Post by Tom/CalClassic on Sept 20, 2014 11:17:54 GMT -5
Here is how Mike and I "fix" AFCAD airports with mismatched ILS and runway names, to allow ATC to use them:
1. If you have already edited the airport with AFCAD, rename the runways back to what they are in the stock airport using AFCAD. This puts things back into a format that ADE can handle.
2. If you have deleted any runways in AFCAD, add back small ones (length or heading don't matter), giving them the names of the missing stock runways. This prevents a crash later in ADE.
3. Save the BGL file in AFCAD, and open it in ADE (File/Open Airport from BGL). If you have not edited this airport in AFCAD, open the default airport (File/Open Stock Airport). If you have used it in ADE before, open your saved .ad4 file (or earlier file format)(File/Open Airport).
4. Click Approach Mode in the upper right, and choose Lists/Approaches. If there are no approaches listed, go back to Airport Mode using the same button, and use Tools/Load Stock Data to import Navaids and Waypoints, and Approaches.
5. Delete any runways that did not exist, and orphan any ILS's on those runways and those on existing runways that did not exist. Typically US airports had one ILS approach which was named IXXX, with XXX being the code for the airport. So for KLAX, the first ILS approach was ILAX. There were very few exceptions, including IDL and ORD, which had two each.
6. Rename any runways to their classic designations (we do NOT rename runways that have been renamed only due to magvar changes, but that's a personal choice).
7. Choose Lists/Runways, and rename all but one of the 36W runways (these are where the orphaned ILS's have been placed) to 35W, 34W, etc. They must have unique designations or the airport will not compile.
8. Go into Approach Mode (button at upper right), and choose Lists/Approaches.
9. Delete any RNAV and GPS approaches - they were not in use in our era. Delete any approaches for runways you have removed. If you have charts, let the charts guide you on what needs to be retained and which need to be removed.
10. Click on any remaining approaches for runways that have been renamed and choose Edit. This will bring up the approach on the right hand side. The map on the left side may look very odd, but we'll fix that.
a. The second and third lines in the lower part of the right window is the runway name. Change this to match the runway's new designation. Typically you are changing the third line from Left/Right to None, if the parallel runway has been removed.
b. Then go through each leg in the approach, in the upper part of the right window. You are looking for runways. When you find one rename it to the new name. In this case you would likely be changing something like RW09L to RW09 (for example). Once you make the change and click the next leg, you should see the approach "snap back" into its proper shape.
c. If you want to get fancy, technically the Transitions (routes that lead into the basic approach) should be limited to the ones shown in the charts, or at least should begin at navaids (or waypoints displayed on those charts). You can also add any missing Transitions displayed on the charts. This usually takes a bit of knowledge about how to create approaches - look at the stock approaches for guidance, and there is a bit of help here:
www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/threads/tutorial-approach-legtype-definitions-and-attached-picture.13751/
11. Save this file as an .ad4 file (File/Save Airport). I keep mine in an ADE/FS9/Work folder. Open this .ad4 file when you need to further edit the airport (do NOT open the BGL file!).
12. Look down in the lower left corner and see if the square is green. If so, the file should be compilable. If it is red, click the red square and fix the problems. Then use Tools/Fault Finder to check any other problems and fix those, if needed. Then save the .ad4 file again.
13. Compile the airport (File/Compile Airport), saving the BGL file into an active scenery folder. If you already have an AFCAD or ADE BGL file there for this airport, save a backup file first (cannot end in .BGL), then overwrite that file with your new compilation. Or remove the old file and give it a new name.
You should now have an airport with properly assigned ILS's and correct approaches in the GPS.
And if you need to add a new ILS (unlikely), ADE now has the feature that if you create an ILS frequency you can check a box in the Add ILS dialog box to create a simple ILS approach for the runway. This can then be modified if you have the charts.
1. If you have already edited the airport with AFCAD, rename the runways back to what they are in the stock airport using AFCAD. This puts things back into a format that ADE can handle.
2. If you have deleted any runways in AFCAD, add back small ones (length or heading don't matter), giving them the names of the missing stock runways. This prevents a crash later in ADE.
3. Save the BGL file in AFCAD, and open it in ADE (File/Open Airport from BGL). If you have not edited this airport in AFCAD, open the default airport (File/Open Stock Airport). If you have used it in ADE before, open your saved .ad4 file (or earlier file format)(File/Open Airport).
4. Click Approach Mode in the upper right, and choose Lists/Approaches. If there are no approaches listed, go back to Airport Mode using the same button, and use Tools/Load Stock Data to import Navaids and Waypoints, and Approaches.
5. Delete any runways that did not exist, and orphan any ILS's on those runways and those on existing runways that did not exist. Typically US airports had one ILS approach which was named IXXX, with XXX being the code for the airport. So for KLAX, the first ILS approach was ILAX. There were very few exceptions, including IDL and ORD, which had two each.
6. Rename any runways to their classic designations (we do NOT rename runways that have been renamed only due to magvar changes, but that's a personal choice).
7. Choose Lists/Runways, and rename all but one of the 36W runways (these are where the orphaned ILS's have been placed) to 35W, 34W, etc. They must have unique designations or the airport will not compile.
8. Go into Approach Mode (button at upper right), and choose Lists/Approaches.
9. Delete any RNAV and GPS approaches - they were not in use in our era. Delete any approaches for runways you have removed. If you have charts, let the charts guide you on what needs to be retained and which need to be removed.
10. Click on any remaining approaches for runways that have been renamed and choose Edit. This will bring up the approach on the right hand side. The map on the left side may look very odd, but we'll fix that.
a. The second and third lines in the lower part of the right window is the runway name. Change this to match the runway's new designation. Typically you are changing the third line from Left/Right to None, if the parallel runway has been removed.
b. Then go through each leg in the approach, in the upper part of the right window. You are looking for runways. When you find one rename it to the new name. In this case you would likely be changing something like RW09L to RW09 (for example). Once you make the change and click the next leg, you should see the approach "snap back" into its proper shape.
c. If you want to get fancy, technically the Transitions (routes that lead into the basic approach) should be limited to the ones shown in the charts, or at least should begin at navaids (or waypoints displayed on those charts). You can also add any missing Transitions displayed on the charts. This usually takes a bit of knowledge about how to create approaches - look at the stock approaches for guidance, and there is a bit of help here:
www.fsdeveloper.com/forum/threads/tutorial-approach-legtype-definitions-and-attached-picture.13751/
11. Save this file as an .ad4 file (File/Save Airport). I keep mine in an ADE/FS9/Work folder. Open this .ad4 file when you need to further edit the airport (do NOT open the BGL file!).
12. Look down in the lower left corner and see if the square is green. If so, the file should be compilable. If it is red, click the red square and fix the problems. Then use Tools/Fault Finder to check any other problems and fix those, if needed. Then save the .ad4 file again.
13. Compile the airport (File/Compile Airport), saving the BGL file into an active scenery folder. If you already have an AFCAD or ADE BGL file there for this airport, save a backup file first (cannot end in .BGL), then overwrite that file with your new compilation. Or remove the old file and give it a new name.
You should now have an airport with properly assigned ILS's and correct approaches in the GPS.
And if you need to add a new ILS (unlikely), ADE now has the feature that if you create an ILS frequency you can check a box in the Add ILS dialog box to create a simple ILS approach for the runway. This can then be modified if you have the charts.