RWY ILS always ON

[Nealius]

For years there have been issues getting airbases to turn on their ILS systems. At some airbases the wind needs to be >7kts for the ILS to swtich runways, or to turn on at all. At other airbases it works fine in calm winds. At other airbases ILS never seems to come on no matter how you set the wind.

 

To avoid all the coding bugs where the software can't reliably turn on/off the ILS systems, just turn them all on. Permanently. 

 

I'm expecting a [Not accurate] tag, but is an ILS that won't turn on or switch runways until wind is >7kts accurate? Is ILS not working at all accurate? The status quo isn't accurate either.

Edited June 27, 2021 by Nealius

[Lange_666]

Nice idea.

I used to play only daytime missions and with the old clouds there was really not much need for ILS, i always landed visual.

But with the new clouds they can hang low over the airfield and since i've started playing online there are also night missions. A working ILS comes in handy then.

[Tippis]

That, and for bonus funtime, it would be superb if you could actually manually designate which runway should be active, irrespective of the presence and activation of ILS. There are quite a few airports in the game now where the default runway, unless you set up some pretty silly weather to make the ATC switch it up, will guide aircraft into needlessly tight situations.

 

It may have been fixed in the last patch (there were some vague noises to that effect), but there are even a couple that AI simply can't land on unless you use weather to switch runways like you describe, because the default one causes them to fly into terrain or into buildings. So it would be very nice to have a bit more control over where the ATC guides inbound flights, and how.  

[Red Dog]

I'm bumping this request as I really would like to add another vote for this to be changed.

ILS IMHO should stay on whatever the conditions in DCS. 
They should not be turned OFF according to active runway, and they should not be turned OFF according to weather or any other factor for that matter

The situation at this time is really chaotic and it is very hard to create missions for training purposes (or other purpose for that matter).
1. considering the ATC in DCS is almost nonexistent, there's no reason to try on a runway which is the active one - especially when the winds are wrong for the active one.
2. The way the wind is set in the mission editor is confusing as hell and may make the active runway choice complicated.
3. Sometimes you really need to have bad weather or strong winds to have the ILS turned ON so you can fulfill your goal.
4. When training -at least the first time - you might want to train in ideal conditions before trying in the soup.

All the above make the ILS in DCS highly unstable and it is not rare to need a week of hard work just to create a mission where the ILS is ON - I'm past a week trying and I couldn't make it happen yet. 
Either we need to know the exact conditions for the ILS to be active or the situation may be much more fluid if the ILS are ON at all times, whatever the conditions. 

Thanks for considering this request 

 

[Northstar98]

I really don't get why ILS on/off (and whether the marker beacons are on or off) isn't just tied to whatever the ATC sets as the active runway.

Regardless of everything else (time, weather, whatever), they pick an active runway - though with the caveat that it can't manage left/right runways.

I quite like Tippis' idea of being able to designate an active runway (essentially forcing an active for ATC), and have ILS enable for the designated runway.

Though the ATC system needs a major overhaul, but personally, it needs to at least offer the functionality and work just as well as the other, F-16 orientated sim's ATC system, couple that with AI improvements.

[Hinkey]

"Always on" is probably the simplest way to go (although I would prefer the ability to define the active in the ME). I can't figure out the logic used for determining the active. Senaki, Kutaisi and Kobuleti all have an ILS that lands east. All three prefer to land west, opposite their available ILS, unless you force a runway swap with wind.

Edited April 20, 2022 by Hinkey
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[Bailey]

1 hour ago, Hinkey said:

"Always on" is probably the simplest way to go (although I would prefer the ability to define the active in the ME). I can't figure out the logic used for determining the active. Senaki, Kutaisi and Kobuleti all have an ILS that lands east. All three prefer to land west, opposite their available ILS, unless you force a runway swap with wind.

 

There’s an ancient post somewhere in the forums that boiled down to something like 8 knots down the pipe will work for switching all Caucasus runways except permanent ones, which at the time included the one or two south of Anapa due to the mountain behind the runways.

Speeds below 8kts can be prone to a tailwind on the preferred runway (which isn’t rare irl). 

Edited April 20, 2022 by Bailey

[Hammer1-1]

I would just have the ILS system on when the runway lights are on. I seem to recall a mission or 3 where you had to call the airfield to report inbound and the lights will turn on for you. Either way I would think its best that way.

[Hinkey]

21 hours ago, Bailey said:

Speeds below 8kts can be prone to a tailwind on the preferred runway (which isn’t rare irl). 

Yeah, lots of irl stuff can cause an airport to land with a tailwind (terrain, noise abatement, traffic from nearby airports etc.). I've played with the wind and it is as you say (Humorously, Kobuleti tower will turn the field around at 6 knots but will not turn on the ILS until 7 knots). Having airports prefer to land opposite their only available precision approach presents some challenges. I'm trying to create a multi-crew training mission and I want approaches but I don't want wind. At any rate, I agree with @Nealius, just turn them all on for now. If more robust ATC provides better solutions later then revisit the issue.

Edited April 21, 2022 by Hinkey
punctuaion