AF 2 visibility scale.

1st Official Post

    Aero 2 iOS update V 2.3.5. For 1 mile visibility place the centre of the slider between 'and' and 'visibility'. The insanely super bright PAPIS spoil the low vis, they are visible miles and miles away in the lowest setting. Do you have AF 2 Jan?

    The weather settings page AF 2

    Blythe Runway 26 VOR approach at the absolute minimums. Runway is offset to the right.

    1.0 mile visibility set. The Baron is 50 feet above the minimum descent height and 0.8 miles from the missed approach point (3.0 DME from the remote VOR/DME). RMI shows the inbound 232 track. The route is convoluted to get the VOR active and the HSI should be disregarded but the runway distance is correct at 0.8 miles.

    The 1.0 miles visibility set using the scale looks reasonable.

    I darent go to iOS 9 in case it kills my iPad! And it will only let me update aerofly if I'm on 9. I've got a good PC though now so I'll be getting aerofly 2 for that when it comes out.
    Do you think if I deleted aerofly and reinstalled it I would get the latest version? In fact it would probably just not let me download it.

    I suppose if you can get 9.0 it must be OK? I have it on a mini retina/2. The upgrade gives better navaids but it kills the out of home-area basic scenery, ILSs and DMEs which I really miss, no more long flights! If you clear some storage memory you won't need to uninstall. The mini 2 gets reduced quality graphics, don't know how a '1' will do. I am not sure if I even like the upgrade, the navigation feature is better but the user interface doesn't really work.

    Fun Localiser Performance with Vertical Guidance (No ILS type glide slope needle used).

    This augmentation of GPS allows Cat I ILS type minimums approaches, the U.S. WAAS (wide area augmentation system) version RNAV (GPS) Z RWY 19R for Buchanan Field allows a decision height of 250 feet with a visibility of 3/4 mile. The same airport's localiser DME approach has a higher minimum descent height of 417 feet with a visibility of 3/4 mile for aircraft with an approach speed below 140 knots and 1 1/4 miles for approach speeds above 140 knots. The expense of ground based nav-aids will result in more and more reliance on GPS based systems and the increasing retirement of the conventional nav-aids.

    For a crude simulation in Aero the positions of the GPS approach fixes REJOY and FEVTA were copied from SkyVector into an Aero 2 navigation route and the visibility set at 3/4 mile, the minimum for a King Air. The sim route does not provide vertical guidance but the route distance remaining multiplied by 300 gave approximate target heights. The more difficult distance X 318 + 23 feet touch down zone elevation, calculation would have given a better actual altitude target but is really a bit too much when flying live.

    SkyVector plate.

    The route copied into the Aero 2 navigation feature.

    The longer calculation would give a target altitude of 309 feet but this was close enough. The centre nav display is zoomed in more than the right seat display. The King Air is seven feet above the 273 feet decision altitude and the runway threshold is 0.9 miles away and is therefore not yet visible, the landing can be continued based on the visible approach lights and PAPIS.

    A whisker low, if at 309 feet the King Air would be slightly closer when the decision altitude was eventually reached.

    Inside the 0.75 miles visibility set. The visibility scale seems fairly reasonable. The localiser did not auto tune which is exactly what I wanted as it would have spoiled the pseudo GPS approach. With the route deleted and the Runway 19 flown outbound the localiser came alive immediately.