Please help with autopilot

[Guest samrec]

HI all.I have posted numerous times on this matter but still no help has manifested for me or I missed it.for some odd reason I can't fly any of the pmdg planes that use the FMC.The planes reaches the first nav point well with lnav and turns towards the second and that's about it. After that the aupilot will stop following the FP.I use FSNav 4.7 to plan my routes And I have downloaded the 0605 airacs for it and all the products that I have. CLS and LevelD planes do work fine albeit of their differences with pmdg's.I have reinstalled all pmdg's planes and fsnav so they all have a clean install. I installed the 737s first and then 400 and 400F accordingly.I love these plane and it is really a sad thing that I can fly them, please someone be kind enough to help me.I have even sent my FP to other friends and their pmdg planes do follow the FP. It must be something on my pc but I can't figure out what.Please help!cheers

[Mats_J 2]

Ms/Mr cheers,Please sign your posts with your real name as per the forum rules, thanks.Please walk us through your pre-flight setup, take off and initial climb as detailed as possible. If you can please provide a couple of screenshots as well.Based on your information it's almost impossible to tell you what's going wrong.Hope it helps,

[cowpatz 243]

You dont have a route discontinuity in there by any chance do you? Have a look on the legs page. Does it stay in LNAV after the second waypoint or change to something else. Mats is right we need more information to isolate the problem.CheersSteve

[Guest D17S]

Of course, you know that once you get your plans set up in FSnav, you need to export them to PMDG "Flightplans" folder? Then, you must enter that flight plan in the PMDG FMC just like for-real. Just in case, this page has the FSnav export module that you MUST have to export an FSnav flight plan to PMDG. http://www.fsnavigator.com/download.htm

[Guest samrec]

Hi folks here is what I do.I launch at airport at a gate proper to my plane. I wait for the IRS to be initialized properly, while I wait for this I go on to do my FP on FSnav I check for any sharp turn and correct the approach path to my desired runway at destination if needed.Export to both FS2004 and PMDG with the plugin from the FSNAV site. By now the IRS should be almost done, I start by entering ACARS information then logoff and then to the initialize menu. I then enter the rte name on the FMC on the COROUTE line, at this point I get some info entered automatically like take off rwy and the like, then I click on activate and exec. Then click on VNav and entered the CRZ lvl, actiavate and exec again.After this I check to see if all my legs are in. By now the irs is all done and my location is set. I then set my initial flaps to avoid all that noise! :D Once on position I set my take off flaps to 20, wait for them to set and then I set my throttle up to about 90% in on my stick wait for proper speed and start to roll out. Till here all goes well, LNav was engaged once in position, at this point I retract my landing gears and keep and I on my flaps and start retracting as indicated. I click on the CMD and the ATH and SPD kicks in as it should and the plane starts to better align with the FP. The 1st waipoint is at least 15nm away (I do that myself), in the case of my current FP (EHAM-CYVR) it is at 20nm+ (around 23nm) IIRC. The plane will then turn towards the second and that's it. LNAV keeps engaged, but the plane will not turn anymore it will keep flying on the path it was set to meet the second navpoint. On the PFD the current navpoint remains to be the first one and I can see the distance to it increasing. At some point the autopilot will then turn the plane again towards the first nav point. If I disengage the LNAV switching briefly to nav sel and then back to lnav the autopilot will still turn the plane towards navpoint 1 on my FP.I do have some screen shots of the panel from my last attempt last night, I will try to upload them when I get home later today in about 8-9 hrs from now. I'm also willing to send both the FSnav and rte files to anyone willing to try the same FP at their end.Not sure if I'm missing something to do on the FMC for the 747, but the same behaviour is on the 737s and I have not changed the way I do things. Unless the plugin to export itself is the problem. The plugin I have dates from when I started this and that was after Aug. 2004.Once again hope this helps and thanks for your willingness to help really appreciated.Cheers.PS:I added my real name to my signature, sorry I forgot to add it to my post earlier. At least now I won't forget it again. :D

[downscc 1,327]

Check the LEGS page after you enter and execute the COROUTE... it should have each segment of the plan all the way to the destination. I usually check it before I do the performace intialization, so the legs are missing cruise altitudes but I'm verifying the correct sequence and dealing with any discontinuities. You gotta get rid of those.

[Guest samrec]

How do I identify the gaps of the FMC legs pages?

[downscc 1,327]

The gap is a line with empty boxes instead of a fix name. I think you always get an annunciation on the CDU bottom line for discontinuities as well, but I still check the LEGS pages even if I don't get the message.

[Guest samrec]

Here are the two images I took last night.http://balkan-flight.bgic.org/image_galler...a/4/pmdg-01.jpgthis is the turn the AP makes to fly to the second nav point and the last it will make.http://balkan-flight.bgic.org/image_galler...a/4/pmdg-02.jpg

[rsrandazzo 6,353]

Samuel-I'd STRONGLY recommend that you take some time to read the four PMDG 747-400 TYPE RATING COURSE lessons that I have written.I suspect that something as amiss with the flight plans, since you are exporting them to the airplane- it is anyone's guess whether or not the exporter you are using is problematic.You'll be able to qiuckly identify if this is the case by reading/following/learning how the airplane is operated when reading the Type Rating Courses.

[Guest samrec]

I have downloaded printed and binded all four lessons as well as the 380+ pages of the manual, plus the 747 tutorial from KMIA-KJFK. Costed me as much as the plane itself but I hope it will payoff in the end.Now heading to KMIA on a 767-300ER AA returning from Europe and canada.I will keep you posted.Thanks for the help and will report back after the Miami-Keneddy try out.cheers

[Guest samrec]

Last night I was finally able to do the KLAX-KEDW tutorial.The plane did follow the fp sadly I did not have the FSNav counter part to see if there is something I was not doing when exporting. The plane even started the descent as it should but just not fast enough. But at least it did follow the FP.Tonite I will try again from KMIA-KJFK and will keep you posted.thanks again guys.

[cowpatz 243]

What do you mean not fast enough? Was it still in VNAV PTH during the descent?CheersSteve

[Guest samrec]

YupAnd was only descending at about -300VS not enough to make the landing on time so I cheated!Hit the slew button and moved the plane further back, only way. I would had gone around should the tutorial had a section for it, nor did I had the charts for doing it.

[cowpatz 243]

Something is a miss. Are you sure it was not in VAV SPD? It sounds as if you were in VNAV SPD and had some degree of thrust still on. If it annunciates VNAV PTH the descent should work fine.If you have another go check it says PTH not SPD.CheersSteve