Knowing which end of Runway to approach?

[bunraku]

Hi

 

Sorry for being thick here.

 

When flying East from West towards an Airfield that has it's runways on a perfect 90 and 270 degrees then obviously in that case i'm gonna approach on a course of 90. I understand that ok.

 

However in this simplified examplewhen approaching from say North to South how do i know which end of runway to approach? The West or East End?

Do i contact the tower and they will tell me where to fly to and where to approach from?

Or do i use a TACAN if available? Am i also right in saying a TACAN station only is for approaching 1 end of the runway and therefore there is no choice of approach direection?

 

Hope that makes sense.

 

Thanks

[Sprool]

IRL its normally down to wind direction but the tower should advise recommended approach

[drhay53]

Hi

 

Sorry for being thick here.

 

When flying East from West towards an Airfield that has it's runways on a perfect 90 and 270 degrees then obviously in that case i'm gonna approach on a course of 90. I understand that ok.

 

However in this simplified examplewhen approaching from say North to South how do i know which end of runway to approach? The West or East End?

Do i contact the tower and they will tell me where to fly to and where to approach from?

Or do i use a TACAN if available? Am i also right in saying a TACAN station only is for approaching 1 end of the runway and therefore there is no choice of approach direection?

 

Hope that makes sense.

 

Thanks

 

TACAN is non-directional. It's just a point in space (literally a signal coming usually from a point a few hundred feet off the middle of the runway). Depending on the plane you're in, you can navigate to the TACAN and set a course line through it that's aligned with whichever end of the runway you want to approach from. On the F10 Map you can see exactly where the TACAN is... it's a little symbol

 

ILS on the other hand can be thought of as "pointing out the end of the runway". If your plane has an ILS in it, it will be using that to provide alignment, heading, and glideslope information.

 

When you contact ATC to report inbound, they give you a bearing and range. That bearing and range effectively tells you which runway to approach. It's a point a few miles (maybe 10?) off the end of the runway they want you to use.

[bunraku]

Thanks Guys.

[draconus]

Contact Inbound. ATC points you to the approach fix 5nm from the runway and tells you the active runway number.

[Squiffy]

Yes, ATC will tell you but to be honest, it's hard to discern some numbers in their radio voice. Sometimes "Two" sounds exactly like "Zero" and it's not even a "Five" or a "Niner." I normally fly out of Kobuleti and it happens from time to time.

[draconus]

Yes, ATC will tell you but to be honest, it's hard to discern some numbers in their radio voice. Sometimes "Two" sounds exactly like "Zero" and it's not even a "Five" or a "Niner." I normally fly out of Kobuleti and it happens from time to time.

 

There are subtitles for that problem of yours.

[=475FG= Dawger]

Whichever one you want.

 

Just don’t fly a long straight in approach.

 

Fly the overhead pattern.

[Yurgon]

When flying East from West towards an Airfield that has it's runways on a perfect 90 and 270 degrees then obviously in that case i'm gonna approach on a course of 90. I understand that ok.

 

Even in that case, when the wind blows the same direction (tailwind) and is beyond a certain strength, you'll want to fly around the airfield and land with a nice headwind instead. If you've got a slow aircraft and a long runway, it may not matter that much, but a fast aircraft and a short runway combined with a pronounced tailwind are a recipe for runway overshoots. This has happened in real life, and you can imagine the outcome ranges from mild nuisance to fatal crash.

 

Before you even step to the aircraft, you should study the wind at your departure and arrival airfields as much as DCS, and the mission, allow you to, in order to be prepared.

 

The DCS ATC will usually guide players to the runway with the highest headwind component.

 

However in this simplified examplewhen approaching from say North to South how do i know which end of runway to approach? The West or East End?

Do i contact the tower and they will tell me where to fly to and where to approach from?

 

As per above: you'll always want to approach the runway with the highest headwind compontent.

 

Also yes, contact ATC. Even the very simple DCS ATC will tell you which runway (which end) to approach.

 

Or do i use a TACAN if available? Am i also right in saying a TACAN station only is for approaching 1 end of the runway and therefore there is no choice of approach direection?

 

Use all the tools available to you. TACAN is brilliant for approaches, because you can use it to fly a route completely heads down. It's only on final that TACAN lacks the necessary precision, so the minima for TACAN approaches tend to be a lot higher than the ILS minima.

 

If you have TACAN, ILS and GPS/EGI: use them all! Build up your situational awareness. Cross-check GPS and TACAN. Cross-check altitude and distance versus glideslope.

 

Just the other day I realized there was something wrong with my approach into Nellis shortly before entering a thick cloud layer. Turned out my TACAN was tuned to the wrong station. If I hadn't cross-checked TACAN against my waypoint, who knows which mountain I'd have ended up in. ;)

 

I can't stop thinking that we don't really need more combat centric campaigns (though they are much appreciated), but something more centered on the basics would be a very welcome addition to the staple of missions or campaigns for DCS.