How do you see out of the 737 virtual cockpit? With TrackIR, I find myself looking at the back of my chair, or at the yoke, or at the narrow slit of a window, or at the instruments, but I have all sorts of trouble seeing where I'm going while trying to scan the instruments. The biggest trouble is approaches. To see the airport and my instruments simultaneously, I feel like I have to come in at a too-steep angle. It's very frustrating. Should I just shut off TrackIR and use the default cockpit? But I have trouble seeing out of that, too.

 

Also, what do the localizer/glide slope markers look like on the 737? I see the indicator telling me I'm too far left or right, but I can't see one telling me if I'm too high or low. Am I just supposed to use the VASI lights for vertical adjustments?

 

Thanks.

The most commonly used GS indicator is the one on the right side of the PFD scale, although depending on the avionics fit you choose, the GS is annunciated in a number of other places, see here for reference. Pages 18, 41, 73, 100, 124:

 

http://www.smartcock...7/systems/0022/

 

Personally, I just knock Track IR off when I need to, but adjusting the angle of the detector thingy on the top of your monitor can also help. Note that too much light from a strong source can screw with its tracking.

 

Al

_{The Glideslope indicator on the default 737 is a pink diamond on the right hand side of the PFD which moves up or down as opposed to the Localiser indicator which is a pink diamond at the bottom of the gauge which moves left and right...}

Thanks for the replies. That link was very helpful; I spent quite a bit of time studying the various screens. (One thing I hadn't understood was the Angle of Attack indicator; nice to have that.) I'll practice more with the glideslope indicator.

 

I also meant to ask about tracking VORs in the 737. The jet moves so fast that it seems a lot harder to turn onto a new VOR radial heading than with, say, the Cessna. If you turn a few seconds late, you end up way off the radial. I guess the answer is..turn earlier, heh.

 

Any further thoughts on how to see out the window? Should I just use the default cockpit view and turn off TrackIR?

To me it sounds like your TrackIR isn't properly configured. What you describe is what I tend to get when I'm not correctly positioned in front of the camera, so that it has difficulty tracking my head. I also get it after flying for a prolonged amount of time. I have an iMac which starts generating a lot of heat after using it extensively and I think this messes with the infrared signaling.

To me it sounds like your TrackIR isn't properly configured. What you describe is what I tend to get when I'm not correctly positioned in front of the camera, so that it has difficulty tracking my head.

 

+1.

Make sure the camera is centered properly in respect to the reflectors.

Open up the camera software and go to camera view, view the three green dots - they should be centered on the camera view, adjust the camera itself until they are centered as close as you can get them.

 

The default 737 is pretty much what I fly all the time in FSX and this is really not an issue for me.

I do also have the pause Track IR programmed to a easy to reach button on my joystick for when I do need to pause, as well as the re-center command.

However when you get the hang of flying ILS with the indicators appropriately in the 737, you will find looking out the windows is not so much needed.

You guys were absolutely right! I had thought my TrackIR was centered, but when I checked the camera view, the green dots were all off-center. I re-positioned the camera, and presto, problem solved. I just did the solo ILS landing lesson in FSX Lessons, and it was my smoothest ILS approach ever. Yay!

 

I'm embarrassed that I hadn't figured out that the magenta diamond on the right side of the main display was the vertical glide-slope indicator. Also, I hadn't realized I could use the autopilot to track the ILS VOR all the way down the glide slope. That sure makes things easy! I turned off the autopilot (and autothrottle) shortly after the Missed Approach Point -- really just a couple hundred feet above the runway, maybe half a minute before touchdown. Is that too late? I noticed a video in another "landing 737" thread, a video without sound but with captions, and the author kept autopilot on at least that long. Is that standard practice? Autothrottle stays on till then, too -- then comes off just before touchdown?

 

I landed fine, but watching the instant replay, I was pitched up perhaps too high. I read somewhere that you really do want to land hard onto the back gear, not make a soft passenger-friendly landing by flaring too much, for fear of damaging the tail. The Lessons say 3 degrees nose up pitch when crossing runway threshhold, but maybe I was doing more like 6 degrees. 3 degrees is right?

 

Anyway, thank you for answering my main question. It was really a pleasure to be able to see the instruments and the runway at the same time. :)

Unless the aircraft is rated to perform autolanding (FSX default aircraft are not), the AP is to be turned off and manual control of the flight resumed at a certain "minimum AP altitude." This can be assigned in the aircraft type certification, or specific to the airfield(?), all determined by the responsible authority (e.g., FAA or other national equivalent).

300 feet AGL seems a pretty commonly-used minimum AP alt.

You guys were absolutely right! I had thought my TrackIR was centered, but when I checked the camera view, the green dots were all off-center. I re-positioned the camera, and presto, problem solved. I just did the solo ILS landing lesson in FSX Lessons, and it was my smoothest ILS approach ever. Yay!

 

Glad to help and very glad you got it tuned better for your needs!

That one is common for folks to miss, I have had it happen as well, think everything is centered good but when I go to camera view I see it is not.

I generally check this before I launch the first flight of the day to be sure.

 

Have fun!