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TC1

1st flight with the 747-400

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First off, all of the inflight mistakes made were mine. Over the years I have had a number of payware big jets and I have learned to fly them in almost any environment. I have always been able to take information and skills learned on one aircraft and transfer them to the next.Not this time. Although much of the 747-400 FMC/CDU functions similair to the 767-300ER and 737-300s that I own, there is enough differences between the 3 software packages to make this aircraft a completely new learning experience. Somewhere along the flight I did something to the FMC/autopilot system. As I approached KSEA I was unable to tune the ILS approach into the CDU NAV/RAD. I needed to load ILS frequency 110.30 into the CDU but I kept receiving a error message. I noticed that the ILS frequency was parked, but I was uncertain how to unpark the ILS data to make useful.Also, as I started my descent into Seattle, the data in the CDU LEGS page got really weird, the listed altitude targets would rise and fall by 100s of feet. At one point, while I was still over the mountains, I had altitudes listed at 16000, 14000, 9000, 5000, 6500 feet. I sure this was something that I did wrong to cause this problem. Lastly, although I saved and reloaded the panel information prior to stopping and beginning the sim, I still need to reload items such as my programed fixed points when I restarted the sim. Again, I sure all the errors were my mistakes and I need to reread the POH, but wow what a 1st flight.Tom

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Guest c210_cvs

You need to give the CRS heading as well for the ILS to work, ie 110.90/070FRED

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Fred - Thanks for the heads up. I think I did that, but with all of the problems that I was having with the altitude targets, I most likely had gotten above the glideslope.Like I said, there is a bit more of training that I still need to do to operate this aircraft correctly.Again Fred, thanks for your help.Tom

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Hi Tom,I have occasionaly had that problem with the CDU LEGS page as well and when it happens I noticed that the airspeed indication in front of the altitude will alternate between speed and mach as well as changing the altitude numbers. On another FMC page and I can,t remember which one at the moment, I'll have to go back and look, you will get a STEP TO ALT FL410, which is well above my set cruise altitude in the PERF page. I'm not sure if this is a bug or pilot input error but it only happens occasionally so it is not consistant. You can correct this with a hack by reentering new speeds and altitudes set as at or above and at or below, for example: 250/10000A or 240/4000B. Maybe someone out there can inlighten us about this.If you think that is weird, the other day I was trying to land at KBFI in the 747 and I got a CTD with an error in the TCAS module. When I went back into the sim, the autopilot developed a mind of its own, it wouldn't follow any commands set in the MCP, even with the flight director turned off. The autothrottle went crazy as well. The only way I got things to work was to exit flight sim, go back in and load up the PMDG 737, which flew just fine, and then exit and start up flight sim and run the 747 which then acted normally. How connected are these two PMDG aircraft anyway within FS9?Kim

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Guest Buck Bolduc

>You need to give the CRS heading as well for the ILS to work,>ie 110.90/070>>FREDSee Herman747's post above.Or maybe below now?

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For the ILS, if you select your runway in the DEP/ARR page, it will automatically lock to the ILS. The only other required action on your part is to follow the ILS to the runway.As far as the LEGS page, I'm assuming you did NOT have any dicontinueties and all legs went from one to the next. Other than that, I'm not too sure about your problem with the LEGS page or the strange altitudes on decent. I usually let the FMC manage my decent. Could you try to re-explain your problem and I'll try to figure out what's going on. Or perhaps someone else could figure it out.About the STEP TO, if you set your altitude but leave STEP SIZE at ICAO or enter a number like 2000, you will be told to climb once your aircraft is light enough to climb up to that altitude which will save fuel and expand your range.Ryan GamurotLucky to live Hawai'ihttp://www.precisionmanuals.com/images/forum/supporter.jpg

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Kim, stated above that the LEG problem incounter in their flight was that their requested speed would change on its own. I never saw my speeds floating, only my altitudes.Ryan stated "as far as the LEGS page, I'm assuming you did NOT have any dicontinueties and all legs went from one to the next." I did have a 2 discontinueties whithin my flight plan after I establihed my arrival runway, but they were both at the runway level of the the flight, but I had also corrected both of the problems. After fixing the problem, I ran the Plan/LEG check to insure that everything flowed together.I restarted my flight again last night from my previous last save point and again I had floating altitudes. I'm certain that I set or mishandled a step somewhere along the route. I'm going to reread the 4th tutorial prior to my next flight and give it ago again later this week.Everybody, thanks agian for you help.Tom

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Tom,If your LEGS problem is like mine, the speeds are not changing but are alternating between mach numbers and knots numbers at the same altitude. Also I just flew my Qween today and found that the FMC CRUISE page lists the step to FLT 410 notice when the the legs page problem crops up. I flew several fully programed short flights today without the bug occuring and she behaved nicely. I never alter the ICAO setting when I use the FMC so I don't think that is the problem. The FMC did do this to me two weeks but it hasn't happened since. I do think that this is a bug of some sort but I can't pin it down as to why. The only recent problem I had was when I had a CTD and got a TCAS module error. When I restarted flight sim and flew the 747, the autopilot and autothrottle went crazy, refusing to follow any MCP settings, even with the flight director turned off. I then tried my PMDG 737 which worked normally. Then I went back to the 747 and it then worked normally. Each time I did this I went back to the desktop to clear any memory cache. Why this worked, I don't know unless the PMDG programmers use self altering code of some sort and it repairs itself when loading a different PMDG plane from the one that had a problem.If I see the LEGS Page problem happen again, I will see if I can get more information and maybe try switching aircraft if all else fails. Despite the few problems I've had, the PMDG aircraft are the one I fly the most.Kim

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Kim, thanks for your input.Where I have seen the problem is after I saved both the panel and the current flight to disk and then return to them at a later time. After my first flight, were I had the problems, I reloaded the flight the next morning from my last save point. My original flight plan was Cancun to Seattle using FSNavigator 4.7.I picked up my reloaded flight up 100 KM NW of Denver Co. On this attempt I had no problems, but due to family plans I was unable to complete the flight (family holiday plans). So.., when I reloaded the flight for the third time, again picking up 100 KM from Denver, the FMC/CDU LEGS problem returned. I stoppped the flight when the plan stated on my LEGS display that in 13 KM I was expected to at >< 6000 feet while I was still in the Rockies. My plan is to restart the flight from Cancun later this week. I have tickets to a basketball game tonight and free tickets to a hockey game tomorrow night so most likely the earlist I can attempt the flight is Friday night.I'll post my results. Tom

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Tom,I have not had very good luck saving a flight in progress. Some weird thing always crops up, usually the panel config gets changed, even after saving the panel state, and I have to check all the button and switch positions. The FMC tends to be very finicky, even if you enter all the information correctly. If other people have had better luck I like to know. My LEGS page problem has cropped up at random times, not very often fortunately, and I haven't saved a flight for awhile so I might try that as well to see if it crops up. Let me know how your flight goes.Kim

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Kim,I have restart my previous flight and after two hours I just saved both the flight and the panel settings. Have a family thing to do right now, so I most likely will not get to flight until tomorrow morning.But... I am sure that you have looked at the PMDG 747-400 Type Rating Course data found on the PMDG WEB Site. I have also found a GREAT tutorial within the AVSIM Library. The tutorial is entitled PMDG747_advancedtutorial.zip by Holger Seilz. Although I am not flying his flight plan at this time, I am following along on my ouwn flight to the pages of his tutorial. The article is 112 pages. Beginning on page 68 the aircraft finally gets to climb and cruise and I believe I may have found the answers to a couple of my mistakes. There is alot of little tibits of useful information to be found in the tutorial. Very easy to read with lots of visual examples.Again, I hope to get back to my current flight in the morning. I'll let you know if I land in Seatle or if I park the plane in the Rockies.Tom

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Much better flight this time around. After restarting the flight by restoring the flight file and panel state, I again started to see some drifting. This time I used the VNAV function instead of the LEGS function to reset my speed and altitude. Once completed, both the speed and altitude stayed rock solid in the LEGS display.I have again stopped the flight, this time 80 KM SW of Denver. Later today I hope to complete the flight.Be sure to checkout the tutorial that I listed in my previous message. Holger provides both great insight and detail in his document.Tom

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Any landing that you can walk away from...No problems really. Final approach was a little wide so I landed the plane myself. My apprach into KSEA took me a little wide left, almost to the bay, and then brought me back in line with 34R. Iwasn't sure that the angle into the runway was going allow for a solid GS capture so I elected to land my hand.My next flight will not be through the Rockies, something flat so I can work on my ILS techniques.Tom

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Tom,Thanks for the information. I completed all the PMDG tutorials awhile back and found them to be very instructive. I hope they come out with lesson 5 in the near future. I'll have to try the other tutorial from avsim that you mentioned. It pays to pour through the FMC manual that PMDG provided with the 747.The LEGS page problem hasn't happened for a while so I must be doing something right or at least my computer has been in a good mood lately, it tends to get in a bad mood sometimes, especially if I install some other software.On final approach, I make sure that there is only a 30 degree or less turn onto final so that overshooting the localizer or runway centerline is minimized. Big plane, big turns.I was having a nice flight the other day and was just settling on final when all went black. The house power went out for TWO seconds, enough to shut off my system! Time to purchase an uninterruptable power supply. It doesn't pay to be cheap. Happy flying.Kim

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