Radio communications...what does it all mean?

[MadTommy]

Salute..

 

Can some kind soul explain the radio comms the tower gives when requesting landing.

 

 

I understand the 1st half.. "call-sign fly heading 298"...does it mean 9 miles?... then i have no idea what QFE 29.89 means, or how to ID runway number or what the pattern altitude is?

 

I just use ILS & waypoints.. but i'd like to understand the radio commands more.

 

Thanks for any help.

[EtherealN]

The QFE reading tells you air pressure for calibrating your altimeters (not used in FC2). QFE settings will make you read 0 barometric altitude at runway level, QNH makes you read 0 barometric altitude at median sea level.

 

Runway 13 = the runway direction that has you flying at course 130. Each physical runway therefore has two such ID's, one for each direction. Visual ID through the numbers written on the runway.

 

Pattern altitude ~1500 feet. (Altitude for entering the landing pattern.)

[LawnDart]

That phraseology is somewhat poorly written. I'd guess they mean the airport is on a bearing of 298 degrees and 9 miles (or possibly the IAF - Initial Approach Fix)?! QFE also isn't used to set your altimeter below FL180, QNH is (at least in the states).

 

Don't feel too bad for not quite understanding, there's a bit of guess work involved in understanding that sentance (even for someone who flies airplanes for a living). ;)

 

Normally you'd get a vector clearance: "Enfield 11, Batumi Tower, fly heading 290, airport 2 o'clock 9 miles"..."Enfield 11, Batumi Tower, make right traffic runway 13, altimeter 2986" etc.

 

Pattern altitude for jets is typically 1,500 AGL (above airport elev).

Edited April 21, 2010 by LawnDart

[Ven]

I didn't understand the QFE before either. Thanks for clearing that up Ethereal.

Heading of 298 for 9 miles is the course and distance to the initial approach. If you switch to NAV mode and cycle waypoints, that initial approach is reset to waypoint 1.

 

Runway 13 as said means you should be heading 130 for landing... or 310 from the other direction.

 

I also thought the pattern altitude was 2000 feet but thanks again for clearing that Ethereal. No wonder they always tell me I'm above glide path :)

 

So in that direction, you should fly heading of 298 for 9 miles and turn to heading of 130 for landing.

[LawnDart]

Normally you'd get an approach vector such as: "Enfield 11, Batumi Approach, 9 miles from (insert fix/waypoint name), fly heading 290, maintain 2,000 until established, cleared ILS runway 13".

 

This then means you'd fly that heading until intercepting the localizer. You'd maintain 2,000 feet until intercepting the glideslope (from below).

 

Now, if the game vectors you directly at the IAF (which isn't common practice in the real world), you'd have to be at glideslope intercept altitude which typically is 1,500 AGL (~5 miles from the runway). Similar to pattern altitude, but not the same. A typical ILS glideslope is 3 degrees, which is about 318 feet/nm, hence ~1,500/5nm for most IAF's.

 

Also, runways are named by their magnetic headings. For example, runway 04/22 at Anapa has a heading of 041/221. Runway 08/26 at Kutaisi has a heading of 074/254. You can look up the exact headings in the F10 view by clicking on the airport symbol.

 

Sorry for all the babbeling, but phraseology in FC2 insn't its strong suite, although I'm sure the ILS itself works as expected.

Edited April 21, 2010 by LawnDart

[The Beast]

In the US fighters do the overhead break for landing. Basicly they fly 2000 over the runway break to the left or right half down the runway and come around for a landing. refer to the pic below

 

 

its basicly made to get jets on the ground as fas as possible to aviod enemy fire

[MadTommy]

Thanks lads.. i appreciate the comprehensive explanations.

[ZaltysZ]

The QFE reading tells you air pressure for calibrating your altimeters (not used in FC2).

 

Try RShift + "-" / RShift + "=" with Su25. :smartass:

[EtherealN]

LawnDart, on QFE: this is russia and CIS we are talking about. Western procedure is out the window. ;)

 

Also, it sounds like your are confusing QFE with Standard. At altitude you use standard (1013,35), below Flight Level 90 (at least here) you use QNH. Some parts of the service still use QFE as required. Russia and the CIS use mainly QFE.

[MadTommy]

 

:music_whistling: :book:

[LawnDart]

LawnDart, on QFE: this is russia and CIS we are talking about. Western procedure is out the window. ;)

 

Hehe... I'm sure it is, and I wouldn't know! :D

 

Also, it sounds like your are confusing QFE with Standard. At altitude you use standard (1013,35), below Flight Level 90 (at least here) you use QNH. Some parts of the service still use QFE as required. Russia and the CIS use mainly QFE.

 

Actually that's pretty much what I was trying to say in my previous post, except in the western world the transition altitude is FL180. I didn't know that Russia and the CIS use mainly QFE though, it's not very common here (except for some military and/or aerobatic use).

 

With the risk of being too detailed (and giving MadTommy more abreviations that will make his head really hurt ;)), here's a quick summary of the Q codes:

• QNH (mnemonic "Nautical Height") = used below FL180 (in the US). Will cause altimeter to read airport elevation avobe MSL (mean sea level).
  
• QNE (or standard) = used above FL180. (Will cause altimeter to read altitude above the reference plane of 29.92 inHg, 760 mmHg or 1013.25 mbar, known as "standard").
  
• QFE (mnemonic "Field Elevation") = rarely used in the US. Will cause altimeter to read zero at airport elevation.
  

[EtherealN]

You're right on the FL stuff. I messed up my meter/feet conversion. (Damn imperialists and your imperialist measuring conventions. :P)

[ernieball]

What I have learned is the pattern as decribed like The Beast did. In wartime, communication with tower and others is reduced to a minimum. The pilot has two reporting points: 'the brake' and 'on final'. ILS is almost never used. An example for european military airspace:

 

PILOT: Tower, Falcon 7, for full stop

TOWER: Falcon 7, report the brake, rwy 25

...

PILOT: Falcon 7, on the brake rwy 25

TOWER: Falcon 7, report final rwy 25

...

PILOT: Falcon 7, final rwy 25

TOWER: Falcon 7, cleared to land rwy 25

PILOT: cleared to land rwy 25, Falcon 7

...