Real pilot, real procedure, real challenge! The Roswell Widow Maker (MSFS)

Real pilot flies the Avro Vulcan around this iconic Roswell approach. Learn about this approach, as well as the Vulcan autopilot and avionics, and how to manage everything for a successful approach.
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📚 Chapters
00:00 Intro
00:51 Briefing the approach
02:46 Cockpit setup
04:10 Useful calculations
06:10 Starting the procedure
08:34 Being descent & intercepting the arc
10:30 Levelling at 6500ft
12:43 Lead radial turn to intercept ILS
15:52 Descending with ILS
18:13 Short final to land
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[@FU2Max]

Nice to see the Vulcan flown correctly. Great Video.

[@cgaviator]

As correct as I can get it anyhow! lol

[@jakobite_ta2152]

​@@cgaviator🤣👏

[@CR-yf9uu]

This would be confusing enough without the utterly backwards heding compass, but hey who likes easy anyway :-) excellent video as always, great to have you back!

[@cgaviator]

I know, right!? Lol. I've been flying this so much I'll be confused with modern kit by the time I use it again! And thanks, appreciate it

[@doifeellucky]

Thanks for this and good to have you back creating content. I must get the Vulcan. 2024 will be my year of learning how to do things properly.

[@cgaviator]

Depends on your definition of ‘properly!’ 😂 Vulcan is definitely worth getting to grips with.

[@doifeellucky]

@@cgaviator At the moment I’m just using the default installation with no addons and tend to just jump in and fly about a bit, in both MSFS and DCS. Primarily as I just don’t have the time due to other commitments. I’d just like a better understanding of navigation, ILS etc. I always do everything manually. 30 plus years ago I was considering the RAF but a heart murmur unfortunately scuppered that plan.

[@keironcornell9396]

Nicely done Chris. I do enjoy your flight walkthroughs.

[@cgaviator]

Good to hear, thanks! Though this was perhaps more of a sprint through! lol

[@BigDuke6ixx]

Nicely done. Back in the 90s when my mate was flying Sea Kings for the Fleet Air Arm, he used to practice for check rides on my PC running FS4 with me as the handling pilot and him doing all the nav. No choppers in the sim back then so we used a GA aircraft with similar cruise speed, probably a Cessna. He said it was a massive help to do these sortie rehearsals. Back in those days PC gaming was very niche and PC flight simming was even more so.

[@cgaviator]

It can be very useful for rehearsal but can also play havoc with muscle memory, lol!

[@BigDuke6ixx]

@@cgaviator in our case, back in the day, that didn't come into it as I was always the handling pilot.

[@Karibanu]

I have a friend flying for a small cargo airline, it may amuse you to know one of the check pilots keeps simbrief active on his ipad coz he reckons it's the best flight planning tool they have there :p

[@cgaviator]

@@Karibanu SkyVector is one that I use for sim and for real

[@olifjc]

Busy! Thanks for making this video, going to go back and re-watch some of the approximations you used, they seem very useful!

[@cgaviator]

My pleasure - I do like my rules of thumb!

[@DCSHacks]

So good! Really glad to have you back! Would love to see some real pilots doing PMDG shared cockpit stuff!

[@cgaviator]

Didn't realise PMDG enbaled that. Need some fast jet shared cockpit!

[@DCSHacks]

@@cgaviator DCS F-15E 👍

[@Karibanu]

@@cgaviator YourControls - coincidentally tested it last night with a default aircraft, it has configs for the 737 & DC-6 but I haven't got to try those. One person has control of the basic flight controks, otherwise anyone can use the rest as far as I can tell. If you don't try aerobatics it's pretty smooth too. Or DCS :p

[@cgaviator]

@@Karibanu interesting, thanks

[@pannic11]

As someone who is currently learning the basics of ILS, this is very complex and very overwhelming, although I appreciate that you still remain calm and explain your thourght process. Trying my best to rewatch your videos to see how I can improve. Thank you for the great content!

[@cgaviator]

This is somewhat A level. I’m going to go back to some basics soon 👍🏻

[@swedishbones8937]

Mind boggling. Nice walkthrough of all instruments, calculations and manoeuvres necessary to make the approach.

[@cgaviator]

Thanks 🙏🏻

[@asya9493]

Widowmaker approach ? Great. At Alice Springs (YBAS) in Australia there was once a triple NDB app with 6 station passages. No I'm not kidding. Into the bargain was not one but two high ridgelines at right angle to the approach axis. The predictable happened and a Learjet got lost in all the steps and smacked into the side of a hill. And that was the end of that approach !

[@cgaviator]

As if they didn’t know that would eventually happen! 🤦🏼‍♂️ Most rules and regs are written in blood sadly.

[@gpvisser]

When I was a T-38 IP in the 80's, I used to take students to the "widow maker" at Roswell, but at that time, it was the LOC BC Rwy 03--a south arc off the ROW (now CME) TACAN to a localizer back course with a greater than 90 degree turn to the final approach course. High speed of the T-38 combined with the sharp turn and descent to a lower final approach altitude foiled many a student.

[@cgaviator]

I bet it did! Not many BCs around now. One at Lubbock I’ve done. Though the short hop between Navy and Alliance Fort Worth is enough to throw the students off these days! 😅

[@jeanmarclevy7752]

Superb handling and I learned the arc management ‘old school’ thanks !

[@cgaviator]

My pleasure! Old school is the way, not this digital stuff! 😂

[@colb6171]

Cheers Chris excellent juggling act. I especially like all the useful tips along the way. I always learn more from your video's, great stuff

[@cgaviator]

Thanks, appreciate it. Always like to add some value 👍🏻

[@tomling9310]

That’s really impressive mate. 👍

[@cgaviator]

Cheers 👍🏻

[@SkyPilotXSX]

Incredible. Much kudos to you good sir

[@cgaviator]

Thank you kindly!

[@mikebakkeyt]

Brilliant stuff!

[@cgaviator]

Thanks 🙏🏻

[@cavok1984]

That was a great video Chris! I always like to think I'm reasonably proficient doing instrument approaches in MSFS but I wouldn't have a clue if I was thrown into the Vulcan with it's "funny" instruments. You made it look easy. Great stuff

[@cgaviator]

Thanks 🙏🏻 It’s easy to get behind that’s for sure. Practice and all that! Wish I’d been there for real to get the tshirt! 😅

[@barone069]

This was great to see! Tks

[@cgaviator]

Pleased you liked 👍🏻

[@adamditch5835]

Nice approach Chris... That was busy.. Nice Landing.. Pity the Chute Repackers.. 😳

[@cgaviator]

Thanks, at least I’ve never had to ask them to repack my parachute! 😅

[@grahamthebaronhesketh.]

Piece of cake old boy.

[@cgaviator]

Most things are when you’ve done them so many times! 😂

[@StayPuft80]

Great video. Enjoyed that. Hopefully xbox will get it soon.

[@cgaviator]

Hope so! Don’t want them to miss out!

[@jordandegraaff]

Getting close to where I live. I didn’t know Roswell had such a difficult approach. I would’ve thought Albuquerque would have the most difficult approaches in the state.

[@cgaviator]

There are a few around. May have to fly Aspen next! 😅

[@ayman7797]

beautiful

[@cgaviator]

Thank you! 😊

[@haroldnicholson8603]

Great to watch as always thanks Chris, but I mean it when I say , Waaay, beyond this old boys capabilities and smarts 😁

[@cgaviator]

It’s just a few knobs and buttons, I’m sure you could figure it! 😉

[@Karibanu]

That's the laziest TAS estimate I've heared of, I absolutely love it :) I'm totally using that. I must admit I generally rather turn my mental head than turn instrument cards which is a bad habit, but it's also useful in times of task saturation I suppose. I'm glad your #2 pilot was watching outside :D good job on the procedure!

[@cgaviator]

Lol, any time I can be lazy but still reasonably accurate, I'll take it! And thanks, appreciate it

[@Karibanu]

@@cgaviator I dont suppose you have a similarily simple method for estimating drift?

[@cgaviator]

@@Karibanu yup! Max drift is wind speed divided by TAS in miles per minute. So 300kt = 5 miles/min. If the wind is 20kt then the max adjustment will be 4 degrees. With the wind at 30/45/60 degrees off heading, adjust using half/3 quarters/all of the max drift. Think that’s about right!

[@pereraronshi]

Thanks for showing the autopilot glide function 😃 Also wanted to say thanks for getting me into military jets in the sim. Your tutorials made it less daunting. I’ve had so much fun in them that I installed DCS and purchased the Heatblur F-14 module for it. Currently making my way through the manual for it. It’s a good bit of light reading 😂

[@cgaviator]

‘Light’ reading, sure! I always found DCS to be too much like my real work! Having to study hard to use it properly! 😅

[@Karibanu]

Can highly recommend Chuck's Guides for DCS aircraft - all you absolutely need to know but not all you ought to, so it's a very fast way to get started.

[@cgaviator]

@@Karibanu agreed, excellent manuals 👍🏻

[@pereraronshi]

@@Karibanu Yes, that’s the one I’m going through :) Still 572 pages.

[@Mike-co1fd]

Finally! Someone that flew an actual IFR procedure on this aircraft. I had a couple of questions regarding the calculations on this procedure: 1) With the descent planning, since everything was so close, I assume you chose to descend instantly and picked 10 degrees since it gave a high descent rate. Let's say you wanted to do a 3* descent, how would it be possible to make that work and what's an easy way to calculate your distance around any DME arc? In my IR training, I was thought that Alt to lose x 3 gives you the rough track miles for a 3* descent, but I'm not sure on a simple way to get the distance around the DME arc without taxing maths. 2) Let's say you had wind affecting you, this aircraft doesn't give you anything like Drift information, would you do any pre-flight calculations for this or is it mainly guesswork? 3) For flying the ARC on this aircraft, when you were on 120 degrees, if you subtract -90 you are expecting 30 on the TACAN needle essentially? Thanks! :)

[@cgaviator]

Good questions! 1) In broad terms, the angle of the descent tells you how many 1000s ft you’ll lose per mile. 10° nose down gives 1000ft per nautical mile, 5 degrees = 500ft etc. . Miles around the arc, 60 divided by arc range gives you degrees of arc per mile. Then work out the distance you take around the arc. You then have the tools to figure the required angle of descent. 3° probably wouldn’t cut it.

[@cgaviator]

2) You could do simple drift calculation, if you’re tracking a radial then you can also judge it from this.

[@cgaviator]

3) yup 👍🏻

[@Mike-co1fd]

@@cgaviator This is so good! I totally forgot about that rule of thumb, works wonders for these fast jets. On the B737 I fly in reality, we normally use 3* for every descent calculation as you'd expect, but this other rule of thumb would be perfect for these fighters or rare approaches. :) This is just curiosity, but I assume you flew all of this with no wind? Because I'd imagine the biggest problem this aircraft would have is the every changing Ground Speed. I'm tempted to buy this bird just to fly these approaches for fun!

[@cgaviator]

@@Mike-co1fd nice! There are various other rules of thumb for wind, but as this is following 2 radials then arcing for distance, calculation isn’t really required. And descent planning is kept simple and on the side of descending with enough time to reach the height restrictions.

[@Q3ark]

That was great, I'm happy with basic radio nav (flying in straight lines between VOR stations lol) but DME arcs are like black magic to me.

[@cgaviator]

As long as you know your turn radius, they're not too bad... usually! lol

[@Karibanu]

If it's a VOR ( or TACAN ) you can park a RMI needle at 90 degrees which helps a lot, but for ILS ( RMI shouldn't point at an ILS *cough MSFS* ) or plain DME you just have to keep turning & don't overdo the turn one way or another... gets pretty awkward when there's a strong wind :p

[@nigelhughes2947]

Great , you mentioned it was not your first go so in true Sully mode how many to get it right . Brilliant video .

[@cgaviator]

Most of my resets were to get a single recording with the right pace of words. But that turn onto the ILS often went off piste due to late LOC intercept. I'd say 3 or 4 goes getting that right!

[@KiwiIngenuity1]

BUTTER!

[@cgaviator]

Thanks 🙏🏻 🧈

[@johnjames1228]

Huzzar!! 🎉

[@cgaviator]

Indeed! 🤗

[@johnjames1228]

@@cgaviatorThere are five things I want to say. 1. You RAF boys are clones. 2. I was able to keep up with the math. Thank you. 3. My flying instructor was you! But you were not my flying instructor.. 4. Ex Tornado pilots and ex F4 pilots 😂 5. I really appreciate your service and keeping me and my family safe.

[@cgaviator]

@@johnjames1228 to all of the above 🍻

[@fender130173]

You didn't happen to see a crashed "weather balloon" on approach did you?😉

[@cgaviator]

Nope, not this time!

[@Wilber913]

Get yourself the iris texan t1 mate. See you at valley, or Linton for you 72sqn old boys 😂

[@cgaviator]

Waiting for the Blackbird Texan that will hopefully be out soon. Linton FTW! 🤘🏻

[@Wilber913]

@@cgaviator nice! Can you give me any ideas of some decent sorties 72sqn would usually carry out

[@cgaviator]

@@Wilber913 I did one on this channel in the PC21. Typical 72Sqn sortie from Linton 👍🏻

[@thessalonician]

I thought that the "widdowmaker" was the F-104 Starfighter.

[@cgaviator]

It is… but I don’t think they copyrighted the name! 😁

[@jean-paulrederik4203]

Thank goodness I'm not a pilot. This mathematics is too complicated for me

[@cgaviator]

My math is awful, but doing the same calcs for 15 years, you get good at specifics! 😅

[@Stewart-cu8pb]

Ok i need a nap now that was tough wow cool stuff

[@cgaviator]

lol, pat stomach rub head… wait…!