SimCheck's AirbusA300 B4-200

[vc10man 732]

Having read AVSIM staff reviewer Alan Bradbury's excellent review of the SimCheck Airbus A300 B4-200,I went ahead and purchased it.However,when trying to follow the tutorial flight as per the tutorial manual from Brussels to London,and after initially setting-up the radio,all of a sudden the radio console just switches off,or when moving to the refuel panel none of the gauges work.Likewise,cannot activate the Ext Power switch,etc,etc.I have installed the latest FSUIPC as the tutorial recommends doing so.Any ideas anyone who owns this particular aircraft?Windows 7 64-bit Pro,12Gb RAM,FSX+SP1+SP2

[CoolP 283]

Is the APU running when this happens?Sounds like a low battery to me. Try with ext. power. It's connected via the control panel and you have to turn some switches on the right side of the elec panel to get an "avail" light.

[Chock 17,769]

Have you enabled the extended battery life option in FSUIPC? If not, then sitting on the tarmac whilst flipping back and forth to the tutorial PDF to suss things out will probably mean your battery conks out before you get the engines cranked up.It's also worth ensuring that you load up a default aeroplane before loading up the A300, as like many other fancy aeroplanes for FS, not doing that can cause some freaky issues occasionally.Thank you for the nice comment on the review too by the way, I'm glad you liked it and I hope you figure out what is amiss soon, because the SimCheck A300 is certainly one of the best FS add-on airliners you can get. There is a very good support forum for it over at Aerosoft, and if the above suggestions are to no avail, you may find some other suggestions of things to try there. Note too that the version I reviewed was patched, although I would guess that a recent purchase would be up to date, but you can check the version you have on the little ground utility panel incidentally, so that is worth a look, just to be sure you are fully up to date.Al

[vc10man 732]

Have you enabled the extended battery life option in FSUIPC? If not, then sitting on the tarmac whilst flipping back and forth to the tutorial PDF to suss things out will probably mean your battery conks out before you get the engines cranked up.It's also worth ensuring that you load up a default aeroplane before loading up the A300, as like many other fancy aeroplanes for FS, not doing that can cause some freaky issues occasionally.Thank you for the nice comment on the review too by the way, I'm glad you liked it and I hope you figure out what is amiss soon, because the SimCheck A300 is certainly one of the best FS add-on airliners you can get. There is a very good support forum for it over at Aerosoft, and if the above suggestions are to no avail, you may find some other suggestions of things to try there. Note too that the version I reviewed was patched, although I would guess that a recent purchase would be up to date, but you can check the version you have on the little ground utility panel incidentally, so that is worth a look, just to be sure you are fully up to date.Al

Hi Alan.Being experienced enough to do Cold&Dark start-ups in complex aircraft like the LDS-767 and PMDG's range,I have been able to do a cold+dark start-up with this A300 B4-200 right up to actually taking-off when all of a sudden on the climb-out the whole thing behaves strangely as first the AP drops out,then every AP-enabled function ceases,but the sound still carries on,and it just completely freezes,which is why I then updated my FSUIPC.I have a paid-for registered FSUIPC for my FS9 and have posted to Pete Dowson to check if I can port over that FSUIPC over to FSX.Until then,the v4.6 update is not registered,so I do not have the options tabs as in a fully registered FSUIPC to extend battery life,etc.The accompanying SimCheck tutorial manual which is what I wanted to try out,for the tutorial flight just to see where I was going wrong,states that there is a registered version of FSUIPC in the main gauge folder but I cannot seem find it unless it's lurking somewhere else.But what baffles me is,when that I open up the Setup panel and opt to connect Ext Pwr/Air,nothing happens at the actual Ext Pwr switch on the Elec panel no matter how many times I press that switch.Addtionally,the tutorial does not go to the APU section until the next chapter.The default aircraft that loads in my FSX is the AirCreation Trike Ultralight whereas the SimCheck tutorial manual states I should load up with the default Cessna as in FS9.Yes,your review was top-class which after my bad buy with the Wilco 777,prompted me to opt for this add-on,and it is everything you state it is.One of the best Airbuses to have as an add-on.

[Chock 17,769]

Obviously the default microlight is fairly minimalist on avionics, and since the A300 manual suggests to use a Cessna, then I would assume that is reasonably necessary; just in case you aren't sure on how to do that (I know you probably are, but if not), select the Cessna from the create a flight screen and save it, ticking the 'make default' button.I must admit, I always cranked the SimCheck A300 up using a default Cessna flight first when I tested it for the review, so I honestly don't know for sure if doing otherwise would cause problems. I tend to religiously follow the manual in review products in order to avoid such issues if they may be there! I would be interested to know if you figure out that is what lies at the heart of your issue though.The only add-on airliner I know for sure will always have problems if you don't fire up a default Cessna first, is Ariane's FSX 737, which will flatly refuse to start one of the engines via the panel if you don't load up a Cessna fist, and the IRS doesn't align properly either if you don't do that, which is why I have a Cessna on the default flight, because it works great when that's the case.I think (not absolutely sure about this though), that when Acceleration came along, that altered things in FSX so that some default aircraft would work as 'set up aircraft' and some would not, because Acceleration added some more engine stuff to FSX.Al

[vc10man 732]

Obviously the default microlight is fairly minimalist on avionics, and since the A300 manual suggests to use a Cessna, then I would assume that is reasonably necessary; just in case you aren't sure on how to do that (I know you probably are, but if not), select the Cessna from the create a flight screen and save it, ticking the 'make default' button.I must admit, I always cranked the SimCheck A300 up using a default Cessna flight first when I tested it for the review, so I honestly don't know for sure if doing otherwise would cause problems. I tend to religiously follow the manual in review products in order to avoid such issues if they may be there! I would be interested to know if you figure out that is what lies at the heart of your issue though.The only add-on airliner I know for sure will always have problems if you don't fire up a default Cessna first, is Ariane's FSX 737, which will flatly refuse to start one of the engines via the panel if you don't load up a Cessna fist, and the IRS doesn't align properly either if you don't do that, which is why I have a Cessna on the default flight, because it works great when that's the case.I think (not absolutely sure about this though), that when Acceleration came along, that altered things in FSX so that some default aircraft would work as 'set up aircraft' and some would not, because Acceleration added some more engine stuff to FSX.Al

Hi Alan.There's something not quite right with this particular aircraft which completely baffles me.As recommended by you,set the default aircrat to the Cessna Skyhawk.I then decided to bypass the tutorial and go straight to a flight.Through the Set-up Menu I opted for a Cold+Dark.Then I connected External Power and the PSU is clearly seen at the nose.Then after switching on the batteries(all 3 of them),making the Ext Pwr connection,fired up the APU,watched the EGT,etc gauges rise,selected APU from the electrical panel,adn set the APU bleed air.Checked the fuel gauge which shows fuel in the various tanks.Then I powered up the Comms suite to tune in to the ATIS,etc,which is when all of a sudden the Ext Pwr switch drops out,and the switch illuminations go off,yet,bafflingly,the DC and AC voltages are showing as normal.The battery switches remain at their Norm setting.However,the altimeter,and other Navaid gauges now show red flagged,and the entire fuel panel just goes blank! And I cannot re-set the Ext Pwr switch.I'm now left to scratching my head wondering where do I go next.Just in the process of uninstalling the whole thing from FSX.I have the latest FSUIPC which is not registered but the SimCheck manual states that there is no nned to register it as long as it's above v4.6.I'm awaiting a feedback from SimFlight re:FSUIPC registration,etc.Any further ideas?