On Approach Feature
FS Instant Approach PRO gives you the opportunity to instantly practice approaches and landings at any runway in the world!
You have three types of approach to choose from:
-- On Final You will start your approach lined up with the runway
-- Intersect Final You will begin flying a course that will intersect your final approach
-- Downwind You will 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 practice a landing, for example, KGRB (Green Bay) or KORD (Chicago). The registered version of the program allows any airport in the world, for example, EGLL (London Heathrow) or KLAX (Los Angeles).
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. Note that the runway information is displayed when the button is pressed. You may wish to 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.
Use these two boxes to enter the distance you want to start from and the runway that you wish to land at.
Note that 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.
(Note 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.
Note that if this option is chosen, your altitude remains that computed by FS Instant Approach PRO for a straight in approach at the distance given in 'Nautical Miles out from runway'.
Note also that if you specify a relative wind direction, it will be relative to the runway heading.
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, 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 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. Note that 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 2 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.
Note that if you specify a relative wind direction, it will be relative to the runway heading.
Left Choose this option if you wish to begin your approach at the start of the 'Downwind' leg of the Left Traffic pattern at that runway. When you return to Flight Simulator to fly, you will notice that the runway is to your right.
Right
Choose this option if you wish to begin your approach at the start of the 'Downwind' leg of the Right Traffic pattern at that runway. When you return to Flight Simulator to fly, you will notice that the runway is to your left.
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 1 minute of flying from the runway based on your initial speed.
(In FS2004 "AUTO" will set a 2 mile Base leg distance.)
Show Approach Types AvailablePress this button to display a pop-up diagram of the 3 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 (Los Angeles Intl) and KJFK (Kennedy Intl), or "EG" for airports such as EGLL (Heathrow) and EGLC (London City).
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. Check this box if you want to specify the minimum or maximum elevation in feet of the airports to include in random selection.
Note - if you want no minimum then leave the selection blank - do not set it to "0000" as that will exclude runways which are below mean sea level. Likewise, if you want no upper limit, leave that selection blank.
Runway Length
Random airports can also be filtered by length. Check this box if you want to specify the minimum or maximum length in feet of the airports to include in random selection.
Note - if you want no minimum then leave the selection blank. Likewise, if you want no upper limit, leave that selection blank. This is a great way to practice 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 of you wish.
How about landing on sand today?! Planks tomorrow?
Detailed AirportsCheck this box if you want to specify that only 'detailed' airports supplied with FSX Deluxe or FSX Acceleration will be included in random selection.
Altitude
It is essential to note that this setting is not required. If you wish, you can set the altitude (in feet) above MSL or AAL (Above Airfield Level) at which the airplane 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.
If you change the wind using this control and want to go back to what it was originally, you need to set it to something else here. It will not 'reset' to its previous value of this is left blank.
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. Can you handle it?!
Automatic Radio Setup
Get some handy help with those radios!
ILS
Automatically tunes NAV1 (Navigation Radio One) to ILS (Instrument Landing System) at destination runway (if it is available there). Things can get busy - this can be very useful.
NAV1 OBSAutomatically sets navigation radio (NAV1) OBS (omni-bearing selector) to 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.
Remember that to hear COM2 you must press the button on your aircraft's radio which broadcasts the audio from COM2.
Time Of Day
Practice 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 of day here so FS Instant Approach PRO will set it when you connect to Flight Simulator. Note that you must first select an airport for your approach.
Note also that this is local time, not Zulu (UTC) time.The amount of daylight will obviously also depend on the simulated date and your runway's latitude.
Flight Mapping
Save and map all your flights with Google Maps. You can even share them with any friend with a PC, tablet or smart phone (using the device's web browser).
Save & View Google Map of Flight (displayed after Disconnect clicked or flight ends with a landing))Wouldn't it be nice to be able to review your flight paths over real world satellite terrain using Google Maps? And... wouldn't it be just great to be able to store them and look back over them at your leisure? How about sharing them with friends? Oh - and how about tracking taxi routes too?
Now you can do all of this with FS Instant Approach PRO's Flight Mapping feature!
In order to share a map - just copy the URL in the browser's web address field at the top of the screen and email them the address.
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!
