Communications:
Ross Tower: 122.10 mhz.
Ross Ground: 128.70 mhz.
Automated Weather Observation Service (AWOS)
120.6mhz.
Navaids:
ROS VOR 116.5 mhz.
ROS NDB 282 khz.
Special Procedures:
Ross Airpark NOT avble Category D-E acft.
All ops rway 09/27 should be conducted as short-field ops.
Acft arriving VFR shall enter circuit at 2500ft on ROS QNH, and maintain 2500ft until on downwind leg of circuit, unless otherwise instructed by ATC.
CAUTION: Rwy 09/27 NOT avble turbine acft. CAUTION: Rwy 09/27 NOT avble acft above 5700kg. CAUTION: High ground 2nm NE of airpark. RIGHT Circuits rway. CAUTION: Lake NOT avble acft use.
Ross Airpark, ATC, Weather, Flight Planning
In this region, a municipal airpark would be unlikely to feature a control tower, though navaids and a standard PAPI would be reasonable inclusions. Primarily, the tower has been included for users who enjoy AI aircraft movements (see item below). The airpark has the fictional ICAO ID of YROS, which should show on your GPS, giving you an indication of distance to circuit (VFR) or distance to MSA within 25nm (IFR).
The ROS navaids have typical coverage (VOR, 90nm; NDB, 50nm). Your on-screen ATC display should offer the usual Tower and Traffic options, and Automated Weather information on 120.60.
You can flightplan to the airpark as usual, since Ross should be included in the World menu, under Go To Airport, etc.
For IFR ops, see "IFR Arrivals" below.
Departures
Five starting positions are available: Terminal; Rway 16; Rway 34; Hotels Block; West Villas. These are obtainable from Menu--World--Go to Airport--Search ADDON SCENERY--Ross.
Scenery Complexity Settings and Frame rates
Please refer to the Ross ReadMe file.
AI Aircraft
In the Extras Folder you will find an AFCAD airport file and a related ReadMe. Briefly, the AFCAD file makes possible AI aircraft movements at an airport. Its installation is purely optional. You will need Lee Swordy's AFCAD program to load it into your installed Ross Folder, and his Traffic Tools to prepare AI flight plans to and from the airpark. The AFCAD airport map shows the taxiways and parking positions.
Airpark Capacity
The largest aircraft I have flown into and from Ross is the B737-400 (see photo). There is no ILS at Ross, so the heavy metal has to be hand-flown down Final, and it requires accuracy. The 16/34 radials provide fairly good approach indicators for final approach, provided the latter commences no less than 20-15nm from touchdown. A night IFR into Ross, in the B737, with ceiling near the minimum, is very interesting!
Viewing the Layout by Slewing
If you are unfamiliar with using the SLEW function in MS-FS, please read the following.
Whether you start on a Ross runway or after a fly-in, you can easily view the layout as follows:
1. Ensure 'NUM LOCK' is OFF. IF your CPU has the power, choose Scenery Complexity--Dense (or greater)-- from your Display Options.
2. With your aircraft stationary, choose full-screen view from the menu.
3. Type the 'W' key twice to change to Full View without instruments.
4. Type the 'Y' key to enter slew function.
5. Type the 'F3' key to slowly rise above the terrain. At a suitable height, say 1500', type the 5 key on your number pad to halt your position. The 'F4' key provides a rapid rise.
6. Now use the 1 and 3 number pad keys to slowly turn left or right, and the 8 and 2 keys to move forwards/backwards. Constant key pressure increases the rate of movement (except for 'F3').
7. You can rapidly return to earth using the 'F1' key.
VFR scenic flights to/from Ross Airpark
Tasmania offers some glorious viewing in FS2002, especially if you have installed the 'highly recommended' addons, such as Ian Thatcher's Tassie LandClass scenery. All of the following departure airports have navaids.
Launceston-Ross. VOR 112.6; NDB 242. A short 31nm flight. Track: 158*T = 144*mag. LSafe: 4500'. Far to the left lies the Tasman Sea. On your right, depending on cloud coverage, you should be able to see Great Lake, Arthurs Lake and Lake Sorell.
Hobart-Ross. VOR 112.7. 48nm. Track: 360*T = 346*mag. LSafe: 4500'. You will pass over rugged mountainous country and a few small lakes, with the Tasman to your right and the large lakes emerging on your left. This track leads almost directly onto the runway 34 approach, but it is locally illegal to fly less than three circuits before landing.
St. Helens-Ross. NDB 392. 55nm. Track: 222*T = 208*mag. LSafe: 4500'. Tracking from the east coast, around the 40nm mark you should see the 5000' mountain Ben Lomond to your right. The track will take you across several picturesque valleys. Arriving from the NE, normally you would overfly at 2500' to establish your chosen circuit.
Queenstown-Ross. Strahan NDB 257. 87nm. Track: 089*T = 075*mag. LSafe: 5800'. This west-east flight will take you over the Tasmanian heartland, across rugged mountains and most of the major lakes. Given Ian Thatcher's LandClass scenery addon, it is a spectacular flight. Again, overfly at 2500' before establishing your circuit.
Ross Airpark and IFR Arrivals
Be aware that the procedure turn to the minima will deliver you BELOW the PAPI glide slope (3*), so maintain altitude until achieving it. The long (1.5mins) outbound leg of the procedure turn is designed to enable turbine aircraft (and other heavy metal) to establish a comfortable final leg.
You can flight-plan as usual, or plan from/via one of the above airports, using the tracks given and without invoking ATC (which hits frame rates). In IMC, be careful to remain above the enroute LSafe and 25nm MSA. Refer to the Rwy 16/34 arrival plates for final entry. The VOR & NDB are co-sited, and share the approach plates. Both of the 16 & 34 holds are RIGHT handed, with standard entries.
NOTES ON THE IFR ARRIVAL PLATES
You should print the IFR ARRIVALS JPEG--you will need it handy to fly the entry, hold and reversal. Also, an inexpensive desktop timer is invaluable for all IFR arrivals based on time segments (there being no DME).
The IFR arrival plates are simplified versions of the kind officially published by government aviation control bodies. If you are unfamiliar with interpreting such diagrams, please read the following.
1. The Arrival Phase
Let's assume that you have followed your IFR flight plan and tracked towards ROSS at your legal ICAO altitude or flight level. This altitude will have kept you above your Lowest Safe Altitude (LSalt), and must accord with the ICAO hemispheres of "odds and evens". You will have set the ROS navaids in your comms (VOR 116.5; NDB 282) and identified both. The morse ident appears at top left in the plates, as do the navaid frequencies. You will also have obtained the Ross Weather Observation (120.6), and determined the active runway. The keyboard "B" sets your altimeter. If you are using ATC, you will have contacted the tower on 112.1. Below 10,000ft AGL, your speed must not exceed 250kts IAS.
The circle at left shows the Minimum Safe Altitudes within 25NM of the ROS navaids. All radials from 206 to 306 have a MSA of 5500'. All radials from 306 to 206 (through 360 and 090) have a MSA of 4500 ft. In real-world flight, after advising ATC that you are at "top of descent" and commencing descent, you can descend to your respective MSA. However, you could do this ONLY if you had legal distance measuring equipment (which the FS GPS would not be). In FSim we can cheat and descend, using the GPS as our distance measuring navaid.
2. Entry to the Hold
As an example, study the diagram 'Holding at VOR/NDB' for runway 16. Your entry to the holding pattern is determined by your HEADING (not track) as you near the navaids. This heading will give you one of three Sector entries, which for convenience we call "Direct" (Sector 3), "Parallel" (Sector 1) and "Teardrop/Offset" (Sector 2). To this point you must maintain the MSA, which will be at least 1000ft above the holding altitude.
For Rway 16, if your heading at the navaid is a figure between 270 through north to 090, you make a Direct entry by passing the navaid and soon after turning right to the holding outbound course of 160*. When you pass the navaid (which will be on your right), you start timing your 1 minute outbound course. You can now commence your descent to the Minimum Altitude of the hold, 3500'. After 1 minute, you turn right to intercept the 340* inbound track back to the navaid.
If your heading at the navaid is a figure betwen 160* and 270*, you fly a parallel entry. After crossing the navaid, you turn left to 160* and fly this heading for 1 minute. You then turn left onto the inbound track of 340*, and fly the holding pattern if necessary. You can commence your descent to the holding altitude, 3500'.
If your heading at the navaid is a figure between 090* and 160*, you fly a teardrop (or offset) entry. Soon after passing the navaid, you turn 30* from the reciprocal of the inbound track to the navaid. That is, you turn left to 130*, and hold this heading for a maximum of 1.5 minutes (90secs). You then turn right to intercept the inbound track, 340*, and can commence your descent to the hold altitude of 3500'.
3. The Holding Pattern
Once in the holding pattern, you follow the instructions given in the table. All turns should be Rate One turns. Your Track In is the radial (VOR) or bearing (NDB) to must fly to the navaid. If you are still too high to commence the reversal, you fly the holding pattern as shown, a right-hand turn. Your outbound course (160*) should last 1 minute, and you must not descend below the hold minimum of 3500' on Ross QNH.
4. The Reversal Procedure
Before commencing the reversal procedure, you must be within prescribed limits of accuracy when tracking inbound to the navaid. For convenience, let's accept these as +/- 5* of track. Study the two reversal diagrams for runway 16. Passing the navaid, at no lower than 3500', you track 340* for 90 seconds, and descend to no lower than 2600'. After 90 seconds, you turn 45* right to 025*, while maintaining 2600' or above it. You fly this heading for 1 minute (Category A & B aircraft), or 1 minute 15 seconds (Category C). After this time you make a 180* turn to 205*, and fly this heading until you begin to intercept the approach track of 160* back to the navaid. Still you must remain at or above 2600'. Anticipation and judgment are the keys to a comfortable interception and final approach--neither too soon nor too late.
Again, you must be within the prescribed tracking limits (+/- 5*) before commencing your final descent. When you are, commence your final descent to--but not below--the Minimal Descent Altitude (MDA) and visibility for your Category of aircraft. In this case, for all Categories these are 1700'/3.5nm.
Again note: the lengthy reversal will likely deliver you below the standard glideslope (3*). If you become visual at 1700', hold that altitude until you obtain 2 red/2 white on the PAPI, then descend as usual.
5. The Non-Precision Approach Minima
The tables at bottom left state the altitude and visibility minima for our two non-precision approaches, and the Category of aircraft to which they apply.
Category A aircraft have a speed-at-threshold up to 90KT IAS (eg. the Cessna 182; the ICAO definition is technical). Category B aircraft are between 91KT and 120KT IAS (eg. the Baron 58). Category C are 121KT to 140KT IAS. Category D are 141KT to 165KT IAS. At Ross, the minima apply to all Categories. Clearly, the tables show that ONLY categories A-C aircraft can use this airport under IFR conditions.
The VOR/NDB figure of 1700' refers to the Minimum Descent Altitude AMSL on Ross QNH. The figures in parentheses show that, for the VOR/NDB non-precision approaches, this is 699' above aerodrome elevation, with a required horizontal visibility of 3.5 nm. The altitude minimum for circling is 300' higher, while the required visibility is lower at 2.5 nm.
The lower figures refer to the forecast minima that dicatate whether or not you must plan for an ALTERNATE airport. These figures can be confusing for the uninitiated. The 1400 figure denotes the CLOUD CEILING in feet. That is, if the forecast IMC cloud base is 2401' AMSL or less, OR if the horizontal visibility is 4.0 KILOMETRES or less, you must plan for an alternate.
6. The Missed Approach
If you fail to achieve the stated minima, you must fly the missed approach. Note that the Missed Approach Point (MAPt) occurs BEFORE you reach the navaid--that's the meaning of the horizontal line in the diagram. You cannot descend below 1700' until you become visual, and if this does not eventuate then you must fly the missed approach as given. This will climb you back to 3500', whereupon you re-enter the holding pattern according to the correct Sector.
