I’m currently trying MSFS using VR. I really like the emersion and enjoy flying.
I’m pretty much an IFR nerd and really like challenging approaches. To me, by far, the most challenging is the NDB approach. Sadly in a few years they’re going to be deprecated.
KBVS in the PNW was my favorite for years. Since that is now gone it appears Friday Harbor is one of the last. However I did find this AM that KHIO near KPDX also has a NDB-B approach.
I currently fly the Just Flight Piper Arrow Turbo III. A nice feature is that you can hide the GPS and go all out instruments only.
I was wondering if anybody would be up for some competitive flying to see who can shoot the most accurate NDB approach on instruments only. It might be interesting.
Matt,
I did a few NDB approaches when I was working on my Commercial/Inst. ticket way back in the early 90’s. Definitely an interesting approach even under a hood. The NDB approach is hardly mentioned these days. I bet I would be semi-lost if I tried one today but you have sparked my interest and I will check it out in the old 172.
Happy Flying !
Here was my attempt to shoot the NDB-B at KHIO. It was close. I had a hard time staying on the 127 radial after crossing BTG, then outbound/inbound was a little rough too. I couldn’t use the timer on the Arrow Turbo III since it was too difficult to manage in VR. So that’s why my timing on the procedure turn was early. Once I did station passage I managed to maintain course until I broke out of the clouds. All in all a good challenge.
I found an old thread that lists remaining NDB approaches in the USA but it’s from 7 years ago. My cursory search revealed discontinued NDB approaches from that list. The hard part is finding old NDB approach plates for the NDBs that currently exist in MSFS.
For example, KMRY still has an NDB but the NDB approach is no longer available from places like Skyvector. Here’s what it looked like:
If you are willing to go outside of the USA, there are other NDB approaches world wide, including Barra Airport in Scotland, a unique airport where the runway is the beach/sand. Ideal plane for this would be the twin otter, but am sure you can do it with the caravan (though probably not ideal in real life because of the sand!
Agreed. NDB let downs can be great fun in a howling crosswind. In the RW though, winds are a bit more variable and less predictable than they are in MSFS.
I haven’t done one for a while, so will set one up later, perhaps after installing SU5.
