Kjfk X Plane 11

[Jarrell Campbell]

Flewit twice, each from a different STAR. The LOC and GS bugs are in the middle on ILS , but the heading is off to the left by about 15 degrees. First time I let the autoland handle it and it touched down off the runway in the "grass" ; it was night. The second time it was heading exactly the same so I exited X Plane. This was with the A321 and I'm on a iMac (3.6 GHz 8-core IntwlCore i9 64 GB 2666MHZz DDR$ ,Radeon Pro Vega 8GB HBMZ memory.

this is normal and happens at a number of airports. The common problem for these is that there is no "space" to put the antenna for the localizer (which guides the plane down the centerline) behind the runway. Usually because there is water, or maybe some other obstacle. Sometimes the path is intentionally misaligned to avoid a mountain in the approach path.

...you can see that the ILS front course is 221, while the runways direction is 224. This is also the reason why the approach is limited to a CAT I approach (it doesnt allow autoland!) and has a fairly high minimum decision height of 250 feet over the runway (normal is 200 feet) - just to give you some extra time to align the aircraft (flown manually!) with the runway centerline.

Just check the ILS course and the runway heading and your are of course correct. So this says that this approach is to be flown to the DA 263' and manually land the plane like many GPS approaches and why this is not a CAT III approach. Seems there should be a comment on the approach plate to this issue.

On top of that the geometry of the approach is set up so that you will be on the centerline as you approach the decision height (thats why it is slightly angled towards the runway), so all you need to do is to turn the aircraft just gently.

In general it is not allowed to autoland on an approach that is not CAT II or CAT III, the precision of the ILS beam is not good enough. Some airlines allow autoland on ILS CAT I beams if the pilots carefully watch the performance and take over manually if it doesnt go well.

In my opinion this is not ideal - it is tough to take over when the plane unexpectedly starts rolling off just before touchdown. In practice it will probably work 99.999% of the time, though...and some airlines (knowing their pilotsflying skills) would probably rather take that risk than have their pilots land the planes manually every time?

On October 27th, 2017, I flew the club's Mooney (N747CF) to JFK and back. Accompanying me was club instructor Pete Daiuto. The trip was designed to satisfy the dual day/night cross-country requirements for my commercial pilot training, but also as a "bucket list" achievement.

The customary way to meet the commercial dual cross-country requirements is to do them both in one day. You fly to a desirable destination, have a meal while you wait for the terminator to pass overhead, and then return. That is exactly what we did, with two twists. The airport was extremely desirable, and the meal we had was breakfast. Yes, we did the night cross-country first, then waited for sunrise and flew back.

TL;DR - the trip was a huge success. You can see our photos here and a video shot during our taxi before departure here. I would recommend for any pilot to attempt this trip with no fear, assuming certain minimum experience and qualifications. Specifically, this should not be your first trip into the NYC Bravo, you should be able and willing to file IFR in and out, fly something faster than a Cessna 172, and - preferably - bring along a second pilot.

This summer, I decided to begin training for my commercial pilot certificate. I fly only recreationally and have no practical need for this qualification, but I thought it would make a good project and a way to improve my piloting skills. Upon reviewing the experience requirements I realized I met a lot of them already. However, I did not have the dual day and night 2-hour 100-nautical mile cross country flights. Since I have substantial cross-country experience, I wondered how to make the most of the requirement/opportunity to do relatively long cross-country flights with an instructor. Rather than artificially introduce difficulties into a trip that I would be very comfortable doing single-pilot, it seemed better to pick an extra-challenging destination.

Living in the northeast, any pilot knows where to find challenging airspace and destinations. New York City airspace is second to none in the world for traffic volume and complexity. I had prior experience flying the Skyline Route in the NYC Bravo airspace (single-pilot) and an IFR cross-country into Teterboro (dual, while in IFR training). I had also flown single-pilot into Philadelphia International (KPHL) , so knew that flying into an actual Bravo airport presents unique challenges and thrills. In summary, the obvious destination was a NYC Bravo airport - either JFK, LaGuardia or Newark.

After some research, I settled on JFK as the most likely. Of the three, it seemed the most general-aviation-friendly, both in terms of people posting their experiences on Airnav, ForeFlight and Youtube and in terms of landing fees.

I want to highlight some of the resources that I used during trip planning in case they are helpful to anyone else. First, the Port Authority website with information about landing fees. Click on "Rules, Regulations and Charges" and look under "Schedule of Charges". This lists landing fees for each airport as well as periods where those fees are higher - e.g. JFK has a $100 surcharge if you land or take off between 3pm and 10pm. This information is useful not just for saving money, but also as an indication of the busiest times at each airport. Also, for anyone considering LaGuardia, be aware that IFR slots are required and must be reserved online before you fly. I also tried calling the Towers at all three airports, but had some trouble getting through and/or getting useful information. This was probably just bad luck, though, and I still recommend anyone considering a trip to a Bravo airport to try calling Tower on the phone beforehand.

Pete and I planned and replanned the trip several times. We considered a variant where we would arrive into the city late at night and ask for touch-and-goes at all three airports - anecdotal evidence suggests some people have been able to do this. However, we discovered that LaGuardia is closed between midnight and 6am due to construction, so decided to limit our destination to JFK.

Another concern was making sure we meet the commercial requirements. The distance from KITH to KJFK is 164nm, which satisfies the 100nm requirement. However, each flight had to last at least two hours. As the Mooney is a fast plane, we could not guarantee a two-hour-plus duration even with some delays due to IFR routing. To be safe, we built in a detour via Syracuse. On the way back to Ithaca, we would monitor time en route and could divert directly to Ithaca if the two-hour requirement could be met without stopping at KSYR.

We initially planned the two cross countries in the customary order - day first, then night. However, JFK is busy in the afternoon and evening, as evidenced by the steep landing surcharge between 3pm and 10pm. This would suggest arriving in the morning, spending a whole day in the city, and returning late at night. This could have been fun, but it was not the best option for a variety of scheduling reasons.

Since Pete and I are both morning people, he proposed that we order the flights the other way - night in, day out. This seemed like the best idea despite the discomfort of a back-side-of-the-clock night leg. We would not need to spend extra time on the ground at JFK, and the second flight - when we would both be tired - would be during the day, in easier conditions.

The only issue we had to be careful about is timing our arrival with respect to sunrise, so we could legally log the entire inbound flight as night time. Fortunately, in late October Daylight Saving Time is still in effect, so sunrise at JFK on the 27th was very late - at 7:20 am. We needed wheels-down one hour before, so by 6:20am. With some calculations allowing in extra time due to uncertainty about IFR routing, we figured three hours ought to be enough for the flight. So, we decided on a 3:20am departure out of Ithaca, and a 2:30 am arrival time at the Ithaca airport.

A few days before the planned flight, I made final preparations. We would be filing IFR, of course - I would not attempt to get into a Bravo airport VFR except in the very small hours of the morning, and we would be arriving around 6am, which is not so early. Therefore, I carefully reviewed all JFK IFR procedures - arrivals, approaches and departures. I also identified suitable alternates in case a last-minute divert was needed for any reason; Islip (KISP) seemed a good alternate as did Republic (KFRG).

Two days before the trip, I started getting up at 5am and starting my day with a cardio workout, to shift my sleep schedule earlier and ensure I would be wide awake by the time of our 6am JFK landing.

The evening before the trip, I double-checked the weather - everything looked great, with perfect VFR except a layer of clouds forecast over Syracuse. We would be IFR of course, but it was cold so icing could be a concern. However, the layer was forecast to be thin and limited to Syracuse and points north. I also filed my IFR plan from Syracuse to JFK, for a 4:15am departure. I had never filed a flight plan so far in advance of a trip, but it certainly can be done the night before. Then I focused on getting as much sleep as I could before the 1:30 am alarm went off.

As planned, we met at the Ithaca airport around 2:30 am. After a quick but thorough preflight and an updated briefing, we were soon en route. That time of night, Ithaca Tower and Elmira Approach are both closed, so we self-announced on 119.6 (Ithaca Tower/CTAF) for taxi and departure. We took off from Ithaca around 3:30 am and flew to Syracuse VFR.

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