RV7 manual/user guide is ...

[FlyIce 354]

pretty terrible!

 

I just bought this addon based on all the good comments on this forum and it indeed feels great to fly. But when I was trying to figure out its avionics as how to configure radio and to use VOR, I found the manual is close to useless. If anything it's unfinished.

 

It has pages of GPS GNS530, GMA 340 radio, GTX 327 (what is this?) etc, with all the keys neatly pointed with numbers but no text, no explanation, or not even a URL to point to any info resources. If you look further down the manual even those standard instruments and switches only got pictures, again with numbered arrows but no text explanation. It seems the author simply stopped finishing the manual before put it up. As a user guide, this kind of quality is outrageous.

 

Maybe to many of you these things are too familiar to need any manuals, but please not to me. I did have learned flying VOR/NDB/ILS etc using standard IFR pannels in 172 etc, but I don't know anything about how to turn and run GMA340 or GTX327. I know learning the GPS is a business on its own, but I do expect that I should be able to know those standard switches and gauges just by glancing the manual!

 

Duh...

[Bert Pieke 7,584]

Why not look for factory manuals for these (Garmin) gauges?

 

https://buy.garmin.com/shop/store/manual.jsp?product=010-00152-03&cID=199&pID=93

 

They indeed are very common radios, found in many airplanes.

[FlyIce 354]

Thanks Bert! I did have done a quick Google but didn't find the manual for GMA340. Thanks for the link.

 

I just checked Baytower forum and it seems that the author acknowlegded that he is still working on the manual and will update it when it's. Well, I guess I just need to be a bit more patient. I was frustrated that I couldn't figure out how to fly a simple VOR in RV7 right away...

[Griphos 138]

The manual may still be a work in progress, but I'm having trouble remembering the last manual for an addon airplane I've bought (and I have a LOT of addon airplanes) that explains how to use the radios or VOR, which are present in almost every airplane and work the same in all of them. I believe the usual practice is to explain whatever is unique to the airplane you just bought, not what is common between it and most other planes. I've just looked at the RV7 manual, and it explains the autopilot pretty fully, which is somewhat unique to it, and seems to be ready to include labels, at least, for the common avionics, but they are indeed common avionics.

 

I can't even think of the last POH I've looked at that includes such information.

 

I understand your need to learn about them if you are not familiar with them, but it is hardly a flaw of this particular manual that it doesn't teach you.

[Bert Pieke 7,584]

I was frustrated that I couldn't figure out how to fly a simple VOR in RV7 right away...

 

I would suggest reading the autopilot manual very carefully if you want to do VOR

navigation, using the autopilot - it does not have a NAV mode.. only HDG and GPSS.

[FlyIce 354]

It actually wasn't too hard for me to figure out how to set AP to hold ALT and HDG in RV7. What I wanted is to fly the VOR/NDB manually. In RV7 cockpit I don't even know where to set the NAV1 freq ...

 

To Griphos: I still think the manual should at least point to resources of the relevant info, not to leave users like me completely in the dark. But right now this is a moot point since the author already stated the manual is a work in progress.

[Griphos 138]

Yes, but I seriously doubt he'll add anything about tuning NAV radios or flying a VOR radial. Like I said, I can't think of a manual I've seen that does that, or "points to resources" that do so. There are a number of resources for doing so available for free though.

 

For instance, one good resource that's been around for a while is here:

 

http://www.navfltsm....om/aircraft.htm

 

But there are resources for actual pilots that also do a great job of explaining navigation. One of the best is available for free from the FAA (radio navigation instruction starts on p.398):

 

http://www.faa.gov/l...pilot_handbook/

 

This is an even better reference for piloting skills:

 

http://www.faa.gov/l...plane_handbook/

 

There's also at least one tutorial about this in the Lessons section of FSX itself. If you'll play around with the NAV/COM radio on the ground, you'll soon figure it out.

 

I was simply suggesting that your frustration was a bit unreasonable, and you might have spent the time you wrote venting that frustration doing a simple google search for information yourself. Manuals for addon aircraft can't really cover all the various aspects of how to fly.

[FlyIce 354]

Thanks for your info but I have alredy been reading and studying IFR from those sites since last few months. The bottom line is that I know how to dial radio, set VOR, fly NDB using FSX standard IFR pannels. But each cockpit is different and for a new cockpit like RV7 I expect the manual to point out the quirks and give me some necessary instructions. For instance, where to dial the radio in RV7? Or is it even possible? The manual has no duty to teach me the IFR, but it should make it easy for me to do it.

 

RV7 manuall as it is is unfinished but as long as the author gets it done with his best effort I don't have too much problem with that. I'm just surprised seems that nobody mentioned the manual thing here.

[Taipan 30]

It has been mentioned here before.

 

But yeah I hope for a complete manual too as I never feel I've mastered a plane until trying everything in the manual out.

[dmaher 0]

FlyIce, I hope you’ll come by the BTS forum, I’d be very happy to answer any of your questions there. The forum does a pretty good job of documenting the finer points of using the RV. And support requests are always answered first. Most of the time I had set aside for writing the manuals was used up implementing beta suggestions. So it’s been a tradeoff of sorts. But the documentation will come out of the forum discussion. And in the meantime, posting your questions in the forum will get you quick answer. You're right the manual is pretty thin, but I'd be happy to get you all setup and flying :)

Danny

[Griphos 138]

First you say:

 

I just bought this addon based on all the good comments on this forum and it indeed feels great to fly. But when I was trying to figure out its avionics as how to configure radio and to use VOR, I found the manual is close to useless.

 

Then you say:

 

What I wanted is to fly the VOR/NDB manually. In RV7 cockpit I don't even know where to set the NAV1 freq ...

 

Then you say:

 

Thanks for your info but I have alredy been reading and studying IFR from those sites since last few months. The bottom line is that I know how to dial radio, set VOR,

 

I'm not trying to pick a fight with you. In fact, I was trying to help you based on what you initially said you needed to know. I also suggested that complaining about the manual not helping you figure out how to tune a NAV radio and fly a VOR heading is a bit unreasonable, given that I don't know any manual that does. Not even the A2A manuals, which have ridiculous amounts of information in them, do that. That is probably the reason that you haven't seen others complaining loudly about it.

 

I'm sure Danny will add the labels to the pictures of the avionics. But that still won't help you know how to tune the NAV radio. The kind of thing you said you wanted to know, and that you complained of not being included in the manual, is the kind of thing you have to figure out on your own, usually by looking in the manufacturer's manuals, as was suggested. Perhaps Danny will add some links to those. He provided helpful information about the "quirks" of the autopilot (which is also common in newer LSA aircraft and homebuilts), including a link to the manufacturer's manual. That will be nice of him, but hardly necessary.

 

I, for one, am deliriously happy that Danny has spent his time on implementing the beta suggestions, resulting in one of the finest addon aircraft ever made for FSX. I know how to look up what I need to in order to operate the avionics. The POH he included is excellent and full of the information I actually need to fly the aircraft.

 

I think you'll get more help if you ask for it, rather than if you fuss about the lack of something that almost never gets included in the first place. But, then, several of us tried to help even with your fussing, so perhaps your strategy is working out fine for you.

 

And you're welcome.