Capturing Glideslope...Is this a program glitch??

[vandy12]

I have noticed with all of the Flight simulator aircraft what seems like a glitch in the ability for the planes to capture the glideslopes.
I seem to watch the planes fly thru the glideslope over and over right over the airport. But, often, with the exact same settings, the
planes ILS WILL kick in and capture the glideslope and head down to runway. I am getting frustruated with the inconsistency of it.
You fly all the way to the airport and then don't land. Obviously, I often just switch off AP and land by hand, but I like to see if the
program's ILS will kick in most of the time. My questions: am I doing something wrong or have others observed this issue?
Second question: have any of you found a technique that gives you a standard speed and altitude which insures you capture
the glideslope every time?

When I approach Edwards AFB in the Hornet, I have tried to capture the glide slope at different altitudes at the same speed: 160 knots.
I have changed the altitude over and over to see at what altitude it will capture the glide slope. I've noticed when I set the ILS the plane automatically turns off the BALT and I have to turn it back on again every time. And, like all the other planes, when the glideslope is captured the altitude hold
automatically turns off--not sure why it turns off when I set the ILS. Anyway, Sometimes the plane captures the glideslope
at 6,000 feet and sometimes it does not. I have not been able to get it to capture the glideslope any higher than 6,000 feet.

Is this a programming issue or is there something I'm missing? Again, if anyone has the secret to capturing the GS every time I would be a much
happier pilot knowing this information.

Thanks,

Vandy

[sun444]

No glitch in the program.

I've noticed when I set the ILS the plane automatically turns off the BALT and I have to turn it back on again every time

Concerning the F/A-18 Hornet:

BALT has to turn off when you're going for the glide slope. If you turn it on again you'll fly level and there's no way to descend and land the plane.
BTW did you select ILS on the MFD (the ILS label should be marked with a rectangle) and set the AP to CPL?

[neutrino]

You may want to check this post - Re: autopilot landing

[vandy12]

SUN444 says:
BALT has to turn off when you're going for the glide slope. If you turn it on again you'll fly level and there's no way to descend and land the plane.
BTW did you select ILS on the MFD (the ILS label should be marked with a rectangle) and set the AP to CPL?

Hello Sun444 and thank you for taking time to respond to my post. I realize the Balt turns off when you actually capture the glideslope--at least it has done that from my experience. But, what I'm saying is Balt turns off BEFORE I capture the glideslope when I'm setting the ILS frequency. Then I turn it back on to maintain altitude, and THEN it turns off AUTOMATICALLY when I finally reach the glideslope and head to airport runway. Also, no I have not been setting the AP CPL. That could be the problem. It seems to me though like I've landed many times by just setting the ILS frequency, pressing enter, then clicking ILS on the DDI. I will double check though as I may have missed the CPL--appreciate you pointing this out--it could be the problem.

[vandy12]

Whoops. I have had the CPL turned on--every time. Balt and CPL. Dial in frequency, hit ent, then balt turns off. I turn it back on. Then when I get approximately 17-20 miles from airport--ILS kicks in on HUD. Then, sometimes it captures the GS, the BALT AUTOMATICALLY turns off, and the plane angles and goes to runway. SOMETIMES the plane just cruises right thru the glideslope and DOES NOT GO DOWN TO AIRPORT. Even when I'm at 3,000 feet at 150 knots. I don't get it. I know the frequency is correct--what else could it be? I've not only noticed this happening with the Hornet, but with the heavy iron in FSX too.

Vandy

[sun444]

It's kinda hard to tell without seeing it. Speed and altitude look alright, what about the angle to the runway. Does the aircraft establish on the localizer? Can you see both glide slope and localizer on the HUD?
If I have time I'll do some test with the Hornet tonight. Since I'm doing carrier ops only for a long time I haven't used AP recently.
I'll let you know if I can find out some more.

What you could do is before you take off save the flight (FLT file) then start recording using FSrecorder (freeware), take off and fly a traffic pattern, land or try to land using ILS and AP, then stop and save recording (FRC file) and mail (sun444 at gmx.com) me the 2 files with some short description of airport and the frenquencies you use. Perhaps I can find out what's wrong.