OK, this time I finally managed to go through up and until take off checklists. I took off and was set to 16000' cruise altitude on both FMS and the ALT SEL knob. However there are several problems I had, one of them very serious:1. During climb I set pitch, etc (yes the whole checklist), set Autopilot ON, set HDG. The checklist says ALT SEL & IAS modes but they seem to be mutually exlusive, one deactivates the other. 2. While on climb (see above) I set the Auto Pilot ON on the console, the Yaw Damper apparently if one deactivates it it deactivate the AP. I quit clicking on the YD. The problem was that I enabled the Autopilot, went back to forward view (difficult to fly the plane like that) and several seconds later I got an audible and visible warning that the AUTOPILOT was DISENGAGED. I reactivated but again and again the same problem. What am I missing here that is not on the checklist? why does the AP keeps on getting deactivated?3. Even though I had set 16000 on the FMS as cruise altitude and was on the waypoints as well (except the last) AND I set 16000 using the ALT SEL knob as well, the a/c seemed to settle at 5300 ft and wouldn't continue climbing unless I did it manually.4. I had to MANUALLY reach cruise altitude and settle it there. The FD had HDG set and ALT (don't know what is the difference between ALT and ALT SEL) in hopes it would maintain that cruise altitude. But it wouldn't, perhaps because the AP kept on getting disengaged even at cruise. I did the same with ALT SEL instead of ALT but the same problem. I just couldn't get the autopilot to remain on. 5. THE BIG PROBLEM was most annoying... after all the stress and nearly 1 hour of cockpit preparation I was at cruise altitude with a nice view. A family member came and said "there are no passengers?" so I went to show him the Cabin View by right clicking on the mouse and selecting the view and.... I got the SYSTEM BUSY mouse animation and a few moments later what I feared happened, FSX Crashed on me!!! this is the 3rd time the J41 does this on me, I don't have that problem with the Legacy (FeelThere) or the other a/c. So this was most annoying... My system is capable of running all this:Intel i Core i7 920 2.67 GHzWindows 7 Home Premium 64 bit6 GB RAMnVidia GeForce GTX 285 (1GB video memory)FSX: Nearly full settings, Framerates 30 fpsAt this point item #5 is the only one that spoils the soup when I try to enjoy my J41. And to think I have to do at least 30 minutes of setup and start all over again is most disappointing. I wonder, if I save flight regularly during flight, would it REALLY save the flight state? or will it put switches in some other state? as I mentioned on other thread, I saved the a/c on the gate and saved as "default" but when I reloaded some switches were in a state other than the one I had set.HOpefully somebody has some insight on these points, although #5 really worries me a lot, after 3 JS41 system crashes I am always thinking "is this thing going to crash on me again?" :(

OK, this time I finally managed to go through up and until take off checklists. I took off and was set to 16000' cruise altitude on both FMS and the ALT SEL knob. However there are several problems I had, one of them very serious:1. During climb I set pitch, etc (yes the whole checklist), set Autopilot ON, set HDG. The checklist says ALT SEL & IAS modes but they seem to be mutually exlusive, one deactivates the other. 2. While on climb (see above) I set the Auto Pilot ON on the console, the Yaw Damper apparently if one deactivates it it deactivate the AP. I quit clicking on the YD. The problem was that I enabled the Autopilot, went back to forward view (difficult to fly the plane like that) and several seconds later I got an audible and visible warning that the AUTOPILOT was DISENGAGED. I reactivated but again and again the same problem. What am I missing here that is not on the checklist? why does the AP keeps on getting deactivated?Please make sure that Your joystick/yoke/rudder pedals don't cause AP disconnection.3. Even though I had set 16000 on the FMS as cruise altitude and was on the waypoints as well (except the last) AND I set 16000 using the ALT SEL knob as well, the a/c seemed to settle at 5300 ft and wouldn't continue climbing unless I did it manually.JS41 is not a standard "button" plane, You have to set rate of climb manualy, ALT SEL will keep you airplane on assigned alt when it will reach it. 4. I had to MANUALLY reach cruise altitude and settle it there. The FD had HDG set and ALT (don't know what is the difference between ALT and ALT SEL) in hopes it would maintain that cruise altitude. But it wouldn't, perhaps because the AP kept on getting disengaged even at cruise. I did the same with ALT SEL instead of ALT but the same problem. I just couldn't get the autopilot to remain on. 5. THE BIG PROBLEM was most annoying... after all the stress and nearly 1 hour of cockpit preparation I was at cruise altitude with a nice view. A family member came and said "there are no passengers?" so I went to show him the Cabin View by right clicking on the mouse and selecting the view and.... I got the SYSTEM BUSY mouse animation and a few moments later what I feared happened, FSX Crashed on me!!! this is the 3rd time the J41 does this on me, I don't have that problem with the Legacy (FeelThere) or the other a/c. So this was most annoying... My system is capable of running all this:Check this article http://forums1.avsim.net/index.php?showtopic=280688 issue#1At this point item #5 is the only one that spoils the soup when I try to enjoy my J41. And to think I have to do at least 30 minutes of setup and start all over again is most disappointing. I wonder, if I save flight regularly during flight, would it REALLY save the flight state? or will it put switches in some other state? as I mentioned on other thread, I saved the a/c on the gate and saved as "default" but when I reloaded some switches were in a state other than the one I had set.Panel state save unfortunately does not work correctly with JS41, but if You save your game, and run it again later by clicking the save file it will load correctly.HOpefully somebody has some insight on these points, although #5 really worries me a lot, after 3 JS41 system crashes I am always thinking "is this thing going to crash on me again?" :(Sorry, I can't help You more due to language limits, but I'm sure You will soon get all info You need ;)

First of all make sure you load up your flight initially with a default aircraft, then while the sim is running switch to the J41. Often frustrating odd problems arise when it hasn't been loaded this way.ALT SEL is there to capture/intercept commanded alt once you reach it with a different vertical mode (V/S or IAS) while ALT holds the current altitute. ALT SEL will switch to ALT when it has captured commanded (with the alt knob) altitude. IAS or V/S sould work fine with ALT SEL (they have to). Also the FMS has no authority on the vertical path of the AP so adding a cruise level in the FMS does nothing except give you a VNAV guide to follow.As for your AP disconnecting all the time that is your controllers spiking, I also have a issue if I don't freshly calibrate my hardware for the first flight, you only need to calibrate once unless you have disconnected the controller or shutdown the PC since. The AP disconnects if you try to manual take over but if the controller spikes even a little it can cause un wanted disconnects as it is pretty sensitive.Sorry I don't know what could be causing your crashing, the only crashing I have recieved is when I had some incompatable fsx.cfg 'tweaks'.

Jay, thanks for the explanations. So, if I understood correctly during climb I should use the ALT SEL knob and turn it until I set my cruise altitude (as I did) in my case 16,000 ft. Then DURING climb I should select ALT SEL and V/S in the flight mode controller, right? the Pilot Tutorial says something odd about using it in IAS mode (no autothrottle) so V/S is recommended. Then it would switch to ALT when it reaches cruise altitude, right?Probably it got stuck at 5,300 ft. because I must have pressed ALT at that time, that is what I guess, I had my hands full trying to control my climb with a disengaging autopilot and relatives coming to ask me questions :).What you say about the disengaging I find that an odd behavior but most likely that is how the real plane works. IF that is so, that would explain why it kept disengaging. During the climb I was trying all sort of things, in particular pulling on the yoke so that it wouldn't dive, that must have constantly disconnected the AP. I suppose I can touch other buttons during AP, just not the yoke, right? I hope moving throttle doesn't disconnect AP because this bird has no AT.The crashing has been most annoying so far but here in the forums there was something about an issue with a 64-bit DLL in Windows 7 that had to be "patched" with a 32-bit VISTA version installed on the FSX root folder to override the one in WINDOWS\System32 for FSX only. I hope that resolves my problem. Today I will go again through the 1-hour setup in hopes it doesn't crash on me.CheersEmilio

First of all make sure you load up your flight initially with a default aircraft, then while the sim is running switch to the J41. Often frustrating odd problems arise when it hasn't been loaded this way.ALT SEL is there to capture/intercept commanded alt once you reach it with a different vertical mode (V/S or IAS) while ALT holds the current altitute. ALT SEL will switch to ALT when it has captured commanded (with the alt knob) altitude. IAS or V/S sould work fine with ALT SEL (they have to). Also the FMS has no authority on the vertical path of the AP so adding a cruise level in the FMS does nothing except give you a VNAV guide to follow.As for your AP disconnecting all the time that is your controllers spiking, I also have a issue if I don't freshly calibrate my hardware for the first flight, you only need to calibrate once unless you have disconnected the controller or shutdown the PC since. The AP disconnects if you try to manual take over but if the controller spikes even a little it can cause un wanted disconnects as it is pretty sensitive.Sorry I don't know what could be causing your crashing, the only crashing I have recieved is when I had some incompatable fsx.cfg 'tweaks'.

Jay, thanks for the explanations. So, if I understood correctly during climb I should use the ALT SEL knob and turn it until I set my cruise altitude (as I did) in my case 16,000 ft. Then DURING climb I should select ALT SEL and V/S in the flight mode controller, right? the Pilot Tutorial says something odd about using it in IAS mode (no autothrottle) so V/S is recommended. Then it would switch to ALT when it reaches cruise altitude, right?Probably it got stuck at 5,300 ft. because I must have pressed ALT at that time, that is what I guess, I had my hands full trying to control my climb with a disengaging autopilot and relatives coming to ask me questions :).

You should press the ALT SEL button (having selecting the alt you want with the alt wheel) and select a vertical mode you want to use, that can be V/S or IAS. IAS is a pitch speed mode, the AP will vary the pitch of the aircraft to hold the indicated air speed selected (IAS) of your choice. This is the mode I use the most, especially for climb.Heres what I usually do, I use the GA (I press GA on the ground) to follow the GA flight director, I will get the speed to about 170knots (with flaps up) then select ALT SEL and IAS, NAV or HDG then the AP button, the IAS the AP is holding is written on the bottom right corner of the EADI in cyan, it will be at the speed the aircaft is travelling when you pressed it, if you want to go faster or slower use the black wheel next to the AP button on the console (looks like a middle mouse button wheel) to increase or decrease the speed AP will hold as it ascends. Be careful though as YOU still control the thottles, if you don't give it enough power it will actually descend to hold the selected speed (thats how you use it for descents) so really you are controlling the vertical speed of with the throttle in this mode. Once the AP reaches the altitude you have commanded with the ALT wheel (alt written in the top right of the EADI) it will capture it and level off and ALT SEL will change to ALT and it will hold it. IAS or V/S (whatever mode you used) will then disable itself and you need to be careful with the throttles as it can overspeed if you dont select the correct power settings.V/S you can use instead but you need to watch your airspeed carefully. Remember you always have control of the throttles so the aircraft with autopilot will only ascend/descend depending on how you control them, it can easily go into a stall or overspeed if you dont keep an eye on whats going on with them. The throttle setting I use in much like the tutorial from memory. Hold 170 knots, knock back condition levers so the RPM sits around 98% and bring the EGT up just below limit, this will get you upto 20000feet at a nice steady pace (using IAS)Once you press ALT SEL and have a alt commanded (with the wheel) you don't need to worry about pressing any alt buttons again until capture unless you suddenly want to stop ascent/descent.

What you say about the disengaging I find that an odd behavior but most likely that is how the real plane works. IF that is so, that would explain why it kept disengaging. During the climb I was trying all sort of things, in particular pulling on the yoke so that it wouldn't dive, that must have constantly disconnected the AP. I suppose I can touch other buttons during AP, just not the yoke, right? I hope moving throttle doesn't disconnect AP because this bird has no AT.

Yes touching the yoke is what disconnects the AP, it's a feature in real life to allow pilots instant control if they want/need (takes some pressure, more than you apply to a sim yoke/stick). Throttles does not disconnect the AP.

The crashing has been most annoying so far but here in the forums there was something about an issue with a 64-bit DLL in Windows 7 that had to be "patched" with a 32-bit VISTA version installed on the FSX root folder to override the one in WINDOWS\System32 for FSX only. I hope that resolves my problem. Today I will go again through the 1-hour setup in hopes it doesn't crash on me.CheersEmilio

The 32bit vista dll seems to have fixed my menu corruption issue that only recently arrived, never crashed for me just corrupted all the graphics, it still allowed me to save so I could restart FSX and continue the flight (too bad the J41 doesn't like save files much). I hope you get your crashing fixed :)

You should press the ALT SEL button (having selecting the alt you want with the alt wheel) and select a vertical mode you want to use, that can be V/S or IAS. IAS is a pitch speed mode, the AP will vary the pitch of the aircraft to hold the indicated air speed selected (IAS) of your choice. This is the mode I use the most, especially for climb.

Thanks, I will study your recommendations for the next flight. My new inagural flight again ended in disaster :( This time no FSX crash, but a pilot error. I was attempting to descend to 6000' from 16,000 ft as I don't think the AP would do that if the next WP has a lower altitude (or will it? it wasn't doing it). I noticed it was not coming down, I don't know what is the descent rate so I set it to 1000 ft/min. I was playing with some settings and tried to reduce throttle etc. Unfortunately just some 20 minutes off the arrival airport I got an overstress failure and it all ended. Frustrating given that I can't restart and go from there (was flying online) so that means I have to go back to the books and practice more.

Once you press ALT SEL and have a alt commanded (with the wheel) you don't need to worry about pressing any alt buttons again until capture unless you suddenly want to stop ascent/descent.

In this last flight (oVerstress) take off and climb went well, this time and following your previous instructions I managed to get the ALT SEL + V/S working. Just 1000 ft before cruise altitude I got a SHAKERRRR so I had to disconnect the AP and stabilize it.At cruise altitude I started getting icing problems, I turned on the propeller and engine anti-ice, windshield was on since the beginning. That didn't appear to do much. Then I found the rightmost Anti Ice switch and put it to do AUTO CYCLE (CCT1, CCT2, CCT3) and that got rid of the icing problem. When it came again I knew what to do and all was well.

Yes touching the yoke is what disconnects the AP, it's a feature in real life to allow pilots instant control if they want/need (takes some pressure, more than you apply to a sim yoke/stick). Throttles does not disconnect the AP.

Yes, I stayed off the yoke while on AP which is nerving considering the PAN button to view around the cockpit is located ON THE YOKE :'( so, I had to do it very carefully to be able to watch my instruments without disconnecting AP.

The 32bit vista dll seems to have fixed my menu corruption issue that only recently arrived, never crashed for me just corrupted all the graphics, it still allowed me to save so I could restart FSX and continue the flight (too bad the J41 doesn't like save files much). I hope you get your crashing fixed :)

I didn't have menu corruptions. My issue was that sometimes USING the FSX menus would cause the whole thing to crash (more serious) I can't confirm this until next flight but I used some menus to switch views and nothing bad happened. However, now another problem that I did not have before arose (with that DLL), some times there is a LOT of flickering, it seems the screen is divided in four quadrants and the flicker goes around each quadrant. Will try to post that on the other thread.Thanks for the hints on flying this plane. It is REALLY a pity this PMDG doesn't save the panel correctly, for me now the major drawback because when I start from cold & dark many switches are already in the position I am supposed to move them so it isn't really cold & dark. I hope they solve this in a service pack.

If You save Your flight, close the app, and load it by double clicking the save file (it's connected to FSX.exe) the game will start with all switches in position at witch You saved them. The only issue now is FSX GPS module, witch may create popup window at load, but if You will load some flight plan before saving it will load flawlessly. Works for me perfectly, try for Yourself.EDIT:And about flying this wonderful bird: try flying tutorial, step by step, all basics are well explained there.

Thanks, I will study your recommendations for the next flight. My new inagural flight again ended in disaster :( This time no FSX crash, but a pilot error. I was attempting to descend to 6000' from 16,000 ft as I don't think the AP would do that if the next WP has a lower altitude (or will it? it wasn't doing it). I noticed it was not coming down, I don't know what is the descent rate so I set it to 1000 ft/min. I was playing with some settings and tried to reduce throttle etc. Unfortunately just some 20 minutes off the arrival airport I got an overstress failure and it all ended. Frustrating given that I can't restart and go from there (was flying online) so that means I have to go back to the books and practice more.

The FMS on the J41 doesn't have a V NAV function linked to the autopilot, it wont descend at all. The V NAV page on the FMS is only a guide for you to go by. So when you want to descend even if you put the contraint into the V NAV page, YOU will have to do it all and use the FMS V NAV page as a guide. For example the VNAV page says you need 1500fpm to reach the next waypoint at the altitude you asked (or the altitude the star requires) then you switch to V/S and set (minus) -1500/-1600fpm. But remember you still control the throttles so the aircraft will speed up considerably which you have to stop by throttling down. Otherwise you can overspeed or need even more V/S to stay on the calculated Vertical path.

In this last flight (oVerstress) take off and climb went well, this time and following your previous instructions I managed to get the ALT SEL + V/S working. Just 1000 ft before cruise altitude I got a SHAKERRRR so I had to disconnect the AP and stabilize it.

Your getting there but thats why you have to watch your speed and setting V/S rather than IAS is not the best idea for ascent/climb. IAS makes sure your speed says at what you set it. Though making a single V/S rate (eg 1000ft/min) to go by doesn't allow for the fact that your engines loose power in thinner air so can't keep that rate up. The J41's AP will happily put it into a stall if you don't pay attention to your speed.

At cruise altitude I started getting icing problems, I turned on the propeller and engine anti-ice, windshield was on since the beginning. That didn't appear to do much. Then I found the rightmost Anti Ice switch and put it to do AUTO CYCLE (CCT1, CCT2, CCT3) and that got rid of the icing problem. When it came again I knew what to do and all was well.

Good, the autocycle is the airframe anti ice is is the most effective to removing the warning (you can see it work in the external view, the ice on wings dissapears) , also be careful with engine anti ice because it does give a solid increase in EGT so if you are already near the EGT limit at cruise it will push the engines over so you may need to throttle off a little before using them.

I didn't have menu corruptions. My issue was that sometimes USING the FSX menus would cause the whole thing to crash (more serious) I can't confirm this until next flight but I used some menus to switch views and nothing bad happened. However, now another problem that I did not have before arose (with that DLL), some times there is a LOT of flickering, it seems the screen is divided in four quadrants and the flicker goes around each quadrant. Will try to post that on the other thread.

Yeah I saw your post in the other thread, this is a known issue that will be fixed in the next service pack for the J41, for now switch the cockpit setting in the the J41 config manager to medium, this only removes the window icing effects but fixes the problem for now.

Thanks for the hints on flying this plane. It is REALLY a pity this PMDG doesn't save the panel correctly, for me now the major drawback because when I start from cold & dark many switches are already in the position I am supposed to move them so it isn't really cold & dark. I hope they solve this in a service pack.

Yeah, this is all part of it being a cheaper "express" PMDG aircraft, Though I think panel saves really needed to be included as this would have prevented a lot of issues.