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FAMANUAL.INF
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FINAL APPROACH ais Copyright (C) 1992, 1993, 1994 ver 2.4
Steven A. Barton
All rights reserved
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Instructions for FINAL|APPROACH ais (Airport in sight)
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page 2 What is Final Approach
page 3 System Requirements
page 3 Other System Considerations
page 4 Setup & Installation
page 7 Using the Final Approach RUNWAY program
page 11 Changing Runways on the Fly
page 12 Airport Information & Approach Instructions
page 16 Special Approaches
page 17 Wrap Up
page 19 Appendix A - Details of File Configuration
page 20 Appendix B - Quick reference SAVE FLIGHT
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page 21 Appendix C - Quick|refer|ence TASK SWITCHING
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FAMANUAL.INF
Abbreviations used in this manual: FS4 & FS5 - Flight Simulator 4
and 5, A&SD - Aircraft & Scenery Designer, FA - Final Approach.
What is Final Approach?
Final Approach centers around the use of scenery files created for
use with Microsoft(R) Flight Simulator(R) 4.0. You must also have
Microsoft Aircraft & Scenery Designer(C) to use Final Approach
with FS4.
Final Approach may also be used with FS5. Users should see the
FS5_ADDL.INF file which describes use and limitations with FS5.
Final Approach features:
* Realistic airports with structures such as control towers,
terminal buildings, and hangars based on the corresponding real
life airfields. The fields are active. Aircraft approach,
land, and taxi to terminals and hangars. Other aircraft taxi to
the runway and depart.
* Approach aids such as sequencing approach lights, VASI lights,
and ILS navigation aids also based on their actual counterparts.
* Control of the active runways
The active runways at an airport are the runways on which
aircraft are currently arriving and departing. When there is
little or no wind, controllers and pilots have a lot more
discretion on choice of runway, but often the wind dictates the
active runways.
FA gives you the ability to control the active runways. Let's
say the recorded scenery at Chicago's O'Hare Field is based on
runways 27L and 27R being the active runways. Aircraft take off
and land on 27L and 27R and the sequencing approach lights flash
towards each of those runways - an appropriate simulation based
on the wind blowing from west to east.
After a session of arriving and departing on 27L and 27R you
decide to simulate that the wind is from the southeast and that
runways 14L and 14R are the active runways. You fly to O'Hare
and prepare to land on 14L or R. Unfortunately the other
aircraft are still using 27L & R and the sequencing approach
lights are still on for 27L & R, not for 14L & R.
Final Approach's RUNWAY program allows you to quickly and easily
change the active runways at the airports where you have Final
Approach scenery. Aircraft use the runways you choose. If the
designated runways are equipped with approach lights, the lights
are turned on.
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* Approach instructions
Did you ever simulate a flight to a certain airport only to find
it spoiled because you had arrived so high or so out of position
that you overshot or couldn't line up the runway. Final Approach
provides you with approach instructions similar to those you'd
receive from air traffic controllers so that your approach is
from an appropriate heading and altitude.
Although FA is intended to enhance airport scenery, some items of
visual interest have been added to each local scenery area. See
if you can identify them while flying your simulations. In the
Chicago area, the large building just north of the I-55 Stevenson
expressway is the Commonwealth Edison power plant at Pulaski Road.
A number of lighted radio towers have also been added & the strobe
lights atop Sears Tower are now operating. Sports fans - check to
see if a few well known structures have been added to the scenery.
Final Approach is offered as shareware - you are encouraged to
make unaltered copies of Final Approach for your friends and
acquaintances to try. If you continue to use FA, a registration
fee of $5 per scenery area is requested. (FS authors - for each
contribution an author has made of aircraft, scenery, adventures,
etc. to the CompuServe (R) FS Forum, the author is invited to
select a complementary Final Approach scenery area.) You can
print/view the INVOICE.INF file to display registration
information. My address and CompuServe mail number are shown on
the INVOICE.INF file. Registration information is also available
from the RUNWAY program by pressing R at the main menu.
System Requirements
Final Approach is for use on PC systems using DOS 3.3 or later.
Flight Simulator 4.0 and Aircraft & Scenery Designer programs are
required. Of course you must meet the system requirements of
these programs which means you need 640K memory and a hard drive.
An 80286 or higher processor is recommended.
While the FS4 program supports numerous display adaptors, Final
Approach was designed for 16 color EGA and VGA displays. FA
scenery may not display appropriately (color combinations, etc.)
if other adaptors are used.
FS4 must be properly configured for Final Approach. This is
easily done and is covered in the setup/installation section of
these instructions.
Other System Considerations
SubLOGIC (R) Scenery Disk #9 (Midwest Scenery Disk) is highly
recommended for FS4. Final Approach scenery will work well with
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the default scenery that comes with FS4. It works even better
with Scenery Disk #9.
If you don't have Scenery Disk 9, there are two sequencing runway
approach lights at Chicago O'Hare that won't be shut off even if
other runways are selected as the active runways. That's because
they are part of the FS4 default scenery and are beyond the
control of Final Approach which displays scenery through A&SD.
Final Approach scenery is available for the Chicago, Milwaukee,
Indianapolis, and Grissom A.F.B. areas. Scenery Disk #9 provides
the navigation aids (VOR's and NDB's) and visual scenery you need
to navigate to these. Consider also that Scenery Disk #9 has over
150 airports, many navigation aids, and lots of scenery.
Setup & Installation
Installation is for the airport scenery and runway selection
program. Any demo or mode files included will also be installed
(except when using some special installation options). Text files
such as the approach instructions or this document are installed
in a directory named FA_INFO which is created in the FS4
directory. View or print the information files as you prefer.
To get Final Approach up and running in your FS4 system you will
need to take the following steps:
1. Set the proper configuration in the FS4 scenery design menu.
2. Check system memory.
3. Protect any A&SD scenery files already in your FS4 directory.
4. Run the Final Approach installation program. Do this last.
Configuration:
Before taking any other steps, boot up your FS4 program. Enter
the Aircraft & Scenery Designer by doing the following:
Press 1 for the mode menu, press J for scenery design, then
press 0 for setup configuration. Set the Static Scenery
Memory Allocation to at least 51800 by pressing A, type 51800,
then press Enter. Set the Dynamic Scenery Memory Allocation to
at least 31000 by pressing B, type 31000, then press Enter. Set
the Maximum Dynamic Scenery Objects Active to at least 38 by
pressing C, type 38, then press Enter. (The Chicago scenery
requires settings of at least 51800 and 3100. Other scenery
areas may require different minimums.) When you're finished
making your changes, press Enter one more time and you'll be
prompted to press S to save the changes. Go ahead and press S
to save them.
Once you set the static and dynamic memory and active scenery
objects you MUST EXIT FS4 COMPLETELY. The configuration you just
input won't go into effect until the next time you start FS4.
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System Memory:
Most users will have sufficient memory. If a user encounters
memory problems they may need to find out how much memory is being
used for such system items as device drivers, files, buffers,
fastopen, and disk cache. There are many articles on maximizing
memory. (Why have the mouse driver or DOSKEY or other items using
memory when you're not using them?)
Should you encounter an FS4 message that there is insufficient
memory to run all FS4 options, it means that if you turn on
options requiring additional memory like the flight training mode,
they may not have enough memory to work. If the options you are
running work, then you don't need to do anything. If you find you
don't have enough memory to use a desired option you can try to
reduce the memory requirements of your system or you can reduce
the FS4 memory usage by turning off some options.
If you temporarily change FS4 static or dynamic memory allocation
to free up memory, keep two things in mind. First, if you change
the scenery memory allocation to an amount lower than an FA static
or dynamic file requires, that scenery won't display at all.
Second, if you change FS4 scenery memory allocation, YOU MUST RE-
BOOT the FS4 program before your changes will take effect. When
you enter the static or dynamic designer menus, the display will
show the percentage of allocated static or dynamic memory used.
FS4 documentation warns that it is not compatible with terminate
and stay resident (TSR) programs and TSR's use memory. Remove
TSR's before running FS4.
Your Aircraft & Scenery Designer Files:
If you haven't made or obtained any other scenery files for A&SD
(you must have A&SD installed in FS4 to use Final Approach), you
can skip ahead to Installing Final Approach.
If you have scenery which uses the same file names as Final
Approach scenery they will be overwritten by the FA files when you
use the RUNWAY program to select active runways.
If you've made or obtained scenery which encompasses the same
geographical area as Final Approach scenery there will be a
conflict even if the scenery has a different file name. Only one
of the scenery files will display. You can remove the conflicting
scenery files or give them new file extensions.
If you previously created static and dynamic scenery files for the
Chicago area they might be named CHITOWN.SC1 and CHITOWN.DY1.
Since FS4 only recognizes A&SD scenery files with the extensions
.SC1 and .DY1, you could rename your files CHITOWN.MYS and
CHITOWN.MYD so that they would not conflict with the Final
Approach scenery files. If you later wanted to display your
CHITOWN scenery files, delete the Chicago Final Approach scenery
files from the FS4 directory (they're easy to replace with the
RUNWAY program) then rename your CHITOWN files with the .SC1 and
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.DY1 extensions. Each time that you use the RUNWAY program to
change the active runways at Chicago, new CHICAGO.SC1 and
CHICAGO.DY1 files will be copied to your FS4 directory.
If you make scenery files, use different file names than used by
Final Approach because FA uses file overwrites. For the Chicago
area FA uses the file names CHICAGO.SC1 and CHICAGO.DY1. If your
files use the same names they will be overwritten and lost when
you use the RUNWAY program. (You always backup your files?!)
If you created a scenery file for another area, say Madison, Wis.,
and it has a 100 mile display radius, it will conflict with the
Milwaukee Final Approach scenery. In that case, give your Madison
scenery a smaller radius, say 30 miles, so it won't conflict.
You can also change the center coordinates of a conflicting
scenery file, moving the center to another location.
Example: For the Mallard Software Inc.(R) Aircraft And Adventure
Factory(C) an adventure can be purchased for a flight from Chicago
Meigs Field to the Greater Kankakee, Ill. Airport. The adventure
files include a static and dynamic scenery file encompassing the
area from Chicago to Kankakee (MGSKKE.SC1 and MGSKKE.DY1). This
scenery conflicts with the Chicago Final Approach scenery because
the Aircraft & Scenery Designer only displays one set of scenery
files at a time for a given geographical area.
The Final Approach scenery airports have the best detail & realism
and have the capacity to change the active runways, so I want the
FA scenery to display while I am flying in the Chicago area (of
course). Removing the MGSKKE scenery files solves the problem for
the Chicago area as the Final Approach Chicago scenery is sure to
display. However, when making the flight to the Kankakee, the
Kankakee scenery will be missing.
The solution is to move the center of the MGSKKE scenery file to
the Kankakee area and give it a smaller display radius. Make sure
that the MGSKKE scenery is displaying. Press 1 then J then 1
then K then G to define a scenery boundary. For item A (North
coordinate) type in 16846 & press enter. For B (East coordinate)
type in 16596 & press enter. For C (Radius miles) type in 15 &
press enter. Now the Kankakee area scenery and the Chicago Final
Approach scenery can each display without conflict.
Installing Final Approach:
If you received FA as a compressed (eg. ZIP) file, decompress (eg.
UNZIP) the files to a floppy disk or to a temporary directory on
your hard drive. If you decompress to your hard drive, DON'T use
your FS4 directory. DO decompress to a temporary directory on the
hard drive. You can run the install program INSTALFA from the
temporary directory on your hard drive or from a floppy drive.
All the FA files for a scenery area must be located in the same
directory before running the INSTALFA program. The INSTALFA
program itself can be located in the temporary directory, in
another directory, or even on a different drive. After a
successful installation, delete the files from the temporary
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directory before decompressing another scenery area. Never mix
files from different scenery areas in the same directory.
If you received Final Approach on an unarchived floppy, make a
working copy on another floppy and put away the original. It's
best not to use your original FA floppy for other than making a
working copy.
You will be asked to provide the path to the directory where your
FS4 program and files reside. Determine the path and write it
down before running INSTALFA. Run the install program by typing
INSTALFA and pressing Enter. The program will lead you through
the installation process providing instructions and examples.
A custom installation alternative is provided. You can install
some or all of your Final Approach scenery areas on a floppy disk
or disks. If you need to conserve space on your hard drive you
can choose this method. For example if you frequently change the
Chicago Midway and O'Hare active runways but rarely change the
active runways at other areas, you can install the Chicago
subdirectory and files on your hard drive and install the other
area subdirectories on a floppy disk.
The fastest and most convenient method is to have all the
subdirectories on your hard drive. However, you can choose to
install the scenery subdirectories on your hard disk, floppy disk,
or put some on the hard drive and some on a floppy(s). INSTALFA
handles all of these installations for you. Note that, if you
have not previously installed FA, then if you install the scenery
to a floppy you must also run the option to install only the
RUNWAY program to your FS4 directory. When you use the RUNWAY
program you can choose where (which drive) the program will look
for the scenery subdirectories.
If you use a floppy, use a fresh disk dedicated to Final Approach.
DO NOT copy all the FA files to your FS4 directory. The INSTALFA
program places most of the FA files in subdirectories other than
the FS4 directory.
Information files such as FAMANUAL.INF (this file), README.1ST,
INVOICE.INF, etc., are placed in a sub-directory named FA_INFO .
The FA_INFO directory is created in the FS4 main directory. You
may want to print the text files and then delete them from your
hard drive. The reference text files have a wide left margin so
that you can use a hole punch and keep them in a soft or hard
cover binder.
Using the Final Approach RUNWAY program
Before any of the Final Approach airport scenery will display, you
must first choose the active runways. The program RUNWAY.EXE is
used to select the active runways. Change to the drive and
directory where your FS4 program is located. A batch file, AR.BAT
(as in Active Runway), is provided to run the RUNWAY program.
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Type AR and press enter. The first time you run the program you
may hear a beep and see a message about designating a scenery
drive. See the next paragraphs.
The Main Menu will show the following selections:
D - change Drive setting for FA scenery
Option D under the main menu displays the drive setting where the
program expects to find the Final Approach scenery. Users with a
standard setup on a C: hard drive won't need to do anything. If
you installed the Final Approach scenery in drive C: and the
current setting is shown as C: you're ready to select the active
runways.
If you installed your FA scenery to a floppy disk now in drive B:
and the setting is currently for drive C:, change the setting to
B. Press D and the program will prompt you for the new drive
setting. If the program finds a problem in reading that drive, no
disk etc. the program will default to the FS4 drive or abort.
S - to Select the active runway at Final Approach airports
To set the active runway press S . The RUNWAY program will
display the locations where you have Final Approach scenery. View
the location choices, press the number of the location you
selected, and press enter. In this example select Chicago. The
program will prompt you to select the active runway(s).
The Chicago area active runway selections will be these:
1 04ORD04MDW 5 09ORD04MDW
2 14ORD13MDW 6 27ORD31MDW
3 22ORD22MDW 7 CHICAGONOP
4 32ORD31MDW
Selections are easily decoded. US airports use a three letter or
number symbol. ORD is the symbol for O'HARE & MDW is for MIDWAY.
If you select number 4, 32ORD31MDW, then the Chicago active
runways will be 32 at O'Hare and 31 at Midway.
If you select number 6, 27ORD31MDW, the Chicago active runways
will be 27 at O'Hare and 31 at Midway.
If you select 7, CHICAGONOP (Chicago No OPerations), then there is
no active runway. The airport scenery will display and there are
aircraft on the ground but no arrivals or departures. All the
sequencing approach lights are turned off.
Select the active runways then run FS4 to see the Final Approach
scenery. Remember to try FS4 and FA with the time set to night
when the runway and taxi lights are sparkling from the air. At
dusk and night you can see distant aircraft in the sky. You can
also turn on DISPLAY SCENERY ON MAP so that the other aircraft
appear on your "radar" (map view). Turn it on by
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pressing 1 then J to enter the Scenery Designer Main Menu then
press 7 . Press the spacebar to return to FS.
When you finish selecting the active runways and exit the RUNWAY
program, FS4 will automatically boot up. (To NOT have FS4
automatically boot, instead of typing AR & enter, type RUNWAY and
press enter.)
L - List files in the FS4 directory
Your FS4 directory is large and determining what files you have
there can be work. This option is a little list utility. You can
list the whole directory by name in alpha order, or only the A&SD
static scenery files, A&SD dynamic scenery files, mode files, sim
files, demo files, or adventure files.
C - Customizing the scenery
Your house is southeast of Chicago's Midway airport. When you
land on runway 31C you'd like to see your house there. Well you
can add a house or other scenery items. (Don't try to change or
delete existing scenery objects, it may cause problems.)
First set the Midway active runways to 31. Boot up FS4 and enter
the A&SD static scenery designer. Make sure that enough static
memory is available, then add your house to the scenery.
OK when you are on final to 31C, there's your house. You change
the active runways to 22 and do some touch and go's. Later when
you change the active runways back to 31 your house is gone!
Well, every time you select new active runways for the Chicago
scenery, RUNWAY finds the scenery files for those runways in the
Chicago subdirectory & copies them to your FS4 subdirectory as
CHICAGO.SC1 for static scenery (buildings etc.) and as CHICAGO.DY1
for dynamic scenery (aircraft and other vehicles).
As soon as you chose new active runways for Chicago, the scenery
file with your house was overwritten and lost. If you want your
house to display every time you set the Midway active runways as
31, then you need to save the scenery to the Final Approach source
file which RUNWAY copies into your FS4 directory.
Here's how to do it.
After selecting 31 as the active runways at Midway, WRITE DOWN THE
NUMBER OF YOUR SELECTION. Run the FS4 scenery designer and add
your house. Exit FS4 and run the RUNWAY program. Press C to
enter the Customizing menu. The menu will prompt you for entries.
One prompt will ask if you want to change the Static scenery or
the Dynamic scenery. Since you added a house to the Static
scenery, Static scenery is what you want to change. The program
will ask what scenery area is being changed. Select Chicago. The
program will ask which runway file is being customized. You will
be changing the scenery called when you selected those active
runways. USE CAUTION!
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Notice that selection 4 is 32ORD31MDW, runways 32 at O'Hare and 31
at Midway. Selection 6 however is 27ORD31MDW, runways 27 at
O'Hare and 31 at Midway. (O'Hare has runways 27L & 27R but Midway
has no corresponding runways so the 31 runways are used.)
You know that you selected the 31 runways to be active at Midway,
but may not be sure if you used selection 4 or 6. You have to be
sure! If you wrote down the selection number, you're ok. If
you're not sure, exit FS4 and reselect the active runways, write
down the selection this time, then run FS4 and add your house or
other items to the scenery.
There is good reason for this caution. If you select 27ORD31MDW
as the active runway, add scenery and then while customizing tell
the program that you are changing 32ORD31MDW, you will lose the
32ORD31MDW source scenery. The next time you choose 32ORD31MDW,
you will get 27ORD31MDW.
The bottom line is this. If you tell the program to change the
static scenery for 32ORD31MDW, the program will copy the current
CHICAGO.SC1 file over the source file for 32ORD31MDW. Whatever
runway scenery you last selected for CHICAGO.SC1, that's the
scenery that will be copied to the Final Approach source file.
For this reason never use your original FA files if you operate
from a floppy disk.
If you make a mistake and spoil the scenery for a particular
active runway(s), reinstall the scenery for that location using
the INSTALFA program from your working copy. If you understand
the subdirectory and file setup for Final Approach you can copy a
single scenery file from your backup floppy.
If you want to add scenery that displays no matter which active
runway is selected, select the active runway, add the scenery, and
run the customizing option for each active runway option.
To add scenery, you may need to increase the amount of memory set
aside for static or dynamic scenery. The A&SD editor shows the %
of set aside memory used. If the memory configuration isn't big
enough for the larger file, it won't display at all. See the
Setup & Installation section in these instructions or consult the
A&SD instructions.
You can also customize dynamic scenery using the same procedures
(and cautions) used for static scenery. Be aware that if dynamic
patterns with the word timer or a T are changed or deleted it
will affect other dynamic patterns which rely on them.
Eg: "MDW Fueltruck timer1 2:30" or "T Meigs Learland1 18 089 9:44"
You may want to record all new patterns for an active runway which
are customized to your taste. Want more arrivals & departures at
O'Hare? Delete some or all of the Midway patterns so that there
is more memory for O'Hare aircraft - or vice verse. Using the
customizing feature you can save the dynamic scenery you created
for an active runway so that it will display whenever you choose
that active runway. You can always reinstall the original FA
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scenery from your working installation copy.
(You are encouraged to copy and share Final Approach but the
programs, scenery, and information files you share must not be
modified in any way.)
R - Registration information
This option displays a registration information screen. Also
see the INVOICE.INF file which can be printed.
Changing Runways on the Fly
You are flying a long simulation to Chicago O'Hare. You want to
land on 32L, the longest runway at O'Hare but you remember that in
your last FS4 session you selected 27 for O'Hare's active runways.
If you quit FS4 to use the RUNWAY program you'll have to start
your long flight over again! You can get around this by saving
your flight.
Save Flight Method:
Press ; to enter SAVE FLIGHT TO DISK menu. PRESS 1 to specify
the mode title and type in trip then press enter. FS will
automatically make the filename TRIP also and that's ok. You'll
want item 3, SAVE AIRCRAFT AS PART OF MODE, turned on. A plus
sign after the 3 shows it's turned on. (The default setting is
ON). Press 4 to save the TRIP mode to disk. (You don't have to
use TRIP as the mode name, you can use any name accepted by FS4.)
Now exit FS4 type AR & press enter to run the RUNWAY program
to select 32 as the active runways at O'Hare. Exit the RUNWAY
program and FS4 will boot up. Press 1 to enter the FS4 MODE
menu. Press F to get into the MODE LIBRARY & then select the
TRIP mode. If you don't see the TRIP mode listed press 7 to
bring up more modes until you see the TRIP mode. Press the number
in front of the TRIP mode. Press the spacebar and you will resume
your flight at the same point where you left off.
By using the same name, such as TRIP, to interrupt an FS4 session
you won't fill up your mode library with junk modes and you'll
know that you can always resume your last trip by loading the TRIP
mode. The total time for this operation is less than one minute.
Appendix B is a Quick Reference for the SAVE FLIGHT method.
Windows(R) task switching method:
Getting FS4 to run properly under Windows can be a problem. This
information is for those users who may be able to run FS4 well
under Windows. If you're successful in running FS4 under Windows,
you can switch back and forth between FS4 and RUNWAY.EXE. (Switch
between FS4 and RUNWAY.EXE - NOT the AR.BAT program.)
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The only advantage this has over the "save flight" method
described above is to hold in memory conditions not saved when you
save a flight. For example, if you use the automatic weather
generator and the direction of the wind calls for using runways
27L and 27R at O'Hare, task switching under Windows will allow you
to switch to the RUNWAY program, select the 27 runways at O'Hare,
and return to FS4 without losing the auto generated weather.
BUT if you do switch to the RUNWAY.EXE program to choose new
active runways and switch back to FS4, you will find the scenery
has not yet changed. This is because while new runway scenery
files were copied to the FS4 directory, the scenery in the FS4
program memory hasn't changed.
To get the static scenery for the newly selected active runway at
Chicago to display enter the static scenery library by pressing 1
then J then 1 then K . Select another static scenery area,
such as Seattle, by pressing the number in front of that area.
Press the spacebar to exit all menus. If automatic static scenery
selection is active (it is unless you turned it off), the static
scenery will disappear for a few moments and then reload the
Chicago scenery with the new runways you selected. (Your aircraft
must be located within the Chicago scenery area.)
To get the dynamic scenery for the newly selected active runway at
Chicago to display enter the dynamic scenery library by pressing
1 then J then 4 then D . Select another dynamic scenery,
area such as Seattle, and press spacebar to exit all menus.
Reenter the dynamic scenery library by pressing 1 J 4 D .
Select the Chicago dynamic scenery and press spacebar to exit all
menus. Appendix C is a Quick Reference for the Windows TASK
SWITCHING method.
Airport Information & Approach Instructions
You can print or view information files such as MDW.INF (Midway
Information) to get airport information and approach instructions.
You need this information because the airport is now more fully
equipped with approach lights and NAV aids.
The Midwest Scenery Disk has one Midway and one O'Hare ILS
approach. The FS default scenery has no ILS approaches for
Midway. Actually Midway has three ILS equipped runways and Final
Approach has all of them. The MDW.INF file gives the frequencies
and other information.
Final Approach has simulated all twelve O'Hare ILS and LOC
approaches. You can also tune your Automatic Direction Finder
(ADF) to all six O'Hare non-directional beacons (NDB's). See the
ORD.INF file.
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Typical Airport Information:
Field elevation, runway headings and length, approach lights, ILS
frequencies, glideslope angle, the distance from the Outer Marker
(OM), Middle Marker (MM), and Inner Marker (IM) to the runway, VOR
and NDB information.
Note that there is often an NDB (Non Directional Beacon) located
at the Outer Marker on ILS equipped approaches and you can tune
your Automatic Direction Finder (ADF) to these NDB's.
Example:
Print or view the MDW.INF file for Chicago Midway Airport and
note the information for runway 31 Center (31C).
MDW.INF shows that Midway's elevation is 619 feet, runway 31C is
ILS equipped, the ILS frequency is 109.9, the runway heading is
314.2 degrees, the ILS and VASI glideslopes are 3.00 degrees (the
higher the number, the steeper the glideslope), the Outer Marker
(OM) is 3.4 nautical miles from the runway and the Middle Marker
(MM) is .7 nautical miles from the runway, the Kedzie NDB is
located at the Outer Marker on frequency 248, the runway is 6,519
feet long and is equipped with REIL and VASI approach lights.
Other notable information is that if you tune the ILS for runway
13 Center (109.9) it won't work unless you have selected 13 as
the active MDW runways. If you don't select 13 as the active
runway and you tune NAV 1 to 109.9, you will receive the ILS for
31C the reverse runway at Midway. If you select 13 then the 31C
ILS is turned off. They both use frequency 109.9, so it's one or
the other. The 22L Microwave Landing System (MLS) is referenced.
Typical Approach Instructions:
Vectors (headings), altitude and speed instructions either to the
ILS localizer, (the ILS radio signal that lines you up with the
runway) or to the runway.
Often the instructions will call for speeds of 150 to 220 knots.
These are typical speeds that Air Traffic Controllers (ATC's)
would assign to commercial jets, business jets and turboprops
during approaches. If your flying a single engine prop plane and
the highest speed you operate at is 120 knots, then fly at 120
knots when higher speeds are directed. Be aware that faster
aircraft may pass you during an approach, a condition real ATC's
wouldn't allow. Just follow the traffic in.
As you approach the airport you may see other aircraft entering
the runway (for takeoff, crossing the runway etc.), you can
execute a missed approach and go around to make a new approach
(real procedure) or you can ignore the other aircraft & land.
(Running into other aircraft doesn't cause an FS4 crash.)
NOTE: Some navigation aids are not located in exactly the same
position on the FS4 default scenery as compared to the Scenery
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FAMANUAL.INF
Disk #9 scenery. For example there is about .8 Nautical Miles
(NM) difference in the location of the Chicago Heights VOR between
the two scenery displays. The distances given in the approach
instructions assume the Scenery Disk #9 scenery. It's a slight
difference, but you may need to be aware of it. Headings such as
runway headings may be slightly different between default and
scenery disk scenery.
Example:
Print or view the MDW.INF file for Chicago Midway Airport and
look at the approach instructions for runway 31 Center (31C).
The instructions inform you that 31C is ILS equipped and that you
should tune your NAV 1 radio to 109.9.
The first instructions are to descend to 5,000 feet and to adjust
your speed to 160 knots before arriving at the Chicago Heights
VOR. VOR's also have a three letter symbol. The symbol for
Chicago Heights VOR is CGT. The numbers 114.2 in parenthesis
tell you that the CGT frequency is 114.2.
Set your NAV 2 radio to 114.2, fly to the CGT VOR and adjust your
altitude to 5,000 and your speed to 160 before arriving at CGT.
The next set of instructions is to turn to heading 010 and
proceed via CGT R-010, also descend to 4,000 feet.
When you arrive at CGT, turn to heading 010, having adjusted your
NAV 2 radio to indicate 010, proceed via CGT R-010. That means
that you are flying directly away from the CGT VOR following
Radial 010.
You will find that you need to begin the turn to 010 before you
arrive at CGT in order to end up on or near Radial 010. How soon
you need to begin your turn depends on your speed and how many
degrees you are changing course (how sharp is the turn).
As you fly away from the CGT VOR, your NAV 2 radio will probably
show that you are not right on Radial 010. Most likely you need
to fly left or right to intercept Radial 010. Using the NAV 2
radio to guide you, intercept R-010. Once you're on R-010, turn
again to heading 010.
The instructions tell you to descend to 4,000 after arriving at
the CGT VOR, so back off on the throttle and begin your descent.
Start descending even while still locating Radial 010.
The last instructions are to intercept the MDW ILS 31C localizer
at about 6.5 Nautical Miles (NM) from the CGT VOR and to turn
left to heading 314.
Since you already tuned your NAV 1 radio to 109.9, you will see
the NAV 1 needle move to the center of the instrument as you
reach the ILS 31C localizer. Again, you will need to start your
turn early or you will fly past center on the localizer. You may
be able to begin your turn when the NAV 1 needle begins to move.
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FAMANUAL.INF
The information that you will intercept the localizer at about
6.5 NM from the CGT VOR alerts you to be ready to turn. FS has
DME (Distance Measuring Equipment) to tell you how many nautical
miles you are from a selected VOR or ILS station. Press B on the
keyboard to change DME reading between the NAV 1 & NAV 2 radios.
Set the DME to read the CGT VOR distance as you approach, cross
over, and fly away from the CGT VOR. If you are on Radial 010
flying a heading of 010, as you reach about 5 NM from the CGT
VOR, you know that you will soon need to start a left turn to
heading 314. Once you turn, press B to set the DME to read the
distance on NAV 1. The DME now tells you how far you are from
touchdown (TD) at runway 31C.
As you turn to heading 314 check the localizer needle (vertical
needle) on the NAV 1 radio. It will tell you if you need to fly
more to the left or right to be centered on the localizer. Also
start checking the glideslope indicator (horizontal needle) to
see if you are high or low on the approach. As you finish your
turn you should be 10 to 12 nautical miles from touchdown at
Midway. At 4,000 feet, you will be close to the correct position
on the glideslope. Start your descent to the runway. Checking
the ILS localizer and glideslope needles and adjusting to stay
centered will bring you to the runway 31C touchdown zone. The
last speed instruction was 160 knots. An ATC would probably
instruct you to hold 160 knots until you reached the Outer Marker
or some other reference point. If traffic was piling up behind
you, the speed instruction might be 170 or 180 to the marker.
After you reach the Outer Marker, or sooner if the OM is to close
to touchdown, adjust your speed for landing. The final approach
speed for the single engine prop plane may be 70 knots. When
flying jets, the speed may be 150 knots. Final approach speeds
vary with aircraft and conditions. At some point on the
approach, speed and other decisions are your's Captain.
Approach instructions may reference intersections. For example FA
instructions to Indianapolis 23R start at the Int: (intersection)
of the Marion (MZZ) VOR, R-200 and the Boiler (BVT) VOR, R-110.
This refers to the point where Marion Radial 200 and Boiler Radial
110 cross. The references are always to the "FROM" settings on
your NAV radios. So lines 200 degrees from Marion and 110 degrees
from Boiler cross at the intersection.
The radio traffic between the pilot of SIMAIR flight 163 to Midway
and an Air Traffic Controller might go something like this:
Pilot: Chicago approach, SIMAIR 163 is with you out of 8.5 for 6;
we have Yankee.
ATC: SIMAIR 163 turn to 090; descend and maintain 6,000; reduce
speed to 200; expect vectors to the ILS 31 Center approach.
Pilot: 090 on the heading; down to 6,000; 200 knots; vectors ILS
31 Center; SIMAIR 163.
A few minutes later - ATC: SIMAIR 163 turn left to 050; descend
to 4,000; 180 knots.
Pilot: Left to 050; down to four; 180 knots; SIMAIR 163.
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FAMANUAL.INF
A little later - ATC: SIMAIR 163 turn left to 350; intercept the
31 Center localizer; you are cleared for the approach; you're
number two to land, follow the 737 ahead of you; 4,000 feet till
established on the localizer; 160 knots until RUNTS; call the
tower at RUNTS on 118.7
Pilot: OK, left to 350; cleared for the 31 Center approach; we're
number 2 behind the Boeing; 4,000 till established; 160 till
RUNTS; tower at RUNTS 118.7; SIMAIR 163.
Translation of some terms:
Out of 8.5 for 6 - under 8,500 feet, descending to 6,000.
We have Yankee - The aircrew has listened to Midway ATIS airport
information - winds, weather, active runways. If the ATC knows
that Yankee is not the latest information but has been superseded
by Zulu, he will tell the pilot that information Zulu is current.
160 knots till RUNTS; call the tower at RUNTS - on many ILS
approaches the controller would have said 160 knots till the Outer
Marker; call the tower at the marker. The 31 Center OM is only
about 3.4 NM from the end of the runway, instead the controllers
use a reference point named RUNTS which is 6.1 NM from runway 31C
at Midway. For the Midway 04R ILS approach, the instruction would
be - 160 knots until ERMIN (the name of the NDB located at the 04R
outer marker), call the tower at ERMIN.
Special Approaches
Some airports have approaches that are unique due to circumstances
such as terrain or other nearby airfields. An example is found in
the Chicago scenery area. With traffic for two major airports,
O'Hare and Midway, to control, the solution was to give O'Hare the
high approaches and Midway the low approaches. Midway traffic
flies under or around O'Hare's traffic while aircraft for O'Hare
fly over Midway & it's traffic.
To stay clear of O'Hare's airspace and downtown skyscrapers, when
making an approach to Midway 22L or 22R, pilots are often vectored
to the ILS 31C approach. The pilot lines up the aircraft with the
31C localizer and descends on the 31C glideslope. At about three
to six miles out, depending on traffic and visibility, the pilot
turns north. Descending a little more and watching Midway off to
the left, the pilot flies north until the pilot decides that it's
time to start a "circling" left turn to line up with runway 22L or
22R. Pilots turn before or at the I-55 expressway (shown on both
FS4 and scenery disk scenery). It is a challenge for FS pilots to
make this approach and landing at jet speeds.
A similar approach for Midway runways 13L and 13C has pilots
making an ILS approach to runway 04 Right then turning north and
eventually making a circling right turn to runway 13L or 13C.
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FAMANUAL.INF
In poor visibility with winds from the southeast, aircraft are
vectored to the ILS 13C Midway approach. Because this brings the
Midway traffic relatively close to O'Hare, aircraft are usually
brought in low (2,400 feet) from the southwest to near the 13C
Outer Marker and then turned towards Midway.
When large or fast aircraft depart Midway on 04 Left and Right,
they immediately turn right. Departures on 31 Center and 31
Right, immediately turn left or very sharply right. They are
often required to stay at altitudes of 3,000 feet or less until
clear of O'Hare traffic when the ATC allows them to climb again.
Midway 31 Left/13 Right is a little used light aircraft runway
placed to close 31C/13C to allow simultaneous operations.
Large multi runway facilities such as O'Hare frequently use 3 or
more active runways. The runways facing the most directly into
the wind will likely be used for landings. To move the maximum
number of aircraft possible, runways that are somewhat facing into
the wind or even have a cross wind are likely to be used by
departing aircraft.
Wrap Up
Through reading, observation, and listening, I have absorbed much
information useful in producing Final Approach. Thanks to my
brother-in-law Roger and cousin-in-law Dennis, pilots who are
always willing to talk flying and cousin, Tom, who's an ATC and
who sparked the FA idea when he gave me a copy of the Terminal
Control Procedures for Midway.
Additional airports for use with Final Approach are under
consideration. User interest and support will inspire an expanded
selection. FA took a lot of time to develop. Please remember
that if you paid a shareware distributor to obtain a copy of this
program, the author received nothing. Shareware authors receive
compensation only when users register. Supporting FS authors
helps supply an exciting menu of FS enhancements.
Scenery authors, if you think you have developed airport scenery
suitable for inclusion in the Final Approach system, contact me.
Scenery must be properly configured or it will not work with the
Final Approach system.
I'd appreciate hearing about any errors or problems found with FA
and since all simulations of real scenery become outdated, I'd
like to know of significant changes. If you would like to see
certain cities and airports in the Final Approach system, send me
your recommendations. Pictures of the airport terminals, hangars,
control towers, etc. and of prominent area landmarks that pilots
would recognize would be helpful. Give descriptions on the back
so I'll know what I'm looking at and from what vantage point. If
you know of special air traffic routing at the location I'd like
to know that also.
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FAMANUAL.INF
In the meantime ......
Pilot: Chicago Departure, SIMAIR 163 is out of 2.3 for 3.
ATC: Roger SIMAIR 163, radar contact; turn left to heading 180;
proceed direct Roberts VOR; climb to 11,000; call Chicago Center
on 120.2. Good day.
Pilot: 180 and up to 11; direct Roberts; Chicago Center on 120.2;
SIMAIR 163. So long.
Appendices A through C follow
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FAMANUAL.INF
APPENDIX A
Details of File Configuration
Whether a standard or custom setup, AR.BAT and RUNWAY.EXE must be
installed in your FS4 directory. In the standard hard drive setup
the subdirectory RFRUNWAY is also installed under your FS4
directory. The RFRUNWAY subdirectory in turn contains one file
and one subdirectory for each scenery area. For the Chicago area,
the file CHICAGO.SSD and a CHICAGO subdirectory will be installed
in the RFRUNWAY directory. The CHICAGO subdirectory contains a
number of files used by Final Approach for the Chicago area
scenery. Installed in your hard drive, the file and subdirectory
arrangement for Final Approach with the Chicago and Indianapolis
airport scenery would look as follows:
your FS4 directory
|
FS4 files (numerous)
AR.BAT
RUNWAY.EXE
VIEW_MDW.MOD (Midway mode)
VIEW_ORD.MOD (O'Hare mode) Add'l modes & demos
LAND_MDW.DEM (Midway demo) may be included.
LAND_ORD.DEM (O'Hare demo)
LAND_IND.DEM (Indianapolis International demo)
|
|-------------------------
| |
| FA_INFO <DIR> directory
| |
| README.1ST
| MDWREAD.1ST
| FAMANUAL.INF
RFRUNWAY <DIR> directory etc.
|
-----------------------------------------------
| | |
CHICAGO.SSD CHICAGO <DIR> directory INDAPLS <DIR> directory
INDAPLS.SSD | |
04ORD04M.SCX 05IND.SCX
04ORD04M.DYX 05IND.DYX
14ORD13M.SCX 14IND.SCX
14ORD13M.DYX 14IND.DYX
etc. etc.
etc. etc.
CHICAGON.SCX INDAPLSN.SCX
CHICAGON.DYX INDAPLSN.DYX
This arrangement keeps down the clutter in your FS4 directory
which has numerous files. When you run the Final Approach RUNWAY
program, two files are installed in your FS4 directory for each
scenery area. For the Chicago area an .SCX file and a .DYX file
are copied as CHICAGO.SC1 and CHICAGO.DY1 to the FS4 directory
when you select Chicago active runways.
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FAMANUAL.INF
AR.BAT and RUNWAY.EXE must be installed in your FS4 subdirectory
for all setups. The .SSD files and scenery subdirectories must be
installed under the RFRUNWAY subdirectory in each location (hard
drive, floppy) that you specified for installation. If any FA
scenery is installed to a floppy disk an RFRUNWAY subdirectory
must be placed in the root directory of the floppy. All of this
is done by the INSTALFA program.
The RUNWAY.EXE program does depend on finding the subdirectories
and files in the above configuration. Keep this configuration if
you get in the mood to rearrange your subdirectories.
APPENDIX B
Quick reference "SAVE FLIGHT" to change active runway while flying
press ; (enter the save mode menu)
press 1 (to specify the mode title)
type trip (enter trip or another short name as the title)
press 4 (saves the mode and exits all menus)
press CTRL C (begin to quit FS4)
press 1 (quit FS4)
type AR and press ENTER to run the (S)RUNWAY program and
select new active runways. When you exit the program FS4 will
boot up.
press 1 (first set of menus)
press F (enter mode select menu)
press {varies} (press the number in front of "trip" to select trip
mode, if necessary press 7 to show more modes)
press spacebar (exit all menus & return to your flight)
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FAMANUAL.INF
APPENDIX C
Quick reference Windows "TASK SWITCHING" to change active runway
while flying for users successful in running FS4 under windows.
The following example is for the Chicago scenery area.
(Presumes you have already activated FS4 & the RUNWAY programs and
that your aircraft is in the Chicago scenery area.)
Switch from FS4 to RUNWAY and select new active runways.
Switch back to FS4.
press 1 (enter first menu)
press J (enter next menu)
press 1 (enter next menu)
press K (enter static scenery library)
press {varies} (press the number in front of another scenery area)
press spacebar (exit all menus, new static scenery now active)
press 1 (enter first menu)
press J (enter next menu)
press 4 (enter next menu)
press D (enter dynamic scenery library)
press {varies} (press the number in front of another scenery area)
press spacebar (exit all menus)
press 1 (enter first menu)
press J (enter next menu)
press 4 (enter next menu)
press D (enter dynamic scenery library)
press {varies} (press number in front of Chicago scenery area)
press spacebar (exit all menus new dynamic scenery now active)
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