It pays to back up .......

[cowpatz 243]

I downloaded and installed the latest SIDS/STARS and thought I had a copy of my own NZAA SIDS/STARS filed safely away. Well I didn't and I have just lost 30 of my own SIDs STARs and Approaches for this airport. Bugger. I need to be a bit more tidy in the house keeping department........files everywhere.CheersSteve

[Guest fullflapsplease]

Would a system restore to a date prior to installing them work?Just a thought.Cheers.Mark.

[downscc 1,327]

I'm slowly getting to a system that works for me so my SIDSTAR txt files are not lost and updates each cycle are easy(ier).I keep two copies of each file in a separate directory (...PMDG/Archive); one copy is a duplicate for backup and one copy is only the revision data since my updates rely on the FIXES and RNWS lists developed by Terry.My procedure is after each cycle update, I go through the list of revised procedures (I save them as KLAX_revision.txt for example) and copy/paste all my info over Terry's info in the file that comes from planepath.com, including the header information that summarizes all the changes I've made to the original. Each copy/paste takes less than a minute and the entire process is painlessly done in 15-20 min. The key is keeping the archive clean and current. It helps to have a freeware text editor, there are many and they are all better than Wordpad/Notepad.Hope this helps next time.

[Guest D17S]

Just to confirm my old understanding, Dan . . . . Are you still uploading your updated SID/STAR fiies to Navdata.at? My current drill is to update with Terry's first, then allow the current Navadata cycle to simply overright Terry's current Planepath cycle. That way, Navdata becomes a rendundant source for your procedures, at least for we masses. Steve, if you're gonna rebuild em, what about uploading to Navdata? Bet we all'd like to play too. Dan's have been just a terrific resource for US airports. Tried the serious 67 the other day. I was playing around with the the LAX Civits and then the Sadde6 with the SMO trans 'round to the ILS24R. That one's really fun. It was recognizing it all existed, but I was in "fly-along" (with live ATC) mode and just couldn't pop in the IAP transitions as they came up. Those were fuzzy. I'm completely spolied these days.

[Guest fullflapsplease]

And being very self disciplined ;)Mark.

[downscc 1,327]

Yes, I'm still uploading to navdata.at I'm going to try to reissue all each cycle together in one avsim upload, did that for 0606. I have tweaked klax a little, not the civit5 or sadde6 but all the rnw 6/7 and rnav approaches have been "tuned" and will include in the 0607 upload, maybe next week.Thanks for the feedback.

[cowpatz 243]

Yeah Sam the Civits and Mitts arrivals from out Hector way are great fun. We generally get these arrivals into LA when we return from London. VNAV handles them very well. The only problems that can arise are when given "wild" speed control from ATC. One controller might give you 320 kts or greater and the next might want you back at 210. You need to be on the ball to make sure you can achieve both the required speed and meet the altitude constraints. Normally if you are on the path then all the constraints will be taken care of. That is of course at the programmed VNAV descent speed on the VNAV Descent page. The problem here is that if you get a speed instruction like maintain 320 kts. One would think that the easy solution would be to just open up the MCP speed window and zoom on down the same ECON generated path but with a bit of thrust on. The trouble with this method is that the pitch mode changes to VNAV SPD when the window is opened unlike the PMDG 747 which stays in VNAV PTH (this is not correctly modelled). When in VNAV the only time that the pitch mode would stay in VNAV PTH with the speed window open is when the FMC is in "On Approach" mode. This is a sub mode (not annunciated) that occurs when making VNAV approaches and is to allow you to control the speed on approach. This will happen when passing the first approach waypoint. If you look at the PMDG model any time you are on the path and open the window it stays in VNAV PTH.So getting back to the Civet arrival what do we do then?You could use another pitch mode like FLCH or V/S. They are fine but you need to very closely monitor the descent profile as the VNAV constraints are no longer applicable. This means careful setting of the MCP altitude and also monitoring to make sure you will get under the upper constraint. The easiest solution is to alter the VNAV descent speed on the VNAV descent page. This will regenerate a new path which you may or may not be on. You can then take whatever corrective action is required (either speed brake or application of power) to regain the PTH. Just make sure that when it is recomputing the path that you reset the MCP alt to the next limiting altitude as an interim precaution. When it has recomputed it and you regain the path you can set the altitude down to the approach commencement altitude. Be careful to ensure that the upper constraint is not going to be infringed while the path is being recalculated.Give it a try it is fun. Blast off down at 320 or greater and then when down around 12000ft or so slow up to 210 kts. Make sure you have a good heavy landing weight set just to make it a bit more interesting.Occasionally we get the Sadde arrival, if we are planned well North across the Atlantic, and end up coming down to the West of the Rockies. The arrival over SMO is typically at 7000ft. The interesting thing here is that the sooner you get down the sooner ATC will turn you in for the 24 ILS. If you are slow at getting down then you can expect to go out to at least a 15 ml final :(.Happy Flying!CheersSteve

[cowpatz 243]

I have been thinking about a system restore but then I would lose a lot of other stuff I downloaded and installed too. Catch 22. Bugger.CheersSteve

[downscc 1,327]

I use Norton Ghost, puts an image of the entire drive on a 2d drive (they're very inexpensive). This way, not only files but all settings and system condition is backed up (once/week, once/day or however you set it). Sure, just flight simming doesn't justify it but everything else on my drive really does (pictures, music, bookkeeping, email, etc). Retrieving a file or an entire drive is relatively easy.