Microsoft Flight Simulator: When to begin descent? Microsoft Flight Simulator 2020 guide, tips

On this page of the guide to Microsoft Flight Simulator we tell you when to begin the descent, to be at the right altitude before landing on the destination airport. We explain how to calculate the moment of descent and how to choose the altitude for each stage of the route.

The ATC controller will send a message about the change in altitude before landing, but it is worth watching if he does it at the right time.

Passenger aircraft fly at very high altitudes, usually above 30,000 feet, where the thin air puts up less resistance, allowing much less fuel to be consumed and thus reducing transport costs. For passenger comfort and safety reasons, passenger aircraft are not designed for sharp down-quilting, so on each route you need to start descending at the right time to smoothly lower the flight by up to 10 kilometers.

To this end, the general principle of descent is adopted about 1,000 feet down for every three miles you cover. So it's easy to calculate that the reduction of the altitude by 30 thousand feet should begin already 90 miles before the airport. 20 thousand feet is 60 miles before the destination airport, etc.

To do this, keep in mind the altitude of the airport above sea level. In mountainous areas, the runway may be several thousand feet above the sea level. In addition, the ILS landing system usually takes over the aircraft at altitudes between 4 and 2 thousand feet. In fact, it is necessary to lose speed, but in Microsoft Flight Simulator it happens very quickly.

So when to start descending? You can rely on the AI messages of the ATC controller, but then you should control his decisions, whether he does not make it too late or including too extreme values. The flight plan offers some help. The one generated automatically in the game will show you the suggested altitude for each navigation point. Then you can clearly see when the descent process begins.

In our example flight, the plane flies at the altitude of FL180, which is 18 thousand feet. The navigation screen shows that the airport is somewhere between 40 and 60 miles ahead of the plane. A visible turn to the GRIFY point means that this distance is more than about 50 miles in a straight line. This is a good time to start a gradual descent, a few thousand feet down, at least for now. It is worth reaching the ATC to request altitude decrease, otherwise it will constantly ask to return to your previous altitude.

The flight plan in the MCDU computer is helpful here. Press F-PLN button to open it. Use the "up-down" arrows on your computer to scroll through a list of points. On the right you can see the minimum altitudes, at which you should be at a given point. For example, at Point COFAY this is 13500A, where " A" stands for "or Above", that is 13500 feet or more.

You can set the descent in the same way as the ascent by adjusting the autopilot knob and pressing the controlled altitude (or "selected" if for some reason the aircraft does not react to the change).

By comparing the ND navigation screen and the list of navigation points on the flight plan in the MCDU computer, you can get some useful information. With it, you can set given altitudes for the autopilot. You can see that you have to achieve 6000 feet before the point VASHN. In the plan, GRIFY has a closed quotation mark, which means the same height as the point above. HELZR is almost the last point and you need to reach4000 feet, KARFO - 3200 feet and DGLAS - minimum 1900 ft. DGLAS and KARFO are the last points before the landing runway at the airport, so you should expect that it is between them that the aircraft will be taken over by the ILS automatic landing system. You have to mind these altitudes in KARFO and DGLAS to make the system work properly.

If for some reason you started the descent too late and the plane quickly loses altitude causing an increase in speed, you can slightly slow down the machine with the aerodynamic SPEED BRAKE. Exceeding the safe speed is indicated by the flight computer voice message: OVERSPEED.

So, using the knowledge of the distance to the airport and the minimum altitude at each navigation point, you gradually change the altitude on autopilot, aiming to be at the point of the beginning of the landing procedure, that is, in this case, at 6000 feet pst VASHN point.