J41: Getting a direct route to a place while in the air

[Gregg_Seipp 573]

So I was up, goofing around on the J41, setting buttons and all, just generally trying to stay away from mountains while I tuned settings. Well, at some point, I decided it was time to head home. I was at 4500 and I tuned a VOR near the airport but, alas, I'm too low to pick up a decent signal and there's low mountains near it so, what to do...

 

So, I clicked on the FMC. It told me I was at some bogus airport, probably nearby, but who cares...I click ENTER three times and then select D-> and that takes me to a Direct screen with a blank field. I select it by clicking the nearby button and get the ****. I type my airport ID and press ENTER twice. Poof...It points the way. I click LNAV and Full Map on the EHSI controller and then click Nav and the autopilot is taking me home.

 

Truthfully, it seems a little flaky. Sometimes you have to try a couple of times to get it to take an entry.

 

Also, found out that if you click and hold down the ON button it shuts the FMC off.

 

This stuff may be in the AOM but I haven't gotten that far yet :).

 

Just thought some folks might find it useful and, if you can help iron out the precise set of buttons to click that would be great.

 

Any other cool tricks you know?

[BartEnder 2]

You should turn FMC on after starting the engines and initialize itself. If You are doing it from the airport (not in the middle of nowhere), You have to hit enter three times and FMC is basically set (it has to know, where is it starting the journey). In the air simply hit 'Direct To', enter ICAO code and set LNAV in Captain's side and arm NAV mode as You did. That should be enough.

[Gregg_Seipp 573]

I thought the checklist said to enter the FMC data before engine start.

[Frank Otero 0]

Hi Gregg,

 

You need the genies turning or ground power to get your avionics on line. That is why if you disconnect ground power before engaging a generator (after start) you will have to reboot the fmc... I have that t-shirt hihi

 

regards

[scandinavian13 5,192]

Yeah Greg, Frank's right about the power issue. Start on the GPU, get the FMC all set up. Start the engines, put everything on the GENs, and then cut the GPU and disconnect it. That will get rid of the FMC wipe issue.

 

The other issue is that you need to tell it you're going from an airport to an airport. It doesn't like random place to nowhere. As you saw, if you're already airborne, you can just tell it you left whatever airport's closest to you. From there, just enter the next fix you want to go to and finish the route that way. Just make sure that it ends with your destination airport. I'm not sure if that's how the real one operates, but it's a light product, so it's close, but not exact in all ways.

[Gregg_Seipp 573]

Gad...this is light?? LOL. Suddenly, I'm very scared of heavy.

[Houghton11 12]

It's kind of disheartening that people have been labelling the J41 as a 'light' product, with even PMDG calling it that lately.

 

It really is a pretty complex product.

 

I remember PMDG making a point of describing this product as fully featured..etc..etc when it was first revealed, and not to think of it as a "lighter" product.

 

Of course with the NGX the bar has been raised much higher.

[Nathan3219 113]

It's kind of disheartening that people have been labelling the J41 as a 'light' product, with even PMDG calling it that lately.

 

Agreed. I've spent many hours in both my MD-11 and 747, and I would say that the JS4100 is much more of a challenge to learn and fly than the two heavies mentioned.

[BartEnder 2]

The only "light" aspect from GNS-XLS is the lack of AFIS and no Holding can be programmed. And You cannot see the strength of GPS satellites, but this is not working in any RNAV aircraft in FSX. The real world counterpart's manual is worth reading.

I do not use GPU, since I fly in remote areas, where one couldn't found Ground unit for such a rare aircraft.

[Frank Otero 0]

Agreed. I've spent many hours in both my MD-11 and 747, and I would say that the JS4100 is much more of a challenge to learn and fly than the two heavies mentioned.

I have been told by many pilot/controllers while flying on line that their J41 is sitting in their hangar because they keep burning the engines, or cannot get them started ,etc. I have to say that although this may be a "light product" when compared to other more detailed/elaborated planes, she will bite you really hard if you do not keep up with all her "wishes" and one eye on the engine gauges. You do not have the "tricks" other planes have (VNAV, A/T,etc) to fool her into believing you can actually fly :Just Kidding: . She can be a handful...I like women as such hihihihihihi.

[Gregg_Seipp 573]

I have been told by many pilot/controllers while flying on line that their J41 is sitting in their hangar because they keep burning the engines, or cannot get them started ,etc.

 

I've owned it for about 6 weeks and haven't smoked an engine since the second week (I was *completely* overwhelmed by everything going on!). If you sit back and carefully think about how you got into the 'smoked' scenario, it won't be long before it will stop. From my various mistakes:

• Make sure you removed the start locks (common mistake).
  
• Make sure the condition levers are fully forward before takeoff roll.
  
• Be careful when applying taxi power. Always taxi with less than 40% power...I try to stay below 30. (If it takes more, make sure your parking brake is off and the chocks are out.)
  
• Whenever I do descents I use IAS as much as possible to prevent both high EGT and overspeed.
  
• Sometimes, if I have a lot of margin on the EGTs I'll use V/S but I still keep an eye on EGT.
  
• When you get the beep that says you're approaching your assigned altitide be ready with the power levers.
  
• If it's climbing like a bandit take a glance over and make sure that you backed RPM down to 98%.
  

Also, I followed the tutorial several times and made notes about how far out to begin descent, reduce airspeed, etc. since it doesn't like slowing down. Four miles per thousand feet for descent, 50% power speed 190 KIAS about thirty miles out. Then just the basics...fly it by hand a lot to get a solid feel. It's actually pretty solid.

 

EDIT: In terms of the engines not starting...

• if you have a mixture control put it all the way forward and keep it there. Probably a bug in FSX but I've noticed that it matters.
  
• Make sure start locks are on. Physically look at the propellers and make sure they look, visually, fat and not feathered from the pilot and co-pilot seat. (There are other posts about that)
  
• The sim seems to 'remember' bad things that happened during the previous flight if there was one during the session. If you overstressed the engines they're probably unhappy.
  

[William J.S.S 173]

"Light" is news to me. I find this my aggression burner aircraft. I have a stressful day at work....I load this baby up for a ~300 mile flight through busy airspace and let my mind focus on it, because she is a 100% pilots plane if you ask me. Hand flying is the best, and the systems IMO are second to none...

 

As for smoked engines???? I am just happy this is a game with a reset button, we will leave it at that.

[scandinavian13 5,192]

I wouldn't take the "light" label to mean much more than it's meant:

Simply, it didn't get as much as the full products got, in terms of development hours and detail. I'm not saying that as a detractor, rather I'm using it as an explanation of why things might not be 100% in line with the real thing.

 

Interestingly, I feel that PMDG's "light" is many other developers' advanced.

[Frank Otero 0]

I find this my aggression burner aircraft. I have a stressful day at work....I load this baby up for a ~300 mile flight through busy

LOL, it is the same with me. I am in Haiti, after and/or before my day in Cite Soleil, an online flight puts me somewhere else.

 

Gregg, I agree, paying attention will save you many headaches, but I cannot get into my love of this bird while flying on-line much further than telling these guys : "It is manual intensive"' Like Williams said, this is a pilots plane and she does not like reasonable facsimiles.

 

I fly my descents a little different than you where I rather to target the required ( but always comfortable, of course hihih) V/S while keeping her moving as fast as possible with the least amount of fuel, and manage A/S margins with torque - or a combination of both when necessary. I have never seen an EGT problem during descent since there is always a reduction in torque. Especially if using the A/P, she does not like you to get too comfortable and forget A/S - overspeed as you mentioned, but just as bad, losing a bunch of it as the A/P levels off and your torque lever is still back in the jump seat. Hence, this is no "light bird" where the FMC and the A/T found in other planes will take care of this for you.

 

We should all get together sometime and do a fly in online. The J41 Club.

[William J.S.S 173]

I would be up for an organized J41 flight. That would be fun. This by far is the best plane IMO and I would love to share a few short hops, or even some longer ones testing the range of this tough bird.