ILS turn on or not is affected by wind direction and speed.

[EviLHuAi]

I have tested it, and it does exist, is this a bug or is it simulating reality?

 

[draconus]

1 hour ago, EviLHuAi said:

I have tested it, and it does exist, is this a bug or is it simulating reality?

This is by design in DCS. ATC chooses the active runway for comms and ILS/markers/lights (they are turned off for other directions) basing on the wind direction and speed. There are some exceptions where there is only one direction available for the runway or one of the two parallel runways is chosen but still same direction (ex. Nellis).

Afaik IRL the ATC make similar decisions when available.

Edited August 7, 2024 by draconus

[EviLHuAi]

I think what you said makes sense, thank you for your answer!

[PE_Tigar]

On 8/7/2024 at 10:11 AM, draconus said:

Afaik IRL the ATC make similar decisions when available.

In my (admittedly limited) experience it definitely is not the case. How would you do circling approaches, for example? The game mechanic seems to be ill-informed here. ILS is usually only switched off for maintenance or repairs, and you get that info in NOTAMs. Or perhaps it's switched on and off if you have a single frequency for both directions (like in Vaziani in DCS). BTW, if this was how it worked IRL, then why would you have different frequencies for different ILSs at one airfield? This is both complicated and wrong, ILS should be on all the time unless we have a situation like in Vaziani.

BTW - see this Quora thread for supporting info: https://www.quora.com/At-large-airports-with-an-ILS-is-it-active-all-the-time-or-is-it-turned-off-during-daylight-and-clear-weather

Edited December 12, 2024 by PE_Tigar
more evidence

[draconus]

Yes about ILS IRL. But I'm not wrong about ATC deciding on active runway and direction.

[PE_Tigar]

True - the problem is with the ILS, ATC of course decides on active runways. Now I get it that someone thought runway lighting and ILS go in one package - it would be easy to introduce the same logic there but it's actually not how this thing works. IRL the situation in IMC can be quite fluid, I've witnessed a Challenger shoot ILS, go around, then do a VOR/NDB on opposite runway, then back on ILS in 15 minutes - just imagine yourself as a flight controller fiddling with switching ILS on and off amidst trying to do your job managing traffic... I hope just leaving ILS on wouldn't be too much to ask for.