Good morning ladies and gentlemen.
https://my.vatsim.net/learnI wanted to take some time to write up a debrief on following approach clearances properly. I spent over 2 hours on SoCal approach yesterday during FNOscars, and it was
EMBARRASING the amount of pilots messed up their routing onto the ILS to 25L and 24R.
I am going to run through how these procedures specifically are meant to be flown, but please remember a few cardinal rules of VATSIM that apply to ALL procedures, during ALL flights, in ALL regions of the world:
1. Familiarize yourself with your filed or cleared route. Verify that the route loaded in your FMC is INDENTICAL to the route that you filed or were cleared via. Remember it may change during your flight.
2. If you receive a clearance that you are unsure of how to fly,
ASK for clarification.
Do NOT just assume you can figure it out.
3. Familiarize yourself with the automation of your aircraft. If you are unable to fly assigned headings, altitudes or airspeeds with a
100% success rate, you should avoid flying into events of any type until you are able to do so.
4. If your autopilot is not doing what it is supposed to do, you should be able to disconnect it and hand fly almost as good as the autopilot would be able to. We can accommodate automation failures just fine, but there's very little we can do if you are unable to fly headings, altitudes or speeds as assigned.
https://my.vatsim.net/learnNow to the fun stuff:LAX Approach plates: These are publicly available for FREE for all airports in the US. Therefore:
You have NO EXCUSE for not having the chart.https://airnav.com/ILS 24R:
https://aeronav.faa.gov/d-tpp/2402/00237IL24R.PDFILS 25L:
https://aeronav.faa.gov/d-tpp/2402/00237IL25L.PDFAll jet arrivals from the east to LAX are either on the ANJLL arrival or the HLYWD arrival. The ANJLL ends at CRCUS, and the HLYWD ends at SEAVU.
Notice, approaches to both 25L and 24R have those two fixes on them. Meaning you will receive a clearance such as "At SEAVU cleared ILS runway 24R". This clearance means you are cleared to proceed from SEAVU, Direct SKOLL, then via the localizer and glideslope down to the runway 24R.
You are NOT cleared to proceed from SEAVU direct MERCE. This is a common problem that would be solved by following rule number 1 above.
These charts are designed to be very easy to read. Literally just follow the arrows. Every fix you are meant to fly to is shown on the map view with arrows connecting them together. If something doesn't make sense, follow rule 2 above, and
ASK.
Here is another helpful graphic:
https://laartcc.org/uploads/downloads/KLAX_ANJLL_HLYWD_Arrival_Briefing_Card.pnghttps://my.vatsim.net/learnhttps://my.vatsim.net/learnQUIZ time!
You are descending via the ANJLL arrival. You check on with approach and they tell you, "SWA123, SoCal approach, information P is current, at CRCUS cleared ILS runway 25R."
a) What should the next waypoint
after CRCUS be?
b) What altitude and speed should you be
at CRCUS?
c) What altitude should you be at the fix
after CRCUS?
If you've made it this far, thank you. You are contributing to the improvement of VATSIM. If you know anyone who needs help with this stuff, feel free to send the link and have them participate.
Remember, VATSIM has decent resource to learn this stuff too. Next time you're bored at cruise, take some time to explore. You might learn something accidentally. I'm a real world IFR pilots and air traffic controller, and even I find stuff in here that I didn't know.
https://my.vatsim.net/learn