User Guide

Flight Simulator
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Microsoft
Throughout the departure and crosswind legs (and
sometimes part of the downwind leg too), the
airplane may continue to climb until reaching traffic
pattern altitude. This depends on how closely you fly
the pattern, as well as airplane performance, runway
length, and the number of hula dancers you have in
the airplane with you. Since you’re using a long
runway with a quick-climbing airplane, you’ll reach
TPA before turning crosswind.
The Downwind Leg
As the airplane continues on the crosswind leg,
another 90-degree turn is made. This places the airplane parallel to the runway, going opposite the
direction in which it will land. This is called the downwind leg because you’re now going with the wind
instead of into it. Give it a try.
1. Press P to activate the simulation.
2. Begin your turn to the downwind leg when the runway is near the bottom of the Top-down View
as shown in Figure 8.
3. Turn left to heading 080 and fly parallel to the runway. The orange
heading bug should be at the bottom of the heading indicator’s
pictured airplane (Figure 9).
4. When you’ve rolled into level flight, press P to pause the simulation.
Flying the downwind leg at between half a mile and one mile (for
reference, the runway at Honolulu is about 2 miles long) out from the
landing runway allows you to remain comfortably close to the runway.
That way, in the event of an engine problem, you can glide to a safe
landing on the runway instead of ending up in someone’s lobster trap.
Preparing for the Base Leg Turn
You’ll continue downwind until passing a point
abeam (across from) the threshold of the landing
runway as shown in Figure 10.
At this point you want to begin preparation for
landing by applying 10 degrees of flaps. (Make sure
you’re below 95 knots when applying flaps. The end
of the white arc on the airspeed indicator is the
airplane’s maximum flap extension speed.) Here’s
the sequence.
Figure 8
Figure 10
Figure 9