zero's in brackets serve as illustration only

1-19(0)
2-20(0) 
3-21(0) 
4-22(0)  
L(eft) or R(ight) 

In this case of Two Parallel Runways. KLAX has 4 ...long , almost parallel ,

Runways...marked 6 -24 ( L or R ) and 7-25 ( Left or Right )