I’ve recently purchased the DC-6 and I was interested in flying no-GPS (VOR only) IFR flights. I’m quite okay with flying Victor airways, intercepting radials, etc and have done it in a VFR setting.
My question is about how to go from a Victor airway to an ILS approach.
My example is YMML → YPAD (Just using H345 which gets me to YPAD using the 301 radial). I would like to land runway 23 via ILS-Z which requires me to go to GULLY.
Looking at the Airservices Australia chart it seems that they want me to head to GULLY from DRINA.
Q1) Is it the intention for me to calculate a heading from DRINA and just dead reckon it until I estimate I’m at GULLY based on the VOR radial and DME of VORDME AD?
Q2) When I look at the NAVIGRAPH chart it doesn’t actually mention DRINA. Is it the intention that I would have assumed DRINA based on it being the closest waypoint on H345 to YPAD?
When I look at STARs they have a DME/GNSS arrival split into three sectors. When I look at it though it isn’t clear when I am meant to transition from the STAR to the Approach. In fact, it looks very similar to a VORDME approach where it states altitudes at different distances from the runway until it reaches the airport and ground level.
I suspect this is more of a misunderstanding on what STARs are for. I was always under the impression that the STAR gets you to the airport and then you transition to an approach.
Because the DC-6 was never meant to be flown with a GPS obviously, Pilots would’ve flown a VOR DME ARC Approach which kept you clear of terrain and if you were not visual at minimum’s then off you go into the hold pattern and wait for weather to clear or try the ARC again or divert.
VOR Rwy 23
If you wanted to fly old school like I do, I’d fly the inbound 116 radial(Hdg 296) AD VOR on H345 then outbound on the 258 radial (hdg 078) on H44 and intercept the IAF DO750 fix then proceed with the 15 DME arc to intercept the app for 23. Also you need to measure the IAF fix in NM on that radial. Also radials are referred to as being inbound or outbound reciprocating(Current heading plus/minus 180 degrees gives you the radial)
Flight Insight has great free tutorials on procedure turns and dme arc’s. https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCAHvg_6KCB3MgOY_PvNZCDQ/videos
So to answer your 3 questions.
Answer for 1 is No. Always fly to the VOR and make a 2 min procedural coordinated turn back inbound and intercept a new heading/radial. And you can’t dead reckon in cloud.
If you were flying by GPS then a direct to that fix would suffice.
Procedural turns using DME. You must transition from a VOR/DME arc(Not a STAR) into the approach. The approach is flown using DME steps. The chart has the steps listed at the bottom. Looks like a stair case. So the altitude step should match the DME from the VOR/NDB.
You need to know where the IAF is. The aircraft will not track any fixes without a gps etc. You just have a VOR gauge and a DME read out avail, So you need to know the distance of the IAF for the DME arc in relation to the VOR on that radial. If you are in 8/8’ths of cloud you are IFR and have no clue where the fix is. This is where the DME part comes into play and radials passing. It sounds complicated but it really isn’t. Watch the video i linked and pay attention to how you measure the arc in DME from the VOR.
It’s hard to grasp if you have knowledge of GPS and automated flying. But in reality old school is simple once you grasp the method.
What you are asking is possible of course. Triangulate the fix with another VOR/NDB etc. But that is up to you. My explanation was a simple example.
If you want to fly an airway you need to have a designated entry and exit points that are part of the airway. For your example, the route would be YMML DCT ML H345 AD YPAD. You also stated that you want to fly the Rwy 23 ILS-Z approach. Once reaching AD you would turn right and fly outbound on the localizer until reaching MOPRI at 10.2 DME. Technically there is no procedure turn here. It is a hold in lieu of a procedure turn. With your outbound course of 042 you have the option of a teardrop entry or a parallel entry. If it were me, I would fly the teardrop entry. It gets you established on the inbound localizer sooner. Cross MOPRI then turn right 30 degrees to 072. Fly that for one minute or until reaching 15 DME. Then turn left 180 degrees to 252 until you intercept the localizer. Turn left and follow the localizer inbound. The holding pattern entry should be flown at 3200 feet. The glideslope at MOPRI is at 3270 feet so you will be intercepting it soon after so be ready to start your descent.
Okay making a lot more sense now. Really appreciate it. Both of your comments actually helped me to unpack the information on the approach charts significantly. Flying with GPS had simplified things.
You could try something like this: YMML ML H345 AD A585 CDU W486 ESP PH YPPH.
A lot of the navaids on that route are NDBs and I’m not sure if you would stay within reception range for the entire route. It would depend a lot on altitude.
If you are flying a GPS RNAV route, no. You have the satellites to tell you where you are. But with your example, this was a flight without GPS. The airways I suggested were non-RNAV airways so I’m making an assumption that when they were layed out the navaids were close enough together to support the route. I’m not aware of any overland routes where you can fly IFR on dead reckoning alone.
That’s the problem I hit upon. Some of the NDBs defining the airways didn’t have enough reach to be tuned into them for the entire trip. That said - maybe the range data is wrong - best to just try out the route and see what happens!
