Learn what equipment is needed to fly an ILS approach in a flight simulator, including essential instruments, optional controls and capture fixes.
To fly an ILS approach in a flight simulator, you need an aircraft with an ILS-capable navigation receiver and localiser/glideslope display, the runway’s ILS frequency and inbound course, and basic flight controls. An autopilot, radio panel, yoke and rudder pedals are optional; a mouse, keyboard or gamepad can be sufficient.
Minimum ILS equipment checklist
In a general flight simulator, the essential equipment is the receiver, a usable deviation display, normal flight instruments and a way to control the aircraft.
| Equipment or information | Purpose | Required? |
|---|---|---|
| ILS-capable NAV receiver | Receives the localiser and glideslope signals | Yes |
| CDI, HSI or primary flight display | Shows left-right localiser deviation and up-down glideslope deviation | Yes |
| Basic flight instruments | Provides attitude, airspeed, altitude, heading and vertical-speed information | Yes |
| ILS approach data | Provides the frequency, final approach course, intercept altitude, minima and missed-approach instructions | Yes |
| Control input | Controls pitch, roll, yaw and power through a keyboard, gamepad, joystick or yoke | Yes |
| DME, GPS, ADF or second NAV receiver | Identifies fixes or distances required by a particular published procedure | Only when specified |
Older general-aviation panels normally use a NAV radio connected to a CDI or HSI. Glass cockpits and airliners may tune the ILS through a radio panel, FMS or MCDU and display it on the primary flight display. The implementation changes, but the underlying requirements do not.
How can I tell whether an aircraft supports ILS?
An aircraft supports ILS when it can tune a localiser frequency and display both localiser and glideslope deviation. Look for a NAV receiver plus a CDI, HSI or PFD with LOC and GS indications.
A moving map, GPS flight plan or generic landing-path graphic is not proof of ILS capability. Some vintage aircraft, ultralights and simplified models have no ILS receiver, while others can receive a localiser but not a glideslope.
Do you need a yoke, throttle or rudder pedals?
No dedicated physical cockpit hardware is required, although smooth analogue controls make an ILS much easier to fly accurately.
- Joystick, yoke or gamepad: strongly recommended for the small pitch and bank corrections needed near the runway.
- Throttle axis: useful because power changes control speed and influence the descent path.
- Rudder pedals: helpful for crosswinds and keeping the aircraft aligned, but not essential for learning basic ILS tracking.
- Physical radio or autopilot panel: convenient for tuning and mode selection, but it adds no capability that the virtual cockpit already provides.
A keyboard can work, but repeated key taps tend to produce large corrections. We recommend reducing control sensitivity only when the aircraft feels genuinely twitchy; excessive filtering can make the aeroplane respond too slowly to glideslope corrections.
Do I need an autopilot to fly an ILS approach?
An autopilot is optional because an ILS can be flown manually by keeping the localiser and glideslope indicators centred.
If the aircraft has an approach mode labelled APP or APR, it may capture and track both beams. A basic autopilot might track only a heading or localiser, and a flight director merely displays steering commands. The mode annunciator must show that LOC and GS are armed or captured; pressing the approach button alone proves nothing.
Detailed airliners add radio tuning, course selectors and flight-mode annunciations. Our explanation of how a 737 displays and captures its ILS modes shows how those systems fit together.
Is ordinary ILS equipment enough for autoland?
No. A coupled ILS approach and an autoland are not the same operation.
Autoland requires an aircraft model with the necessary autopilot channels, radio-altimeter logic, flare and rollout capability, plus a suitable runway and correctly configured systems. A single autopilot may track the ILS perfectly but still require the pilot to disconnect and land manually. Simulator fidelity also varies by aircraft.
Which extra receivers depend on the approach chart?
The ILS signal itself needs only localiser and glideslope reception, but the complete procedure may require other equipment to identify fixes and comply with altitude restrictions.
- DME may provide distances to the runway or step-down fixes.
- GPS or RNAV may help fly an arrival or transition before localiser interception.
- A second NAV receiver or ADF may be needed on older procedures that use crossing radials or an NDB.
- Marker-beacon reception is useful where markers are modelled, but many procedures identify those positions by other means.
Use approach information that matches the simulator’s installed navigation database and scenery. A real-world chart and an older simulator database can disagree about the frequency, course or even whether an ILS exists. Loading an approach into the GPS also does not create an ILS at a runway that lacks one.
Why will the ILS not capture?
Most capture failures come from incorrect tuning, the wrong navigation source or intercepting the glideslope from above—not from missing physical hardware.
- Confirm the runway and approach direction. An ILS normally serves one runway end. The reciprocal direction is not automatically a usable ILS approach.
- Tune the correct active receiver. Check that the frequency is in the active rather than standby window and that the displayed indicator is using that receiver.
- Select the correct navigation source. Change from GPS or FMS guidance to VLOC, LOC or the equivalent source when required. Some airliners perform this change automatically, but many general-aviation systems do not.
- Set the published front course. This keeps the HSI and autopilot logic correctly orientated where the aircraft model uses the selected course.
- Intercept with sensible geometry. Join the localiser at a modest angle and establish below the glideslope. Approaching from above commonly prevents normal GS capture.
- Read the mode annunciations. Distinguish selected, armed and captured modes. If the aircraft is not tracking the expected path, disconnect the autopilot and correct the situation rather than waiting for it to recover.
For simulator-specific controls, see the MSFS 2024 cockpit setup and capture sequence or the FSX NAV1 and APR workflow.