Tag: “Stupid Questions!”
Issue:
When attempting to fly a pattern, the biggest problem I have is turning from base to final.
Ideally, when turning to final you are centered on the runway. When I turn final I usually end up in Vladivostok or Outer Mongolia with no visual contact with the airport.
Or, if I have visual contact, I am usually considerably off-center and I have to make a massive correction to get on the center line.
If I fly the “usual” pattern, I usually end up too far off center, too close to the runway, and have to side-slip to get there, (dangerous), or go around. And after the sixth or seventh go-around, I give up and kill the sim.
IMHO a part of the problem is the simulated environment itself, where maintaining proper situational awareness is difficult.
- Looking to the left or right isn’t the trivial task it should be, requiring the pilot to focus his attention to the process of moving his POV.
- The simulator’s field of view isn’t as expansive as the normal FOV, particularly missing is peripheral vision - the subtle cues you get out of the edges of your view while looking ahead.
- An important omission is the lack of kinesthetic feedback - the “seat-of-your-pants” feedback you’d get flying a smaller plane.
So, assuming you are flying a small plane like a Cessna 172 or a Diamond DV-20, how do you turn final in such a way that you’re centered on the runway?
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Totally agree on this. Maybe it’s better in VR.
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VR does infact make this so much easier. Short of VR you could get a head tracker of some sort, I use Tobii which is pretty good.
It really helps for you to be able to see the runway while you’re on the downwind before starting your base turn. One thing of note, IF your baseleg speed is slower than your departure leg speed, and you maintain a standard 2min turn rate, you should make a tighter turn then your departure leg meaning that you arrive on centerline a little later.
Solution which may help, find a point on the extended centerline and aim for that when turning final. This seems to work quite well for me.
Good luck, fair winds and happy landings.
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TrackIR and just glance at the runway as you turn. It helps extending the runway centerline or using other ground reference for pattern positions like roads and buildings.
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Start with a solid understanding of the effect of wind on the traffic pattern. How a crosswind can either push you closer to the runway and make you overshoot or cause you to fly wide and undershoot.
Go out in the practice area and pick a fairly rectangular or square field, 1/2 mile by 1 mile or so, and practice tracking along each line. Note your wind correction angle can make for a larger or smaller turn angle than the 90° course you’re flying.
Speed also can mess this up.
But in the end, 100% a head tracker will help. Immensely.
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My definition of a “good landing” is one where I don’t get a phone number to call, the plane and pilot are all in one piece, and a NTSB “Go” team isn’t waiting for me.
Seriously, I am sure others make good, centered and stabilized landings. even if I go WAY out to turn base, my turn to final is a balls-up waiting to happen
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I cheat.
I turn all weather effects off, set ground temps to 20° C, set time of day to 12:00 local, and kill any winds. I have a weather preset called “Fantasy Weather” that I use to eliminate any extraneous factors.
This is where a multi-monitor setup can really help, because you can literally look left and right and see the runway as you’re abeam the end and visually predict the turn.
My ‘old’ sim was based on P3D and had a wraparound curved 180 degree projector screen and the situational awareness provided by that setup was amazing. I really miss it. But eventually I’ll try to go multi-monitor with MSFS and see how close I can get.
But in the absence of that I just have a yoke button mapped to ‘look left’ and ‘look right’, since I don’t really like head-tracking.
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Might try using the smart camera. I have mine set to the trigger on my flightstick so I can quickly glance towards the runway.
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Exactly this. It helps alot.
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Fair enough. The ability to visually orient yourself throughout the pattern is going to be your best friend, then, by far. Even just a slight, natural head movement (versus a locked POV) gives a sense of 3D awareness and distance as you observe the parallax between the parts of the aircraft and the distant scenery. There are visual cues inside or on the aircraft you can use - struts, window posts, wings, etc. Setting up a good, consistent eye position is also crucial. This is as true for real aviation as it is the sim.
Your other best friend is going to be speed. Too much and you’re constantly making wide turns, overshooting, etc. Too slow and you risk a stall/spin.
No matter what, stay coordinated throughout (with the exception of performing intentional slips). Never skid - this often is a result of a pilot recognizing an overshoot is about to occur, so they increase bank angle and back pressure, cheat the nose around with the rudder and end up slow and loaded up with G forces. Holding opposite aileron to stop the overbanking tendency, then trying to raise the inside (down) wing to roll out of that skidding, tight turn can easily stall the inside wing, leading to a spin with no room for recovery.
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Keep in mind irl patterns are often all over the place, especially in the learning phase, but even experienced pilots overshoot final. I had a little one a few weeks ago - strong crosswind, at night, just stayed in the turn until I re-established final. Had plenty of time to stabilize.
It’s natural for us to want to overreact and get back over there. Think about how we do it when walking or driving, but that can create problems in aircraft, so we have to approach it (pun intended) a little differently. You can always go-around if things get too pear-shaped.
PM me sometime if you want to go beat up a pattern together in the sim.
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No.
I embarrass myself enough as it is. 
Why do you think I haven’t been all on fire to implement some kind of replay feature?
“I am perfectly capable of humiliating myself just fine without help, thank you!”
No problem.
But I’m here to help, not shame. The biggest thing missing in the sim’s DIY learning process is feedback.
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The biggest thing missing in MY sim cockpit is a decent set of controls. Unfortunately, here in Russia things are insanely expensive and likely to be counterfeit.
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It’s much better in VR. I used to dread flying a pattern for the reasons the OP describes. That all went away with VR. Being able to turn your head and see where you are in relation to the runway is a game changer (pun discovered).
The other thing I find myself doing is using compass shorthand to get my headings. I don’t know if it’s a thing or not, but is easy to just look at the compass and get your next heading. It’s not difficult when you’re landing on runway 18, but my brain can’t math that fast for say runway 31. But I get lined up on the runway heading and then I just look at the compass and know my next heading is at 9 o’clock on the compass dial. I also try to keep my turns consistent in bank angle to keep them about the same rate.
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When people ask “what should I study/memorize” early in their flying/simming, I often teach that one of the most solid, rote-level things you can do, other than memorizing the phonetic alphabet, is learn the 36 major headings (leaving off the ones digit, so like runway numbers and how they appear on the compass), their reciprocals, and their perpendiculars. That or learn the math required to do it quickly. Eventually you’ll start picking up on the 45° offsets to each of these as well.
Protip: if you have an HSI, and are not using it to navigate, set the course to the runway heading! This will give you an immediate sight picture of the reciprocal and perpendiculars as well as an instant sense of where your nose is relative to runway heading. You can also use some VOR gauges (if you’re not using them to navigate) to establish those relative headings.
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I’ve heard that for VFR/pilotage, that’s “cheating”.
However, so is using the GPS so you don’t get lost.
I need to put a sticky-note on my monitor with a few final checklist items, including setting the heading bug to the runway heading.
Not cheating at all, use the tools you have!
Or do you mean it’s cheating to radio navigate during a cross-country pilotage leg? Other than getting a position fix if you’re lost or unsure, yeah, that’s frowned upon for training and/or proficiency purposes, but in real life non-training/profiency maintenance scenarios, we use everything we can (which, these days, usually means the magenta line).
But in my example I’m not talking about using the radio navigation portion - you’re not tuning a VOR or entering a GPS course. You’re simply rotating the dial to give you a visual representation of the orientation of the runway on the instrument itself as you fly the pattern.
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as others have already said… it’s much easier in VR… honestly, it’s even easier in real life once you do it a few few times…
But… (thinking waaaay back to what my first CFI would have said, minus the profanity she would have used):
- airspeed. Make sure you are hitting correct airspeeds on downwind, base and final. if it’s a 172… ugh I have no clue anymore (haven’t sat in one since my private checkride thank goodness)… in my Arrow, it’s 100 mph (lol yes mph) on downwind, 90 base 80 final then slowing to 70 short final… point is - nail your airspeeds. ALSO - equally important - know what power settings give you those airspeeds…
- abeam the numbers (or your touchdown point), gear down (if retract), first flaps and begin a 500 fpm descent rate (keeping your airspeed of course)… about 45* from the numbers, make your base turn… second notch of flaps… slowing to base leg speed…
- turning final is a bit tricky to get right… you don’t want to undershoot it, but you really don’t want to overshoot then have to bank hard at a slower speed to get back on final… people die this way IRL. They overshoot final, bank hard to get back (usually with no coordinated rudder input) then stall/spin at low altitude and metal plate the ground short of the runway. So - about 500’ above TDZE make your final turn. Lead the turn to final a bit so you have a nice, smooth descending turn.
- Pitch for airspeed, power for altitude! Remember that in light GA aircraft. It is a golden rule. pull some power back and slow to final leg speed. Check papi/vasi if the runway has them. Otherwise, just keep the runway in a good position on the windscreen and fly it down. Keep an eye on airspeed. If you don’t feel good about it… go. around.
- Land. That’s for another post topic.
Anyway, practice makes perfect. Two main takeaways - airspeed is everything. Hit your airspeeds and know what power settings give you those airspeeds. And get VR. It really does help in this regard.
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