I basically haven’t touched X-Plane for a week; finally, the weekend is here, so I can have some fun. What should I practice? I realized it’s been a long time since I practiced ILS, so let’s do a quick review.

As always, I’m flying the Cessna 172, taking off from Narita Airport Runway 16L. I checked the weather; there are cloud layers at 3,000 and 8,000 feet. So, I continued a straight Climb along the Runway direction to 13,000 feet. After passing the famous Kujukuri Beach in Chiba Prefecture, I flew west toward the Arlon waypoint.

This Arlon is the waypoint for the standard Arrival procedure for Runway 34R at Haneda Airport. If you listen to actual air traffic control communications, you will know that during the northerly wind season, controllers constantly direct various flights to this point. The assigned altitude there is 4,000 feet.

I checked the Japanese AIP (Aeronautical Information Publication) data, and the approach chart for ILS Zulu Rwy34R is shown below. Sure enough, Arlon is the IAF (Initial Approach Fix) for the ILS instrument approach procedure, at an altitude of 4,000 feet.

I checked the weather at Haneda again. Hmm, wind direction 140?? Wouldn’t landing on Runway 34 be a tailwind? Well, whatever. It’s too much trouble to reroute via Tokyo Bay, and fortunately, the wind speed isn’t high, so it shouldn’t be a big issue. According to the image above or the approach chart, the ILS navigation facility frequency is 108.9 MHz. So, I set the NAV1 frequency to 108.9, and continuously reduced my altitude to reach 4,000 feet as I arrived at ARLON.

After reaching Arlon and turning to a Heading of 340 degrees, I could see that I was facing Haneda Airport’s Runway. I smoothly adjusted the yoke and reduced the throttle, striving to center both the vertical and horizontal needles on the ILS Glide Slope Indicator. The aircraft gradually descended smoothly, getting closer to the Runway. I could see the skyscrapers in downtown Tokyo getting closer in the distance. Finally, a smooth landing. It was just okay. If I were to rate this landing myself, I’d give it a 70.

Fin