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| 'TOP-GUN-TIN' ...into Hondouras (MHTG) my 2nd Flight... | |
Ian Whiteside   19th Mar 2012 10:04:51 | A few pics and a short video of my 2nd landing into here...
The first one was not good but survivable ... This one was ...... ...well you can see for yourself-- http://dl.dropbox.com/u/34685313/FSX%20Folder/fsx%202012-03-19%2007-55-51-49.jpg http://dl.dropbox.com/u/34685313/FSX%20Folder/fsx%202012-03-19%2007-56-42-92.jpg http://dl.dropbox.com/u/34685313/FSX%20Folder/fsx%202012-03-19%2007-58-35-31.jpg http://dl.dropbox.com/u/34685313/FSX%20Folder/fsx%202012-03-19%2008-17-44-54.jpg http://dl.dropbox.com/u/34685313/FSX%20Folder/fsx%202012-03-19%2008-33-34-35.jpg Here's the landing video..... http://dl.dropbox.com/u/34685313/FSX%20Folder/FSX%20Videos/FSX%20Hondouras%20MHTG.wmv I downloaded some free scenery for it which ain't too bad and I'll post the link below... Here is some info about the airport from the scenery creator ----------------------------------------------- "THE INFAMOUS RWY 02 CIRCLING APPROACH INTO TONCONTIN I begin with this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_z5HtME9n8 Should I stop writing? :) In my opinion, Toncontin is at present the most dangerous approach in the world for commercial jet aircraft. I say that knowing full well the dangers of Madeira, Innsbruck, Aspen, and Gibraltar. Old Kai Tak checkerboard was more dangerous but it is no longer in service...so Toncontin takes the crown. Lukla is in a different class because it does not host jet aircraft. Toncontin does. And it REQUIRES a circling approach...there is no flying straight-in allowed by any large aircraft. Copa pilots call this airport TOP-GUN-TIN due to the difficulty of the approach. Yet pilots from American, Continental, Taca, and Copa fly it every day. The largest aircraft doing straight-ins are King Air and DC-3 sized aircraft. All 737's, A320's, 757, etc. must do a circling approach to keep their rate of descent as controlled as possible. A straight-in approach would not allow this due to terrain. That is why CIRCLING ONLY appears on the flight charts for Toncontin. The runway has, to the best of my knowledge, been redesignated 02/20 in the last few years. It used to be Runway 01/19. You are also going to want aftermarked terrain mesh to really appreciate this approach. I use FSGenesis but there are others out there. I think Josef Kusters made a Central America mesh at one time, too. HOW TO FLY THE RWY 02 APPROACH: See the enclosed tguappch.gif file for a visual of the approach path. You will come in from the north, do a 180, and land. That's basically it. The CEMETERY and METAL SHEDS noted in the .gif picture are in my scenery. These are your markers to know when to turn. The cemetery will be ahead of you, and will be a series of rotary patterned roads. When that is just ahead of you, it is time to initiate your turn to final. The sheds I have only put in the scenery as a token for right now--a small gray rectangle on the hillside. You probably won't see the shed marker, but it is not as important as the cemetery and road are. The approach charts are here for rwy 02: http://www.fscharts.com/index.php?action=chart&file=1065967142-MHTG-727.png&airport=2045 and here for rwy 20: http://www.fscharts.com/index.php?action=chart&file=1065967142-MHTG-728.png&airport=2045 They are labelled rwy 01 and 19 but to the best of my knowledge the runway has been re-designated 02/20. If you know differently let me know. Here is a walkthrough: 1. enter the valley of Teguc from the north. There is a natural low spot in the hills there. Take advantage of this. Generally I am at about 5000-5500 feet ASL at this point, flying about heading 200. 2. you will see downtown teguc on your left. On your right is a ridge. Do not hit the ridge, but cheat over toward it a bit. Descend a little but be very cautious. 3. the airport will appear ahead and on your left. At this point make sure you are flying roughly parallel to the runway...about hdg 200 mag. 4. You will see a small lake ahead. Be sure you fly a bit to the west of (your right of) the lake. 5. Ahead you will see a cemetery. In my scenery you should see some radial-arranged roads (that's what it looks like in real life). Think of this as a bullseye. It means it is time for you to turn to final. 6. This is the part that will make you a real pilot. Begin a 180 degree turn to final. Control your airspeed. Going too fast, you will never make the turn. Going too slow, you will hit the hillside. 7. As you turn, you will see a road on your left. My advice is to follow the road through your turn, as the road goes almost the the threshold of the runway. 8. As you are turning, you may see some metal sheds ahead on the hillside (or, you may not see them. They are only one small gray square in my scenery right now) 9. keep following the road as you turn. Hug the hillside, control your speed. Descend in a controlled manner. 10. You will overfly a cloverleaf (of the roads). This is another landmark, and at this point you should be low enough to touch the automobiles (almost). The runway should be in front of you. Straighten out your turn. 11. Line up with the runway centerline as you pass the cloverleaf and settle her in over the bulldozed hillside and displaced threshold. 12. Touchdown as gently as you can, pedalling out any crab you may have been using, then reverse thrust on FULL and retract flaps for max braking. That's a rough walkthrough. A NOTE REGARDING AI Your AI aircraft will probably not do a circling approach at Toncontin. They will do a straight-in, and most likely have ground contact at some point. If you know how to get them to do a circling, I'd like to hear from you. TONCONTIN APPROACH RELATED SITES: http://www.airplaneblog.com/landing-at-toncontin-international-airport.html http://www.airliners.net/aviation-articles/read.main?id=8 The Scenery LINK :- http://library.avsim.net/download.php?DLID=134801 |
| Ian Whiteside 19th Mar 2012 10:13:14 | A little niggle about the scenery... the traffic goes overhead , so I turned my cars off.
And does anyone know where to get a good 'MESH' for this place to get a better representation of the terrain on approach ??? |
| Ian Whiteside 19th Mar 2012 10:19:28 | 
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Clive Northrop 19th Mar 2012 12:16:54 | Oops! :-)
Guess I'll have to have a go with this one sometime soon... Great pictures Ian and the video made I laugh alot :-) |
John Hughes  19th Mar 2012 17:18:30 | Good place for a landing comp, under ATC direction of course and using the default 737.....?! |
| Clive Joy 19th Mar 2012 18:02:24 | Ian
Try this http://secure.simmarket.com/latinvfr-tegucigalpa-tocontin-mhtg-scenery.phtml |
| Zack Iddo 19th Mar 2012 18:28:44 | 
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| Ian Whiteside 20th Mar 2012 20:04:45 | Here's a few minutes of Monday night (19/3/12) flying at MHTG Toncontin.
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/34685313/FSX%20Folder/MHGT%20Toncontin%20Landing.wmv |
| Ian Whiteside 22nd Mar 2012 03:05:11 |
A More Successful Approach and Landing ? --------------------------------------------------------------- After messin' around a bit in the 737 and checkin' charts , videos etc. it looks like this video of the route is probably close to the way the final approach is done.... It looks like almost all aircraft are required to do the circle to land approach 02 - not straight in down the mountain ! (The charts are a bit deceiving on first look, to me) The 'Circle To Land' approach requires an almost 90 deg turn within 1.5 miles of the runway threshold and hugging the terrain... (You're almost on the runway when levelling out of the turn) Now I think I got it a bit better this time .... what do you think ??? ( aim to turn final a bit before the Dome of the Church, if you've got the scenery I 'linked' to, above ) http://dl.dropbox.com/u/34685313/FSX%20Folder/MHGT%20Toncontin%20Landing.wmv |
| Ian Whiteside 22nd Mar 2012 03:07:49 |
AAAArrgh ... Wrong link.... Here's the correct one !!!!! http://dl.dropbox.com/u/34685313/FSX%20Folder/MHTG%20Toncontin%20-%20Downwind%20to%20Touchdown.wmv |
| Ian Whiteside 22nd Mar 2012 11:46:25 |
Here's some REAL life footage of the approach and landing and a chart of the 'Circle To Land' procedure http://cartasaereas.altervista.org/cartas/MHTG.pdf |
| Ian Whiteside 22nd Mar 2012 11:47:29 | Here's some REAL life footage of the approach and landing and a chart of the 'Circle To Land' procedure
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4NKeKl09mDQ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAxAso8xSo0 http://cartasaereas.altervista.org/cartas/MHTG.pdf |
| Ian Whiteside 22nd Mar 2012 11:56:16 | Here's some REAL life footage of the approach and landing and a chart of the 'Circle To Land' procedure
Here's the CHARTS --- http://cartasaereas.altervista.org/cartas/MHTG.pdf |
| Ian Whiteside 22nd Mar 2012 12:27:37 |
HERE 's the LINK for the FREEware Scenery that I use... If you use this then all aircraft in videos will appear to land on the runway and not on the grass.... The Scenery LINK :- http://library.avsim.net/download.php?DLID=134801 [turn off your car traffic slider in fsx) |
Sebastian Hansen  22nd Mar 2012 16:10:58 | Gents, let me present you the approach.
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