FS Approaches Volume 2 USA

By Bill Otten (22 February 2007)

etting an aircraft flying in FS2004 is relatively easy, right? Honestly, if you're on a runway and you hit the throttle eventually the aircraft will get airborn. The real test of piloting is getting you, your passengers, and your aircraft safely back on the ground intact. And flying the proper approaches is a major part of that. I know most of us have jumped into our sim aircraft, taken off and made to a destination airport and simply flown a direct approach, without regard to prevailing winds, other traffic, proper procedures and pattern use.

Well, if you really want to get proficient at the proper way to fly approaches, you'll want to check out FS Approaches Volume 2 USA by Perfect Flight, authored by Marco Martini. This is an excellent way to familiarize yourself with all the proper approach methods, including DME arc approaches, and vector to finals. I found that flying the many approaches in the program sharpened my skills in handling essentially all the approaches ATC could throw at me.

First, the approaches cover a number of different airports, with vastly different terrain, traffic, and variables. This makes one skilled under a variety of conditions, yet you still can fly the same approaches time and again altering variables such as real weather or the aircraft or increased traffic using the parameters of FS2004. So you really wind up with an infinite number of scenarios to fly in these approaches. I found it best to fly the approaches initially with a low-and-slow aircraft such as the J3 Cub to get a feel for the flight scenario and approach into an unfamiliar airport, and then change the variables to increase the skill levels necessary. In other words, flying the Lear on the same approach in bad weather, with heavy traffic, makes it a whole different type of flying.

So, once into the FS2004 sim, you can go directly into "Select a flight" and scroll to where FS Approaches Vol. 2 USA shows up. Highlighting that, the "choose a flight" drop down box just below gives you a choice of all the approaches available (by the way, you can be flying a routine flight and get within about 80 miles of an airport and still load the approach and fly it...nice!).

Once you select your approach, another window opens with a huge amount of information. You'll get an approach plate you can print out followed by a listing of all the pertinent information you'd normally need on your kneeboard: tower, ground, center frequencies, along with runway data for the airport you're flying into such as ILS frequencies, approach courses, glide slope information and much more. I routinely printed this out and it does come in handy for setting up your approach and getting down safely.

Note on the screen shots some of the information discussed above. Pretty impressive work by Perfect Flight and Marco Martini when one considers the amount of information needed for all the approaches in this package.

   

 

And above is one of the best features of FS Approaches Vol. 2 USA: a manual with probably the best discussion of using the GPS in FS2004 that I've found. In fact, of the 13 page manual most of it is devoted to a great tutorial on using the GPS to fly these approaches. Almost like a bonus with the program.

Bottom line: I really enjoy (not past tense because I still like using it) FS Approaches Vol. 2 USA.

 I recommend it to sharpen your skills on this most vital part of flying and you'll find that using proper procedures in getting your aircraft and sim passengers back on the ground will heighten your sim experience. A proper approach and landing is the final part of your whole flight plan.

You'll gain a new appreciation for a well executed approach and landing.

Have fun!

Bill Otten
harpman54@tampabay.rr.com