Procedures and approaches

Aircraft do not fly random lines. They follow published routes with names, and most of your traffic is already on one before you say a word.

Step 4 of 5 · Learn to control

Four pieces, in order

From en route to runway: arrival, transition, approach.

• SID — the departure route, runway out to the airway structure.
• STAR — the arrival route, airway structure in toward your airport.
• Transition — the feeder that joins the end of a STAR to the start of an approach.
• Approach — the final path down to the runway. ILS and RNAV are joined by the normal civil GLS, GPS, localizer, VOR and NDB families. Not in 0.6.1.24

You clear an aircraft onto each piece by name:

Iberia one two three four, cleared ADUXO two delta arrival

Procedures drawn on the scope, with their published altitude constraints.

Published constraints, and descending along them

A descend-via arrival steps down at each published constraint on its own.

Procedures carry altitude and speed limits at individual fixes — “at or below 7,000 at this fix”. Rather than stepping an arrival down yourself, you can hand the whole descent over in one clearance:

Iberia one two three four, descend via ADUXO two delta to flight level one zero zero

The aircraft then meets every published limit by itself, stopping at the level you named. climb via does the same thing for a departure on a SID.

Once it has passed a route fix, guidance continues forward instead of turning back to an earlier fix after recalculating its position.

A plain altitude clearance is different: it keeps the restrictions the aircraft can still meet and cancels only the ones that now conflict.

The clearance people forget

Vectors point it at the final. Only the clearance lets it join.

This is the single most common surprise in the game, so it is worth saying plainly:

Vectors are not an approach clearance

Pointing an aircraft at the final approach course with headings sets it up. It may fly straight through the course unless you actually clear it:

Iberia one two three four, cleared ILS approach runway two four left

The same applies to arrivals. An aircraft cleared onto a STAR flies the STAR and then stops at the end of it — even if you added expect runway two four left. “Expect” prepares the aircraft; it does not clear it. The approach clearance is always a separate instruction.

You can change the expected runway at any time, including after the aircraft is already flying the arrival. It re-plans only the part still ahead of it.

To send it via a particular feeder fix in the same breath:

Iberia one two three four, via LESBA, cleared ILS approach runway two four left

Some approaches do not line up with the runway until the last mile. The chart sends the aircraft past the field and turns it onto the centreline late — the RNAV X to runway 31 at LaGuardia is the classic one. Cleared for an approach like that, the aircraft flies one steady descent around the turn and lands; it is behaving normally, not overshooting. Not in 0.6.1.24

The side matters as much as the angle. The same thirty-degree heading joins the final approach course from one side and flies away from it on the other. Cleared on a heading that cannot close the gap, the aircraft reports that it will not intercept and names the turn you need. Turn it toward the course; the clearance still stands, and the approach arms itself. Not in 0.6.1.24

Instrument approach guidance

Not in 0.6.1.24

The approach name tells you what guides the final:

Approach	Lateral guidance	Vertical guidance
ILS	Front-course localizer	Published glide slope (G/S)
GLS	Published final course	Published glide path (G/P)
RNAV, RNP or GPS	Published route and final course	Coded path (PATH) or step-downs
LOC	Front-course localizer	Coded path or step-downs
LOC back course	Published back course	Coded path or step-downs; never front G/S
LDA	Offset localizer	Real G/S when published; otherwise path or step-downs
VOR, VOR/DME or VORTAC	Published route and final course	Coded path or step-downs
NDB or NDB/DME	Published route and final course	Coded path or step-downs

The game never invents a glide path. A pathless approach follows each published altitude restriction and may level at a step-down fix.

WPT shows the exact approach identifier. A * means lateral guidance is armed. AFL shows G/S, G/P, or PATH when that guidance is active. A step-down approach shows APP/040, using the assigned altitude.

At the missed approach point, a stable straight-in approach continues visually to land. An unstable aircraft or lost guidance goes around. The game does not create a circling approach.

RNP AR needs the full published procedure. Vector-to-final is refused, but a direct clearance to a published entry fix works. See All commands for every spoken type.

Visual approaches

Not in 0.6.1.24

Visual approaches stay inside the IFR clearance. They do not cancel the flight plan, and they are not the same as a contact or circling approach. An optional expectation can come before the two-step clearance exchange:

You may first name the visual that is likely:

Iberia one two three four, expect Park Visual runway three one

This remembers Park Visual without changing the route, guidance, heading, altitude or WPT stage. It can resolve a later short request such as report the airport in sight, but it never replaces the sight report or clearance.

Ask for the sight report first:

Iberia one two three four, report runway two four left in sight

When the aircraft is within the forward 20 nautical miles and can see the matching reference, it reports automatically. If it already sees the target, it answers In sight, Iberia one two three four. Otherwise it answers Will report in sight, Iberia one two three four and calls again when sight is acquired. You hear one immediate response, never an echo of your instruction.

You may describe a different visible object in the same request:

Iberia one two three four, report the metal tower in the parking lot in sight

If that phrase is not a published visual reference, the game keeps it as the spoken label and checks visibility against the resolved runway. It does not invent a position for the object or turn it into a named procedure. You must still use the exact published name to clear a named visual.

Then clear it:

Iberia one two three four, cleared visual approach runway two four left

Named charted visuals use the same exchange, but the report names the authored landmark or route and the clearance uses the published name:

Iberia one two three four, report the river in sight

Iberia one two three four, cleared River Visual approach

Some named visuals offer several source-backed sight references. Each airport, runway, landmark or visible route has its own physical target; choosing one does not make the others visible. In WPT, the right column becomes SIGHT REFERENCE and preselects the charted default. Choosing another reference sends nothing. Once the sight request is accepted, that reference stays pinned until the exchange ends.

The aircraft keeps its current route when the report is not yet possible. A clearance sent before the matching report is refused, and changing the runway or named procedure clears the earlier sight state. Not in 0.6.1.24

You do not need to place the aircraft exactly on a named visual’s first point. After the correct reference is in sight, a forward-route visual can join the earliest safe part ahead. It will not reverse along the chart, skip a required arc or cross protected airspace such as Washington’s P-56.

Open PROCS → IAP to draw a named visual, its landmarks and constraints on the radar. That row is a drawing control, not the clearance: use the aircraft’s WPT menu and its full-width visual card to request sight and clear it. The card always shows the procedure, runway, selected sight reference, progress, and one next action. Selecting a procedure or sight reference sends nothing. Generic visuals appear in WPT only because their path is generated for the aircraft rather than published as a charted route. Not in 0.6.1.24

For geographic context, MAPS → GEO → RIVERS draws major rivers such as the Potomac. The environmental line helps you read the radar but does not change the procedure or decide what the pilot can see.

When an approach cannot continue

Not in 0.6.1.24

The climb starts at once. An early turn waits until the missed approach point.

Tell an instrument arrival to go around when it cannot land:

Iberia one two three four, go around

The aircraft climbs immediately. Before the missed approach point, it keeps the final path until that point. It then flies the published missed route and any published hold. A late go-around joins forward instead of turning back.

Add a heading, an altitude, or both when you need different instructions:

Iberia one two three four, go around, fly heading two six five, climb and maintain three thousand

A standalone visual uses charted go-around instructions only when its own chart publishes them. Other visuals, including River Visual, need at least a heading or altitude. Their WPT card shows INSTRUCTIONS REQUIRED. If the aircraft goes around automatically, assign instructions when it shows ASSIGN GO-AROUND INSTRUCTIONS.

The aircraft also goes around after a sustained unstable approach, an occupied runway, lost modeled visual reference, or an approach-guidance failure. A manual go-around can be disregarded during the normal undo window. A safety go-around cannot.

Holding

A hold is a published racetrack over a fix, used to park an aircraft when you need time. The aircraft works out the correct entry itself from whichever direction it arrives.

Iberia one two three four, hold over NEPAL

When a route just stops

Some published legs end in an open heading rather than at a fix — the procedure genuinely says “fly this heading until further instruction”. The route preview draws a visible break there instead of inventing a shortcut to the next fix. That break is your cue to issue the next lateral clearance. While an assigned or published heading remains active, the aircraft continues silently instead of requesting vectors or entering a hold.

Note

You can ignore all of this and vector everything by hand. Procedures are a tool that saves you work, not an obligation.

Every procedure command, with its exact wording, is in All commands.