I’m relatively new to flying so I apologise if this is a daft question
I’m doing short trips in the Icon getting my feet wet and stopping of at airfields starting from White Waltham airfield UK.
Is there any way to identify which orientation the runway numbers are without having to do a fly by and eyeball first. Some private fields don’t have numbered grass runways and I’m a bit lost to how to properly identify them for landing.
The airport’s icon on the moving map will show the orientation of the runway - or primary runway if there are more than one at the field. If you want to plan ahead, you can also zoom in on your destination runway in the World Map and scope it out there. But in real life, if a pilot is landing at an unfamiliar and uncontrolled airport, they’ll usually do a low approach first to see if there are obstacles on the runway and to get a look at the windsock for speed and direction of the wind.
Are you on PC? Then I can only recommend LittleNavMap. It shows you all the details about airports etc. based on exactly what you’ll see in the sim, including weather etc.
On top you can plan your route and get a flight plan with all the calculations.
Another option is skyvector.com but it doesn’t contain details on all airports, especially in the UK.
Overflying the airport and entering the pattern when in VFR is still a good idea
You can also check the AIP (Air Information Publication) of the respective country. They are usually free and you find all the relevant info on the aerodromes.
@Gralev, I agree with the SkyVector option… Of course, it doesn’t hurt to perform a pattern flight over the airport to get your bearings as well as to ensure that you are following proper procedures.
I came upon one by accident this past weekend. I planned a little random flight in rural East Arkansas and had to land in the middle of a grass field probably meant for crop dusters. I think it’s name was Bud Field or some such. I can look it up if you’d like.
I am new to msfs so am reading old messages on this forum. Hence my reason for replying.
I took off from Farnborough Airport in the UK and headed for an airfield to land at, blind, and navigated towards Goodwood, it turned out on flypast to be a very short grass runway with arrows but no number. I didn’t attempt a landing in the Cessna I was flying.
Hope that helps.