New to PIC767, one qustion!

[Krister 51]

Hi folks, I got my PIC767 yesterday and since I'm in many cases trying to apply the logic I learned from the Dreamfleet 737 and the PMDG 777 to this plane, Im probably doing something completely wrong here! Oh, I have read the manual! :)However, I was just on an ILS approach and decided I wanted to handfly it instead since it wouldn't descend properly. Having disengaged the AP (pulled out the bar) it was simply impossible to descend. I tried full flaps, trimming all the way, used the pitch control wheel on the yoke. Nothing worked, it kept the altitude and I ended up stalling and spinning. Could anyone point me in the right direction (which probably will be a page in the manual concerning the AP..).Best regards,Krister (who probably should be buying airplanes at a lower rate and instead learn each properly...)

[Guest KenG]

It wouldn't descend properly on autopilot? What the heck are you doing? The autopilot in PIC, which was completely redone by the PIC Team (no use of default MSFS A/P), is about the only one I know that will reliably fly the ILS like it's on rails. As long as the ILS is designed for autolands (not offset), you should not have any problems.As for hand flying, I repeat: What the heck are you doing? Seriously, this thing does hand fly very well. Here's a hint, push the yoke forward. Did you disengage the autothrottle? My ultimate suggestion (and you knew this was coming) is to (re)read the manuals. If you got PIC yesterday, I'm impressed that you could absorb all the information in ~230 pages of manuals that quickly. Perhaps rereading the manual a little slower paying particular attention to the autopilot section would help. There are too many differences between PIC and the other aircraft to just jump into the cockpit after only skimming the manual.

[michal 44]

I repeat after Ken - "what the heck are you doing" ?? Is your joystick working at all, did you *really* disconnected the autopilot to hand-fly it - sounds to me like you are having some fundamental issues with this plane. Did you really read the manual or just glanced over it ? Michael J.

[Krister 51]

Ken, I chose the words badly when I said "wouldn't descend properly". It should have been "I didn't descend (manually) properly to give it a chance to intercept the ILS" - therefore I disengaged the autopilot and continued handflying teh approach. Sorry for that!However, my question had nothing to do with autolanding but why it wouldn't descend although I had full flaps, trimmed down and of course pushed the yoke forward (...)and the ap disengaged. The only cause I can think of was that altitude holding was active in the AP although there was no visual indication of it.Actually, I've been struck by how smoothly it handles autolandings as well as handflying!As for reading the manual :) I downloaded it and printed it out several months ago. Of course, it's hard to absorb the info if you cannot try it out in the sim at the time. However, having flown the PMDG 777 with it's advanced AP for half and year and given the resemblance between the two systems (as I understand it), I'm fairly capable of understanding what the manual says. Nevertheless, the users not reading the manual must be the number uno headache for developers of advanced aircrafts in flightsimming!Happy flying,Krister

[Guest WorkingStiff]

A complete guess here but did you reset the altitude in the altitude window of the MCP?

[Krister 51]

Thanks for the suggestion! I suspected that was the case since I noticed the altitude was set to 3000 feet in the MCP. After some initial wrestling with the yoke/flaps/trim I did reset it to 0 feet but it didn't help me.Yesterday I did notice that MSFS2K2 sometimes behaves somewhat strange. Eg the "move eyepoint" command doesn't always work and the slewing function is also erratic. I'll just reinstall MSFSK2K2 and see what happens. Anyway, thanks for your help again.Krister

[Guest WorkingStiff]

I don't know if my technique is correct but I usually reset my MCP to either zero or the runway elevation when prompted by the FMC.

[michal 44]

Ultimately, at least in real airline flying, pilots will have the altitude of their missed approach set in the MCP window. I suspect, though I am yet to try it, while being in ALT HOLD (say 2000 ft) and LOC modes and waiting for the glideslope to become animated, pilots would reset the MCP window not to 0 or the field elevation but to their missed approach - say 3000 ft. This would "fool" the AP and let them descend below 2000 ft. Again, this is just my guess how they might do it but definitely the altitude of MA would be the very last altitude dialed into the MCP window just before landing.Michael J.

[michal 44]

Just found out that at least in this one instance the altitude dialed in the MCP window has absolutely no relevance - in the APP mode.Michael J.

[Guest]

yes. therefore i set the mcp altitude for the missed approach. Dialing in "0" and pressing the GA-switch (deliberately or accidently) in automated flight is a dangerous practice.cheers,mmmol

[Guest]

hi,the altitude set in the MCP has nothing got to do with the APP mode.Once u've armed the approach mode and the aircraft has captured the localiser and Glide Slope set the MCP altitude according to the Missed approach procedure given in the chart.Have u enabled the joystick?Check sensitivities and all....Give it a go again it'll work just fine.:)

[Guest]

Check your joystick calibration. I find it quite useful to run through the calibration in FSUIPC as well.Jon (KSEA)

[Krister 51]

Jon,I now do believe that it's the ch usb yoke that's playing tricks on me. Today while on approach with the 767 it started yawing to the left. The yawing finally got so extreme that the plane actually started spinning around counterclock wise while keeping the momentum forwards. Since I suppose this "fresbie approach" is beyond the flight envelope of the 767 :) it has to be the yoke. Krister