NZFF

Heya guys, Ive been simming for a while but have only just got into the GPS approach stuff, Ive been learning with youtube tutrials. I set up a flight in the default king Air from Tauranga to Auckland altitude 4500ft then after Ive selected my approach about 25 NM out of Auckland I click on the APPR button and the plane all of a sudden makes a be-line for the heavens lol. After Ive got it under controll the plane follows the approach pathe but never descends. By the time I'm lined u with the runway I'm way too high and have to manually bring it down rather quikly Is the plane supposed to descend automaticlly? maybe I'm doing something wrong? Any tis would be appreciated cheers :-)

From memory here. What runway are you using in AKL?

1. The King Air Autopilot Appr mode I believe is only to be used for ILS approaches (Happy to be corrected here as on the 1900 we use the Appr mode as it's more accurate, but that's a different story)

2. Use Nav mode and Alt until you reach the IAF, and be there at the appropriate altitude. http://aip.net.nz/pdf/NZAA_45.1_45.2.pdf These may not be 100% accurate with what FS uses but it should give a generic reference. EMRAG/LENGU at 3000ft is what we aim for at work.

3. Once you reach profile intercept then descend using the v/s mode. To work out the required v/s theres many formula's that you can use but this is the one that I got taught when I did my initial instrument rating and still works now. Find the ground speed, ie 140kts, divide by 2, = 70 then add a 0 to the end gives 700ft/min decent rate.

4. Use the check heights as you descend and adjust the ROD if necessary.

A bit over the place but hopefully you get the general idea.

Cheers man I will have a look at this and see what I can come up with

If you're keen to get into real world procedures you should have a look at software like ISGSim. There's templates to add an FMC, LNAV and VNAV autopilot integration and various NAV displays into most of the FS9/FSX/P3D default aircraft such as the King Air. Then you get access to RNAV SID's and STAR's which are much more realistic than the basic MSFS GPS approaches. It's a bit of a learning curve but very rewarding when you get everything dialled in. Just a thought . Regards, Mat

I should add that the ISG gauges use AIRAC cycle navdata from Navigraph, so if you want to keep your gauges up-to-date you have to download the latest updates to fly any newly released procedures. This is especially important if you're flying online with the likes of Vatsim etc.