Aerowinx PS1 PS13 Approach & Go Around due to Windshear

Flying Circuits at St Maarten in a B747

When you enter a ground based flight simulator, one of the first approaches they will offer you is TNCM (St Maarten in the Caribbean) and Maho Beach as the aircraft approach the airport at low altitude & persons cramming up against the fence to "feel the jet blast" sometimes losing clothing & being knocked around by the jet blast.

What would it be like to fly a basic training Touch & Go in a B744 with the Runway Heading of 096 Magnetic (or runway 010) making it easy to mentally calculate directional changes of 90 degrees though?

First check the procedures either on Pge 274 of the old text or Pge 559 of the new Operations Manual; just go Ctrl+F and put in Touch and Go. So what happened whne I attempted the flight in Aerowinx? It took 5 attempts to do it correctly but why?

The same reason it takes time while learning on a local training aircraft:
1. Stress, learning some thing new & turning base in a B747 you lose sight of the runway  on Base Leg & turning Final which adds to your situational awareness challenges.Try it.

2. Situational Awareness, that is being aware of where you are while maintaining the cockpit procedures  & keeping your head in the air; in summary airman-ship & going 3 -5 miles past the upwind end of the runway.

3. Mentally calculating when to turn at 500 feet (096 +90=186M or190) however at TNCM you have the mountain at the end of the runway & you want to get to 1,500 feet, ASAP. Most aircraft use HDG SELECT in real life to get them away from danger. and you may need a gentle touch while you build up speed which needs to be monitored. This was my mistake on the first attempt.

4. Before turning final it says "At 500 feet-stabilised in slot" but at TNCM the FMC (Flight management Computer) stated (420 feet) with 1 mile to go;not a lot of room to move then while going to Final. This was my mistake on the third attempt.

5. Because of this undershooting on Final is a real threat & hence all those "Close to humans' videos on Youtube & various other image sites.

The real benefit of this exercise which I adapted from flight situation file  "Departure 003 Sint Maartin to Sint Maartin" (Dutch spelling thanks to Aerowinx developer Hardy Heinlin) is you get to do some real flying that takes you back to your early morning 6.30am booking at your local airport with a sleepy instructor drinking coffee & probably an almost sleepy self/student checking the fuel drain for any signs of water contamination.

All of that is forgotten after you wake up the ATC (Air Traffic Control) staff in dispatch or in the Tower and get airborne. The image above shows the aircraft about to take to the air.

Try it yourself. Here is this weeks Mid-week encouragement question:
At 1,500 feet what 3 things must have been completed? Read the manual or use some research skills.

Britjet 1 or Peter has a YouTube presentation of a circuit but requested that you do the research work.

Till next time,

Neil