Different Flying Questions: ILS/VOR/DME

Bigey

Bigey

Well-Known Member
Okay - i've come out the closet - i dont know what alot of these words or flying stuff means..

I understand what ILS word for word mean - Instrument Landing System but how do you do any ILS approach? What's VOR - i know its a radio signal or something and same goes for DME - What does all this stuff mean and how do you use it in flying? Can you shoot a VOR approach or a DME approach?

The list:
ILS
VOR
DME
PAPI
ADF
ASL
ASEL

What's the difference of a visual apprach vs. a ILS approach. Do you literally fly the plane by visual all the way down or what?

Thanks for the responses, i know this is probably silly for asking, but its been bugging me for a while.:(
 
ILS - instrument landing system = a precision instrument approach procedure that gives both vertical and horizontal guidance.

VOR- Very High Freqency(VHF) Omni directional Range = ground based navigational aid.

DME - Distance Measuring Equipment - often co-located with a VOR or ILS, it gives the pilot a distance to or from the station

PAPI - Precision Approach Path Indicator- visual device that allows pilots to maintain the correct approach path to the runway.

ADF - Automatic Direction Finder - Ground based navigational device that allows pilots to track to or from. An older style of navigational device but similiar in use to the VOR.

Visual Approach - flying the airplane to the runway using visual navigation as opposed to an ILS which guides you down.
 
Texasspilot said:
ILS - instrument landing system = a precision instrument approach procedure that gives both vertical and horizontal guidance.

VOR- Very High Freqency(VHF) Omni directional Range = ground based navigational aid.

DME - Distance Measuring Equipment - often co-located with a VOR or ILS, it gives the pilot a distance to or from the station

PAPI - Precision Approach Path Indicator- visual device that allows pilots to maintain the correct approach path to the runway.

ADF - Automatic Direction Finder - Ground based navigational device that allows pilots to track to or from. An older style of navigational device but similiar in use to the VOR.

Visual Approach - flying the airplane to the runway using visual navigation as opposed to an ILS which guides you down.
Click to expand...


Thanks for the answers, but how do you use it?

How do you shoot an ILS approach - do you use headings or what? How do you use VOR's? Are they something you see on the ground and fly from or do you pick it up as a radio signal or what?

How does the ILS give you verital and horizontal distance?
 
A VOR is a radio station on the ground. In the aircraft you have a reciever you can tune and pick up the frequency. It allows you to select a radial off of the station and track that to or from the ground station electronically.

The ILS works the same only it has two signals coming from its station. One shows you left or right of the runway and one shows you above or below the pre-determined glideslope. The course for the ILS is pre-determined to align you with the runway.
 
Have you started flight training yet? I think it's difficult to explain it to someone who hasn't begun any type of training.

Do you use flight simulator?
 
SmitteyB said:
Have you started flight training yet? I think it's difficult to explain it to someone who hasn't begun any type of training.

Do you use flight simulator?
Click to expand...

Yeap, i've started training, and yes i use flight simulator. But i just didnt catch all that stuff about different approaches and what have you.
 
this is pretty basic stuff that doesn't require much explanation, have you got a textbook yet? It would be much faster to check the glossary in the back, then you'll have nice pretty pictures to look at if it refrences a page number.
Or I can babble on and on about how a VOR works by aligning the two sine waves, whichever.
 
DE727UPS said:
"How do you shoot an ILS approach"

There is a button that says "APP", I push it.
Click to expand...

There is a rod that says throttle on it, i push it..the plane flies.
 
Which reminds me of an old saying:

Which makes a plane fly? Then engine or the wings?

Answer is, neither one. Money makes a plane fly.....
 
Bigey said:
Thanks for the answers, but how do you use it?

How do you shoot an ILS approach - do you use headings or what? How do you use VOR's? Are they something you see on the ground and fly from or do you pick it up as a radio signal or what?

How does the ILS give you verital and horizontal distance?
Click to expand...
Some of these questions are too in depth to just give quick answers here on the forum....check out these books....great reading to learn more about flying and the ATC system.
 
Bigey, have you finished your private? or are you just looking ahead to the future? My advice, would be to spend the extra $40, or whatever your instructor costs, and have him show you each and explain it. It's always easier when someones explaining something that is right in front of you and then you can play with it to grasp the basis of it's workings.
P.S. Braking out a few feet above the ground on an ILS approach rocks :nana2:
 
AlexF said:
P.S. Braking out a few feet above the ground on an ILS approach rocks :nana2:
Click to expand...

I mostly wait until I am on the ground before I do any braking.:) However breaking out a few feet (well, 200 feet) over the runway is pretty darn cool.
 
AlexF said:
P.S. Braking out a few feet above the ground on an ILS approach rocks
Click to expand...

What, are you flying CAT III approaches? A few feet?



Bigey, the reason there is no easy answer to your question is that the answer takes almost the time of your entire Instrument Pilot course to understand. You may get a quick answer here or there but how those things work all together takes time.
 
Ophir said:
What, are you flying CAT III approaches? A few feet?



Bigey, the reason there is no easy answer to your question is that the answer takes almost the time of your entire Instrument Pilot course to understand. You may get a quick answer here or there but how those things work all together takes time.
Click to expand...


You've never done a CAT III ILS with a Cessna 172 as a student pilot? :sarcasm:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top