What a great plane this is! It is my first experience with PMDG after having flown CapSim 737-200 for a while..I'm sold! The JS4100 is a pleasure to fly. Just a couple of questions that perhaps can be answered here:

 

I do not get a green light when the spoilers are armed. Not at any phase of the flight, and they are not deploying on landing. I've checked after touching down at Vref and having all wheels on the ground. I installed this plane about 10 days ago and never have I seen a green light for the spoilers. Is there a fix for this problem?

 

The tutorial flight asks to set the FD for TO by pressing HDG/ALT and then goes on to ask to push the GA button, but the GA button seems to disconnect the FD? Is this normal (seems to make sense), in which case the solution would be to push the GA button first and then set the FD, but then the question is, does the FD override/disconnect the GA function?

 

Until the last couple of days, the AP was functioning fine but lately there is at 4 degree (+ or -) correction to the plus side between the HDG bug and the actual heading the AP flys. In other words, if I set the HDG bug to 270, the AP will fly a heading of 274 or so...?

 

And to finish (sorry..) I still am unclear on what exactly are the stop-locks? I have no issues when stopping the engines, I just put the power levers on Beta as described in the procedures and the props are kept flat, but in reading the materials and going through the intro flight, they keep talking about the stop-locks and I am not sure what they mean by it? Are they the unlacht buttons for the condition levers?

 

Thanks a lot, and again, what a great plane!

When the spoilers are armed, there is no indication. Only when the spoilers deploy will you get the green light. The spoilers will only deploy if they were armed prior to touchdown and reverse thrust is used.

 

I don't think you mean stop locks, rather start locks. Essentially, their purpose is to keep the props in de-feathered condition. There are two ways to put the props on the locks. The first is to reverse the props during shutdown and the second is with the de-feather switch below the throttles. To understand what they do, you first have to unerstand that internal hydralic power within each prop hub drives the prop position. Without pressure, the blades slowly return to the feathered state. The locks are actually a physical devise which prevents the blades from moving. Unlike most turbo props the props on the J41 are directly geared to the hot side of the turbine engine. This means that if the hot side of the engine is spinning, the blades are turning. With the blades feathered, the engine can not spin fast enough to "light off". The position of the blades when in the locks is very neutral, thus the props when on the locks do not generate much thrust, ie not enough to take off.

OK, I think I have been a little shy on applying reverse thrust on this bird because of the FSX tendency to overpower Beta range. I'll try doing that and I'm sure the green lights will work. Got it in regards to the start locks...sorry about my confusion, but it makes sense these being direct drive type engines. Thanks a lot Sheepfu.

 

Any insights on the GA vs. FD question?

 

Also, is there a way to program a flight plan on the FMS without having to input SID/STAR/Transitions?