In fact you hit the nail on the head. Preparation is everything. You could look at the plates before take off but that won't really get you anywhere because ATC may give you a different procedure from the one you've studied. In real life the crew wait until they pick up the ATIS and then, having the wind and the runway in use, they pull out the plates and go through a proper approach briefing. This starts at the holding stack (which you should know as it is dependent on the route flown) and runs through the horizontal and vertical profile of the approach procedure. Attention is paid to the navaids required for the approach, the Final Approach Fix, the MDH (or DH if on ILS) and the Missed Approach Procedure. They get this clear in there heads many, many miles before they get anywhere near the airfield and when they are back in boring, straight and level flight en route. The trick, as I explained to Mike earlier, is to develop a mental picture in your head as to what you will be doing. You can't do this at first because there is so much stuff going through your mind - but it comes with practise. Being able to develop a mental radar image is a great help and all good pilots could do this long before GPS came along to make life a lot easier. The Manx I/R Route is a good one and almost everyone at Ronaldsway adopted it for training. I flew it myself when my own renewals came up even though it was way over the requirement for IMC renewal. It was good though because it combined all possible combinations of I/R procedures - NDB tracking, ILS tracking, VOR tracking and an NDB hold. Sometimes it would change and an ILS to 08 would be thrown in or a VOR/DME to 08. The beauty of the I/R Route is that it is equally as demanding in a C172 as in a big jet. In smaller aircraft it is more imperative to get drift nailed and in bigger aircraft it is an exercise in speed control. I had a guy on IVAO tonight who tried to fly the ILS intercept at 270kts and couldn't understand why the aircraft could not capture the ILS. It was hard to explain to him that turning circles at high speeds on autopilot are way above the rates needed for ILS capture (or tracking). In real life we have a point on the approach called FAF (Final Approach Fix) and if you aren't stabilised on the approach (height, speed and direction) as you cross the FAF you HAVE to throw the approach away and go around. This is a pilot decision - nothing to do with ATC - so if I see someone not at the FAF on track or miles too high all I am going to do is shake my head if the pilot carries on and wait to see the mess he is going to make of the approach. It's one of the perks of the job. <vbg> Just on point I should make about turning with an engine out. If you lose an engine the thrust is then asymmetric - it is coming from one engine well away from the fuselage centre line. This automatically generates a huge yaw moment towards the dead engine. For example if you lose the port engine the thrust from the starboard engine alone is going to create a yawing (and rolling) moment to port. You obviously trim this out with rudder trim but you must not forget that it is still there because it alters the way an aircraft behaves as speed is altered and bank is applied. It is often taught that any failed engine requires the pilot to fly with five degrees of bank towards the live engine. This is good as it alleviates any tendency of the aircraft to roll/yaw to the dead engine if concentration lapses. It is also strongly advised that all turns be made away from the dead engine because if you turn INTO a dead engine then roll and yaw are rapid (far more than you might expect) and the aircraft can enter a spiral dive before you have time to blink. Older pilots here may remember the Atlantic crash at Farnborough in 1968 which was caused exactly by this effect. Paul found the Dash 8 was quite forgiving in this respect and turned towards the dead engine without any serious yaw or roll effect happening. Maybe it is good flight dynamics or the fact that DHC aircraft were mostly built as STOL aircraft and have whacking great rudders. It certainly shouldn't be expected of all aircraft though - especially when you start slowing down to approach speeds when rudder authority is reduced by the diminishing airflow. bones -----Original Message----- From: jhb_airlines-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:jhb_airlines-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Paul Reynolds Sent: 16 September 2007 02:55 To: jhb_airlines@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [jhb_airlines] Re: I/R procedures Bones says... The final test for the IOM procedures is to fly the old Manx Airlines Base Check route. It sounds simple but there are pitfalls and traps for the unwary. The route is: Depart EGNS and route to KELLY - IOM - CAR. Take up the hold at CAR and fly two holds. Fly the alternative ILS 26 approach from the CAR hold. Go around at minimums and fly the MAP. Fly a radar vectored ILS back to 26 and land. The above sounds simple but remember that in real life the pilots would be subjected to minor emergency drills throughout the flight and would be given an engine failure on take off or on the go around.. <vbg> John Woodside bones@xxxxxxx http://woodair.net An excellent track there Mike, I'm sure you got a lot out of going through that. I know I learnt a lot from doing the Manx check with Bones a while back. Having said that, he gave me the easy option of the hold at IOM rather than at CAR. A simulated left engine failure while outbound from IOM into the teardrop for 26 made life interesting with the PSS Dash-8 handling turning into the failed engine admirably. There is one thing that Bones hasn't mentioned that I feel is needed though and that is preparation. If you are going to fly a procedural approach then you need to be clear in your head what you are going to do in advance and have the NAV aids set-up ready (possibly as standby ready to be activated when needed). Consequently it helps to get the ATIS reasonably early so you can mentally prepare yourself. Although I haven't used it for some time, the process of mentally picturing the approach (or SID/STAR) was bought home to me by using FS CREW with the PMDG 737. It was going through the tutorial flight and trying to understand what was going on that first led me to look at procedural charts. I have to admit that using FS Crew 18 months ago was probably a bit ambitious on my part. I ought to re-install it (I've checked, I still have my registration key) and give it another whirl see how much of it now makes sense. I'll have to be careful though, I don't want to get sucked into the realms of that Heavy Metal stuff. Tried it out but not really my cup of tea. I always was a hippy at heart, you know the sort, gentle, easy going [read lazy], often helping others for no other reason than because you can... Nah, I'le grown to love my quirky little Dash, that's as heavy as I need get. Besides, how many type ratings does one man really need? Paul