PMDG B747-400 fmc and fsfx atc

[ledan 0]

Hello,Sorry for my approximate English, may I describe the problem I am facing with airport approaches in PMDG B747-400 Until recently and thanks to the excellent tutorial of Mr Mabille, I used to manage well the whole flight from t/off to auto land, using the FMC.I now want to add FSFX atc instructions to my flights and this is where the problems begin.The atc instructs me to begin descent at approx 120 NM from the airport. I then follow the instructions and press the MCP heading and altitude buttons. No problem with the heading but it appears that most of the time there is some kind of interference between the MCPand the VNAV modes. The ATC keeps saying to descend quicker.Things get worse at approach as I am too high to capture the glide slope.My problem is that I cannot anticipate which rwy will be in use at the airport since the atc will give me the information too late; therefore I cannot enter the appropriate information in the FMC and have to use the MCP only.The choice left to me is either guess the rwy in use and select the appropriate STAR in the FMC (but this leads to ignore atc instructions and follow the FMC), or obey atc instructions and use MCP only with the issues mentioned above.What is the procedure in a real flight ?Thank youDaniel

[downscc 1,327]

The default ATC in MSFS is incapable of doing much more than directing C-172 traffic in and out of a county airport, IMHO. It has no knowledge of sids/stars or navdata updates, it does not know what you have programmed in the FMS but relies only on the flight plan entered into MSFS.There are two very good alternatives: Get Radar Contact (they have a forum next door) or hook up online with VATSIM.In the 747, once you start using MCP HDG or ALT you no longer considered in a VNAV mode.

[ledan 0]

The default ATC in MSFS is incapable of doing much more than directing C-172 traffic in and out of a county airport, IMHO. It has no knowledge of sids/stars or navdata updates, it does not know what you have programmed in the FMS but relies only on the flight plan entered into MSFS.There are two very good alternatives: Get Radar Contact (they have a forum next door) or hook up online with VATSIM.In the 747, once you start using MCP HDG or ALT you no longer considered in a VNAV mode.

[ledan 0]

Thank you for your reply. I usually fly with Ivao, but I am a newbye with PMDG software and I wish to have sufficient training before bothering atc's on line. This is why I began with no atc at all and now try to use FSFX atc. The main problem I feel is that I cannot anticipate the rwy in use. When flying without atc, I check the arrival metar long in advance over the web so I have plenty of time to setup my FMC.Daniel

[dolin 0]

well, you can take a look at the chart of MSFS and look at the wind directionthat gives you the direction of landingyou then choose a runway (if there are multiples in the same direction) and wait for approach to contact youif ATC wants to vector you for your chosen runway, all okif not you can ask for another approach and runwayIMPORTANT if you request another runway to ATC first request the new runway, then the approachif you don't do this you will get a sidestep on the originally assigned runway

[Turbine777 13]

This is an older post but thought I would tell how I work with FSX ATC when on an IFR :)1.) Prior to launching FSX I often glance at the weather for my arrival airport for winds. I do this on different weather websites.2.)At the departure airport I load my flight plan and guess on which departure runway after listening to ATIS. Normally two choices and I'll go with whats closest to me which is usually the case. If needed I will change this after I get Taxi instructions (don't forget if you do to reset your takeoff speeds :) I also take my guess at the arrival runway from the wind data I saw earlier online. (ASA users can always just guess after putting in the airport abrevity code ex.KBOS in the report page and try and go off it. Finally I pick my trans or start etc...3.) I fly exactly as ATC says, changing altitudes on climb when clarence is given and make the heading and decent changes as ATC tells me.4.) During decent the PMDG 747-400 usually defaults at a slow decent, I think its about 1100 -1500 per minute. I often change this to 2000 on the VSI myself. It will just increase your rate of decent but will still stop at what ever alt you have on the MCP, no worries.5.) The last course change ATC will give you will normally put you over inbound heading to runway, this is where I arm the intercept localizer on the MCP. Also, if the heading marker line does not intersect with the runway approach line, I will make small corrections. Normally they are off only a few minor degress.6.) Also when the ATC gives you the last course correction they also hand you off to Tower. Once tower tells you which RW just make corrections. If your using FSX then you can also change runways via ATC, but of course that only means changing right to left of the active. However, I am right on my guess 90% of the time, but at times I do have to change from say, 31R to 31L,,, or I will just make the change in DEP/ARR in the FMC.7.) Once I intercept the localizer I arm Approach and and let it take me in. Short and sweet and hard to beat :)

[Airbrakes 0]

If you end up activating a VNAV descent before the FMC's calculated TOD is reached, VNAV will pitch the aircraft to maintain a -1200FPM descent rate until the vertical bearing is captured. If the controller tells you to descend ASAP before the calculated TOD, it's best to dump VNAV and use FLCH (Flight Level Change) or V/S (Vertical Speed). When you're under radar vectors, it's also best to dump VNAV as the FMC calculates the vertical bearing based on the entered flight plan, and entered altitude restriction at a particular waypoint. Default ATC will always use vectors, and as previously noted, they cant maintain proper IMC separation (kinda defeats the purpose of vectors IMO).

[fencer 16]

Hi Daniel,You'll find that MSFS ATC will direct you to very unrealistic approaches. If you are not ready (yet) to try better ATC packages like Radar contact or Proflight Editor (PFE) - or on-line ATC - I've found that an acceptable compromise is fly only the first part of the flight under MSFS control. (Please note this is from a post on FS9/737NG but I assume it should work for you).To do that, you export your PMDG flight plan to MSFS, then declare an IFR flight, follow ATC instructions during climb and cruise (adding at least 2000 feet to each altitude clearance given by ATC during the climb in order to avoid step climbs). MSFS ATC instructions should closely follow your flight plan until TOD so you just cancel IFR before TOD. You then fly you VNAV or LVL CHG descent and approach and contact tower just before landing. If the arrival is VFR, it's OK. However if the landing field is in IFR condition, ATC won't accept you in so you either ignore the controller and land anyway...or pause the sim and reopen your IFR flight plan just before landing...) Not pretty but OK in my opinion, at least until you go on-line or install better ATC. Hope this helps,Bruno

[Airbrakes 0]

Just to add to Bruno's post;I would just fly VFR and pretend you're IFR. It's much easier to learn the Queen that way. If conditions at the departure or arrival airfields don't meet VMC minima, your VFR request will be canceled by tower as the airfield will be IMC only. You can just change the weather to the default clear skies theme to avoid this problem.