Dear J41 fans,There are still a number of features described in the wonderful PMDG J41 I can't find or make function.Some helpful sim friends have kindly given me the theoretical answer to some of these in the past, but no one has told me these features actually function on our PMDG model ...1. The TEST feature for the AHRS. Where exactly are "positions 1 and 2" to be found in order to ensure that the AHRS TEST button actually works?2. Can one set up a joystick (e.g. Cyborg X) to make manual trim adjustments?3. The AOM mentions using a Touch Control Steering button (TCS button) to adjust trim in the climbout. Where exactly is this to be found and does it work on our J41?4. Despite various manual adjustments of the trim wheel within the TO zone, I have never yet experienced a takeoff "on the numbers" whereby the plane actually lifts off at Vr/V2 - it just continues accelerating until I really pull back hard on the stick at way over V2. What am I doing wrong - or is it the sim?5. Has anyone really, actually, truly seen the TURN knob on the AP console work? I have tried every known permutation of AP/ non-AP configuration, but the knob never commands the roll it's apparently supposed to! Me or it??Sorry to pitch five questions at once! Any advice on any single one of them would be much appreciated. It would be particularly great to hear from sim colleagues who have actually seen these things work themselves, rather than simple redirection to the manuals! :( Many thanks and best wishes to all.David

1) Lift the cover of the test panel on the co-pilots side console 2) Of course. Buttons 3 & 4 are usually set to trim down and trim up by default3) Fancy name for the trim buttons on the Yoke. 4) Set the trim to the center of the green band for take off and rotate positivly at Vr. 5) There was a whole thread on this recently. Do the tutorial flight a couple of times. It covers most of your questions.

1. The TEST feature for the AHRS. Where exactly are "positions 1 and 2" to be found in order to ensure that the AHRS TEST button actually works?

It's where Paul mentioned in his post, but when you go looking for it, you're looking for the ADC toggle switch.

2. Can one set up a joystick (e.g. Cyborg X) to make manual trim adjustments?

This is not anything related to the Jetstream at all (or any other aircraft for that matter). Joystick axes and commands are set through the FlightSim.

3. The AOM mentions using a Touch Control Steering button (TCS button) to adjust trim in the climbout. Where exactly is this to be found and does it work on our J41?

It's on the yoke, as mentioned, but it is not functional. The reason is that the TCS is meant to be a convenience feature to keep the pilot's hands on the yoke. That being the case, it would be counterproductive to have you look around the VC, take your hands off of your joystick to click a mouse button on the yoke. Assign a TCS to your joystick through key commands (or a trim wheel).

4. Despite various manual adjustments of the trim wheel within the TO zone, I have never yet experienced a takeoff "on the numbers" whereby the plane actually lifts off at Vr/V2 - it just continues accelerating until I really pull back hard on the stick at way over V2. What am I doing wrong - or is it the sim?

First, an aircraft should never rotate itself at the v-speeds. It should always require pilot input to begin the rotation (unless you are closer to the unstick speed, but that's well above the v-speeds). Second, trim is meant to (depending on the aircraft) lessen the force required to put the elevator at the desired position for the desired rotation/pitch (case of the J-41), or put the elevator into an effective range (MD11, B744, etc). Along those lines, trim should just make the rotation easier and more effective.Third, and where I'm suspecting the issue lies:What trim settings are you using and where are you getting the values?The trim setting comes right off of the load sheet, listed as Final Index/Trim. If you are not loading your aircraft properly, you will probably not be able to get within the desired trim range (what I'm guessing is that you're nose heavy). If you've ever flown a regional aircraft, you may have seen the flight attendant asking people to move around to other seats. This is because the crew ran the numbers and they needed to adjust their center of gravity by moving people around. You have it easy, as this sheet calculates everything for you. Pilots in the regionals use slide rules / "whiz wheels" to calculate it all out. Move your passengers around so that your FI/Trim value is something in the green range.

5. Has anyone really, actually, truly seen the TURN knob on the AP console work? I have tried every known permutation of AP/ non-AP configuration, but the knob never commands the roll it's apparently supposed to! Me or it??

It works. I tried it last night. First, AP must be on while the turn knob is in its detent. Beyond that, the AP must not be in any lateral modes (NAV/APP/HDG) so if they're on, click on the respective button to turn it off. From there, all you need to do is hold the knob to the left or right (depending on your intended direction) until you reach the desired bank angle and then let go (be careful, as the aircraft will lag behind the setting - watch the F/D to see where the command is at, as the command will lead the aircraft).

Sorry to pitch five questions at once! Any advice on any single one of them would be much appreciated. It would be particularly great to hear from sim colleagues who have actually seen these things work themselves, rather than simple redirection to the manuals! :(

Better to have the brevity of all the questions at once, than to go plodding through one at a time. I will say, however, that a reference to the manuals is the proper course of action in some cases. Those "in the know" often see it work, and then tell people it works, but those people sometimes still have no idea how to get it to work, so instead of re-writing the manual's description, we post a reference. From that, others can go do what the ones doing the helping did - they read the manual. That's my biggest issue with things that go on here, actually. I read the manual, and as a result, things tend to work correctly for me. Why can't others do the same, instead of relying on those who read the manuals? It's not a problem in the least to show up and say you need clarification. Anyone who's read the FARs knows aviation isn't written in the clearest of terms. The issue is that if you come to me and ask for me to explain a concept you've researched, you have some basic understanding of the topic (even if it makes no sense, you at least know the terminology) that I can reword to be more understandable. On the other hand, showing up and just asking for a handout requires me to explain the entire subject myself, when it has already been outlined in the manual that you essentially paid for, while I am distinctly not being paid (and I don't need to be, but asking others to not refer to the manual where it is written, and instead volunteer time to explain something that is already written is a bit off, in my world view).I'm not saying you didn't read the manual, or that I don't want to help, or that it's wrong to say "I read the manual, but it doesn't make sense to me." I'm just saying that it is valid to say "it is explained on page 144 of the AOM," if no indication has been made that the person actually attempted to help his/herself in the matter. Why? If I point you to the manual and you learn something, maybe you'll check there first before coming here. Is that required? No - especially for the more advanced topics - but it is certainly recommended. Over the weekend, someone who had some real in-depth knowledge of the manuals pointed out an interesting feature of the MD11. None of us here would have known that if he didn't read the manual. If none of us read the manual, none of us learn from each other. Imagine if everyone read the manual to at least get the basics out, so that those who have more expertise or knowledge on various matters weren't tied up on saying "set the trim, remove the start locks, load the default Cessna first, run the config tool, make sure your joystick isn't sending conflicting trim messages" and so on every day.

Thanks to Paul and Kyle for your time and trouble.Your responses have been very helpful.Of course, Kyle, you make a fair point about reading the manuals. I should have made mention of prior research. In my humble defence:1. The AHRS test feature. Page 19 of the Tutorial refers to the Air Data Computer test switch, for sure, but the further AOM chapter reference alongside which promises a fuller explanation, does not seem to exist (“See Side Console on page Ch081:9 of the PMDG-J_41 AOM”). At any rate, putting “side console” into the FIND window of the AOM in pdf didn’t locate the section. Page 25 of the Tutorial takes you into the P2 side console OK, but never mentions anything about the ADC switch – AND the abbreviations glossary doesn’t decode ADC for you. What’s more, by the time the Tutorial takes you into the side console, the AHRS is long since fully functional, so the ADC countdown test referred to on page 19 is redundant. The manual needs revision on this item.2. Joystick and trim. OK. The reason I enquired of the PMDG community is that on my keyboard the standard FSX keystrokes for trims don’t work with the J41. I didn’t yet have the chance to check standard programming for the 3 and 4 buttons on the Cyborg X though, Paul. Thanks for that thought.3. TCS. Well, we can agree right away here. The TCS is referred to in the AOM, but there’s no PMDG annotation to say that it isn’t functional in the sim. Good reason for that, I accept, but could use a small correction from PMDG next time perhaps to make it clear that it doesn’t work.4. Trim for TO. Appreciate your guidance on this Kyle. Another omission in the Tutorial. Page 38 says “We’ll come back to Final Index/Trim ... at a later stage in the tutorial ...” But they don’t. From an earlier thread I had understood you needed to be within the green zone, but the way the scale is marked, without a proper tutorial briefing, it also looks as though you have to keep within the two white lines nearest the “TO”, which is clearly a much narrower band than the whole green zone. Again, without the tutorial explanation, it isn’t immediately obvious that you use a “Final Index” number for TO trim, when that “Final” could be associated with “final” approach to land.5. The TURN knob. I’ll try it your way, Kyle. I really don’t want to make a huge meal out of this, because the sim is overall so incredibly good, but again your welcome success story is not consistent with the limited guidance given by the AOM 8.11.60, which might usefully be revised next time? The manual says lateral mode is [automatically] cancelled when TURN is rotated, but your experience is that you need to click out of lateral modes yourself. Equally, there’s nothing in the manual to say that you need to be in AP mode first. In all honesty, it’s the complexity and learning curve that makes the J41 so absorbing and educational. I just thank goodness there are patient people like you guys around to help on occasions when the answers are not obvious – even in the manuals! :( Forgive the long response too.Thanks again and best wishes,David

To be fair to the team, it's a light product, so it isn't as in-depth as the others (though seemingly not in some regards). As such, I think it also uses the default FlightSim autopilot instead of PMDG's own, which is probably why the turn knob doesn't work exactly as detailed in the manual.Just because in the tutorial you don't get a chance to see the time left function, as it's fully spun up at that point, doesn't mean that the mention is worthless. It's there for the future, when you get good enough that aircraft is already set up and you're waiting on the thing to be ready, so you flip the test switch to see how much longer you have to wait. Otherwise, if you're busy, what good is it anyway? Why waste time checking on it if the hold is based on your prepping the cockpit, and not the aircraft running its own internal calibrations.Based on your questions from last time, I know you're of the type to read the manuals, thus the "I'm not saying you didn't" in the last paragraph there. At that point, my comments were generic to hit all who pass by the thread. Keep asking away. I was just rationalizing my idiosyncrasies.

To be fair to the team, it's a light product, so it isn't as in-depth as the others (though seemingly not in some regards). As such, I think it also uses the default FlightSim autopilot instead of PMDG's own, which is probably why the turn knob doesn't work exactly as detailed in the manual.Just because in the tutorial you don't get a chance to see the time left function, as it's fully spun up at that point, doesn't mean that the mention is worthless. It's there for the future, when you get good enough that aircraft is already set up and you're waiting on the thing to be ready, so you flip the test switch to see how much longer you have to wait. Otherwise, if you're busy, what good is it anyway? Why waste time checking on it if the hold is based on your prepping the cockpit, and not the aircraft running its own internal calibrations.Based on your questions from last time, I know you're of the type to read the manuals, thus the "I'm not saying you didn't" in the last paragraph there. At that point, my comments were generic to hit all who pass by the thread. Keep asking away. I was just rationalizing my idiosyncrasies.

Thanks again, Kyle. All understood. Can't say I disagree with your point about the ultimate usefulness of the ADC test. Your closing remarks are most gracious ...By the way, Paul: I have verified that keys 3 and 4 on the Cyborg X do indeed act on the J41 trim wheel, which is great. I had jumped straight to my own custom J41 profile, so never worked with the defaults. Slightly awkward positioning for me ... but with a bit of SHIFT, works out OK. (For sure, I'm not ready to take on the challenge of macro programming the thing, so this workaround will to have to suffice until there is no day job to do!)Best wishes to one and all.David