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Civil / Airliner45 min lesson

Hand-Flown ILS Approach

Fly a stable, hand-flown ILS from the FAF to touchdown — no autopilot, no autothrottle, just pitch and power.

About this lesson

Real airline pilots hand-fly ILS approaches for currency. So should you. Your tutor coaches you through instrument scan, pitch-and-power changes, and the corrections needed when the needles drift.

Why a human tutor? The corrections are millisecond-scale. A tutor sees your scan freeze or your trim lag and corrects it while it's happening.

What you'll learn

  • Instrument scan pattern for ILS
  • Pitch-and-power combinations for each configuration
  • Recognising and correcting localiser and glideslope drift
  • Trim technique to reduce workload
  • Managing speed without autothrottle

Prerequisites

  • Comfortable with a coupled ILS
  • Familiar with the aircraft's approach speeds

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Prep material

Read these guides before your lesson — you'll get more out of the session.