Help with ILS approach

[jkeye]

First off -what a great aircraft! I'm flying this almost exclusively now.

I'm having trouble tuning the localiser and capturing the glideslope-i think it is because I'm unfamiliar with the layout of the cockpit which is so much different from Boeing-i think the vor loc and appr buttons are combined in the TBM?

Can someone please post their flow here?

[Pawel D.]

They are not combined. For capturing LOC and G/S you use APR mode, there is APR button on AP panel between HDG and NAV. 

NAV mode is used for FMS or VOR navigation. 

But. for both modes - NAV and ILS(LOC) you need to choose your CDI source on Primary Flight Display (PFD) - using CDI soft key at the bottom. It's usually set to FMS - then you have magenta coloured HSI. This source if used for flight plan following. Pressing CDI softkey cycles between FMS, NAV1 and NAV2 sources. When you choose NAV1 - HSI arrows turn green and allows you to capture and follow VOR or ILS - depending on NAV frequency set. 

So logic is similar to boeing. You continue most of your flight in NAV mode with FMS source (magenta HSI) following your flight plan (like LNAV i Boeing). Then you change to HDG mode (for vectors for ex.), then you set your NAV1 freq for VOR or ILS, whatever you need, change your source to NAV1 (green HSI), and switch to NAV mode for VOR following or to APR mode for capturing LOC and G/S. 

I'm not sure I made it clear. Feel free to ask, if not.

[skiselkov]

@Pawel D. Very nicely explained. I'll just add that for LOC-only approaches, you wouldn't use APR, only "NAV". "NAV" is basically the roll mode, "APR" in addition also arms the GS pitch mode. So for localizer-only approaches, only use "NAV" and leave "APR" off.

Little trick for achieving a constant-angle descent on a non-precision approach:

1. Stabilize your airspeed.
2. De-select any active pitch mode (e.g. when in VS, push the "VS" key again to de-activate the mode). This reverts the aircraft into pitch-hold mode.
3. Use the UP<-->DN scroll wheel on the AP panel to manually adjust the pitch the autopilot will hold.
4. Fine tune the pitch until the green FPV marker sits over the desired glidepath angle.