Approach radar game · fictional airspace

Fenmouth Approach

You're the approach controller. Vector arrivals onto the ILS for runway 27, send departures out to their exit points, and keep every pair of aircraft 3 NM or 1,000 ft apart.

Score0

Landed0

Departed0

Separation lost0/3

Shift00:00

Your position

Arrivals come in high and fly to LAPWI or TERNS, where they hold. Descend them to about 3,000 ft and turn them onto base: heading 180 from LAPWI, 360 from TERNS.
About 3 NM from the centreline, press "Intercept and clear ILS". That's the real call: a heading that meets final at 30°, plus the approach clearance. The autopilot turns onto the localiser by itself. A marker on the centreline shows where the current heading will join.
Departures wait at the runway. Clear them for take-off, climb them to FL70 or above, and send them to the exit fix on their label.
Separation: every pair must stay 3 NM or 1,000 ft apart. Amber means a conflict within a minute. Three losses end the shift.

Traffic

Radio

What's real in here

3 NM or 1,000 ft

Radar controllers in busy airspace keep aircraft at least 3 NM apart sideways or 1,000 ft apart vertically. ICAO allows 2.5 NM between aircraft on the same final approach within 10 NM of the runway, if the runway is cleared quickly and other conditions are met. The game does the same.

Downwind, base, intercept

Controllers fly arrivals parallel to the runway (downwind), turn them across it (base), then give one call: "turn left heading 240, cleared ILS approach runway 27". The pilots fly that heading and the autopilot turns onto the localiser. ICAO says that last heading should meet final at 45° or less; 30° is normal.

Level, below, then down

Aircraft should be level on the localiser for at least 2 NM before they meet the glidepath, which they join from below. Do both at 30° or less and you score a textbook approach.

Each type flies differently

An ATR 72 rotates at about 110 knots and climbs slowly; a 737 needs about 150. Jets spool up, accelerate hard and then less hard, climb at V2 plus 10 knots to 1,500 ft, then speed up. Turns are limited to 25° of bank. Figures are approximate.