747 AIRAC data not working... I think!

[Barthandelus 1]

Hi, everyone!I bought the 747 for FS2004 and after a couple of weeks reading manuals, trial and error and research, im starting to get to grips with this.Yesterday, i updated the airac data from navdata.at, and installed it. I can see in the FMC that the installation was successful (0906), and SIDS and STARS are now showing in the approach selections (where they were not in the default install of the 747 from the CD).Now, this is my problem, i hope you can help me.My route has been entered in the FMC, cruise altitudes, etc, but when i take off, i can turn on the autopilot fine, LNAV and VNAV, and the plane follows the route... Sort of!It no longer accurately follows the purple line in the NV, and is forever banking left and right to line up with it. Seems that sometimes it also make very erratic banks for no apparent reason, then tries to line up again. Also, is FL280 equal to 28000? I put this level as my cruise alt, but the FMC (only on one flight) showed some waypoints at FL370!I also cannot switch on the SPD button so the speed is 'controlled' my the FMC.Any ideas? Would wrong / corrupt AIRAC data cause this? I would really appreciate your help in this. Thank you!Adrian Burley

[Richard McDonald Woods 168]

Adrian,I should discount corrupted AIRAC data, unless your FMC IDENT page shows an invalid date range as ACTIVE.Yes, FL280 signifies 28000 feet. Putting FL280 into the PERF INIT page or pressing the ALT knob enables VNAV to control your altitude, if engaged. But the FL370 in small font on your future waypoints are the level that the the FMC has calculated as your expected unconstrained altitude at their crossing, should ATC allow a climb to this altitude.If you press the SPD button, the autothrottles will control thrust to maintain IAS or Mach displayed in the IAS/Mach window, subject to minimum and maximum speed limits. SPD mode is inoperative in VNAV, FLCH or TO/GA pitch modes and inoperative until 400 feet AGL after take-off.If the ND shows the aircraft sharply deviating from the purple line, then you may have the display range set too high (i.e. to 10) so that you see every slight adjustment to lateral navigation made by the FMC, or you are in strong crosswinds, or something else that can only be ascertained by giving us a snapshot of your situation.I hope that this helps.Cheers, Richard

[Barthandelus 1]

Thank you for your help.My waypoints also have the speed and FL next to them, for example HON 340/25000.So if the SPD button does not work while in VNAV mode, how is the speed automatically adjusted to match the FMC settings? Does VNAV control speed also?I am not 'zoomed' in to far either. Its as if the plane is having trouble lining up with the purple line; banking seems sharp and random. Some times at a waypoint it turns much to far, then banks left and right like 7 times to sort itself out, but never quite makes it.

[downscc 1,327]

The navdata from navdata.at is not current, it consists only of sidstars uploaded by hobbiests and that was not allowed once Richard Stefan migrated the service to fee-based (due to the removal of free navigation data from the public domain by the US DoD) at navigraph. Therefore, the data is actually several years old.You should get your navdata and sidstars from navigraph.com (the fee is nominal, couple bucks per cycle).I recommend you fly the tutorials for the 747 to learn the basics. These are available in the PMDG Ops section, a wiki-based knowledge base at their web site here: http://ops.precisionmanuals.com/wiki/Special:AllpagesHope this helps.

[SimPilot23523 0]

I should discount corrupted AIRAC data, unless your FMC IDENT page shows an invalid date range as ACTIVE....If the ND shows the aircraft sharply deviating from the purple line, then you may have the display range set too high (i.e. to 10) so that you see every slight adjustment to lateral navigation made by the FMC, or you are in strong crosswinds, or something else that can only be ascertained by giving us a snapshot of your situation.I hope that this helps.Cheers, Richard

hi richard,I too am experiencing issues with:

• PMDG 737
• PMDG 747-400x
• FSX
• AIRAC Cycle 0906 from Navigraph

Particularly:

• Plane heading is off by about 10 degrees from purple line (at the 20 or 40 scale)
• Plane follows 'approach path' to YSCB or YSSY ILS but it is off course physically by approximately 10 degrees from the runway. i end up landing on the grass! YSSY runways were 16L and 16R for 747 and 737 attempts respectively
• it does not seem to matter whether the FP was created in FlightSim Commander (like i normally do, also updated to the latest 0906) or if i create it inflight using the FMC

Everything prior to Cycle 0906 from Navigraph worked fine. I am going to try an older version tonight. I posted on the navigraph forums where http://forum.navigraph.com/forum/default.a...osts&t=1196 similar issues have been reported. they asked that i post here too just in case.My System: FSX on Vista 64 bitthanks in advance guys

[SimPilot23523 0]

oops! i mean MD-11 not "737"

[downscc 1,327]

First thing to try if you are not following the desired track and missing the final approach course is the registry repair tool from Flight1, which is free and safe to use. If that doesn't work, try posting a screen shot of your 2D panel.The navdata is simply a collection of text files providing latlon locations for navaids, fixes, runways, etc., and runway information. Tracking errors will not be the fault of the navdata.

[SimPilot23523 0]

First thing to try if you are not following the desired track and missing the final approach course is the registry repair tool from Flight1, which is free and safe to use. If that doesn't work, try posting a screen shot of your 2D panel.The navdata is simply a collection of text files providing latlon locations for navaids, fixes, runways, etc., and runway information. Tracking errors will not be the fault of the navdata.

ok ill try that tool tomorrow, in the meantime here are some snap shots i prepared earlier.YSCB to YSSY. Runway is 16R using ILS. Everything worked fine, plane followed path, descended, captured ILS and auto-landed, though though-out the whole flight the magenta line never ligned-up and i was physically off course by about 10 degrees on touch down. odd. worked previously fine.0. Heading to BOREE, approach info displayedplane flew to BOREE fine except magenta line never lined-up. plane was NOT zig-zagging1. ILS intercepted, AUTO-LAND ON!i think im off course though2. YSSY 16R3. Offcourse4. Physically Offcoursethe plane still landed automatically, albeit on the grass. the gardener was not too happy. ;)

[downscc 1,327]

Everytime I've seen this in the forum is has usally been a registry problem; occasionally there are magdev.bgl files corrupt or a AFCAD file that corrupts the magdev in FS9. Hope this helps.

[Cras 6]

I have this exact same problem. It is like the Autopilot is retarded or something, it can never capture the airway, never can capture a localizer, pitches violently, once I had the plane do such a massive bank to the left, that bank angle warnings went on the the plane slid out of the sky.I tried the registry program from Flight1 that was recommended, but that unfortunately did not fix a thing.Sure, it can autoland, but never on the runway.-Scott Kalin

[vonmar 124]

Micky,Earlier in your post you said MD11 (not 737).Your screenshot has 4 engines?More than one PMDG aircraft with the same problem?

[SimPilot23523 0]

Everytime I've seen this in the forum is has usally been a registry problem; occasionally there are magdev.bgl files corrupt or a AFCAD file that corrupts the magdev in FS9. Hope this helps.

thanks dan, ill try that tonight.

[SimPilot23523 0]

Micky,Earlier in your post you said MD11 (not 737).Your screenshot has 4 engines?More than one PMDG aircraft with the same problem?

yes that was my mistake. in the beginning i said the problem occurred whilst flying the PMDG 737 and PMDG 747. I meant to say "PMDG MD-11 and PMDG 747". I dont own the 737. sorry about that.the above screen shots were in the 747-400x. (which used to work wonderfully)i first encountered the problem flying from YMML to YSCB in the MD-11. but then i tried the PMDG 747 and had the same issue both flying to YSCB and YSSY which was weird as both used to work earlier in the year.since the beginning of the year ive applied pmdg service packs, navigraph updates and installed other commercial scenery enhancers. perhaps one of these has corrupted something accidentally. ill reinstall everything tonight and let you know how i go later in the week.EDIT: ill try that magnetic fix first though thanks

[SimPilot23523 0]

Hi,I ran the registry repair tool but did not fix it sadly.I loaded YSSY into an airport editor and noted what appears that ILS is off the runway for 16R/34L, i suspect the same thing has happened to YSCB which was odd since i definately have landed on YSCB ILS AUTOLAND on-target earlier in the year. What would have caused that?loading up all the airports into the editor and fixing them manually is not an option sadly. is it possible that applying:

• MD-11X v1.20.0055
• Navigraph AIRAC 0906

...has somehow conflicted?thanks in advance

[downscc 1,327]

The glideslope indicated on the screen shot looks correct... they really are located along the side of the runway upwind from the touchdown zone. Remember that the GS only provides vertical guidance, not azimuth.. and the localizer for 16R should be off screen at the opposite end of the landing direction.

is it possible that applying:MD-11X v1.20.0055Navigraph AIRAC 0906...has somehow conflicted?

I wouldn't expect navdata to corrupt anything in MSFS.. they are not executables but are only text files that list various things such as runway location, bearing and localizer course. If the data was wrong it could result in erroneous indications on the ND but it wouldn't change the actual localizer that is encodded in the AFCAD file or airport facility bgl files. The FMS doesn't use the navdata to "fly" the approach, it does use the simulated localizer in MSFS. The navdata does tell the FMS where the runway is but even if that were wrong if you had the same frequency in the nav receiver as simulated in MSFS then the localizer would take you to the runway in MSFS, not to the runway location in error in the navdata.I forgot if this is FSX or FS9... regardless, if the registry is okay then the next step is to start turning off the add-on AFCAD and scenery files until you find the one that has corrupted your simulated magnetic deviation.Hope this helps.