"True North" Switch?

[Guest BeaverDriver]

OK (he says, head hanging down in humility), after my earlier post about nuisance posters requesting things, I'm back, hat in hand, with a question/request (man, I'm not opening a can of worms here, I'm blowing it sky high :blink: !).

 

A fellow had a question on the PMDG NGX forum about the ability to switch compass systems from magnetic north to true north. It was not included on that aircraft. Since our primary usage of the -200 will be in the far north (as is often done IRL now - saw 4 Canadian North machines operating up to the Arctic Islands this afternoon), is there any chance for this option in the -200? My guess is the coding would be a nightmare, it's very late in the game to be asking for such a thing, and probably no one has even considered it until some idiot came along with this post and asked for it (in more ways than one!) :blush: . But, I'll ask anyway, and if the answer is no, a simple, "No way in HE(insert 2 hockey sticks here), on this planet or any other can we do that now, you brain-dead idiot" will suffice -_- .

 

Thanks

 

Glenn... errr, Anonymous :ph34r:

[Milviz 919]

i will leave this for Bill...

[Guest BeaverDriver]

He's better at executions ?

 

:lol:

 

Thanks Colin. I'm really not expecting it, but I thought I'd ask in case there was a quick formula that can be applied. Rather unlikely though :smile:.

 

Glenn

[Milviz 919]

never say never. i prefer to let the coder handling the product make that type of decision.

[n4gix 4,949]

If we are referring to an electronic instrument that can display "True North" instead of "Magnetic North" I suppose that it is possible. There is after all a sim variable for that (A:PLANE HEADING DEGREES TRUE,radians)*...

 

But, not having seen any such a "switch" mentioned anywhere in the actual manuals for this model, I'm reluctant to add something that may not be "real..."

 

* From the FSX SDK: Heading relative to true north, although the name mentions degrees the units used are radians

[Guest BeaverDriver]

Hi Bill,

No, they do exist. I saw them first on the Braathen's 737-400 I believe, as their trips to Svalbard require them to be referenced to True North. That said, I don't know for sure if the 737-200 ever had them, but I suspect they do as most of my RW Canadian Approach Plates for the Territories use true headings. I have the Canadian North DVD so I'll watch it tonight and see if I can locate it. I know where it is on the 737-400 so it may be in the same place.

 

OK, all that said, there is a bit of a "procedure" that the pilots have to go through when switching from magnetic to true. It's not a case of simply "flipping a switch". It is described on either the Braathen's or Canadian North's DVD (if it's on the latter, that would answer all questions as they operate only -200's, or did at the time the DVD was made). So I'll get all the info I can on it. But in all fairness, because it is a "procedural" thing, it may well be much harder to code than is worth at this point. Anyway, I'll do some research tonight on it and let you know ASAP (likely in the morning).

 

Thanks very much for even considering this. Even if it's not do-able, I appreciate the thought. Be back when I have more info.

 

Glenn

[n4gix 4,949]

Glenn, having done a bit more research, I know more now than I did before you asked, but...

 

...still not enough. While it would be relatively trivial to add a NORM/TRUE switch, and add the code to drive the HSI's and RMI's compass cards, I've no idea at all how that would affect the interaction of the FMS with the autopilot.

[Guest BeaverDriver]

Yeah, I think what they did in the Braathen's machine was to disengage the A/P momentarily then re-engage it once the nav system re-booted itself. But I'm not sure about that. Of course, that's RW. How FS behaves is far different. I'll still see what info I can get from the DVD's, but again I'm not convinced that it's do-able, or if it is, then how worth it it might be. That part I'll leave up to you, but at least I can get the info for you. If you think it's too squirrelly to try to implement, that's fine. I'll go with whatever you decide on that as you're the expert (and the one that has to do all the work!).

 

Thanks Bill!

 

Glenn

[Guest BeaverDriver]

Bill,

I've been doing some checking into FSX's airfields as they may pertain to this idea. Also, I think I'm the only one who is very interested in this concept. So, first off, it's too much trouble for just one person to do this, and secondly MS did a really bad job on Canada's north, so flights there may not happen often enough to make the effort here worthwhile. Alaska is MUCH better done and of course there's the Orbx region, but Alaska's variation is all within "reason". I checked on Skyvector and all tracks (airways and approach) are shown in Magnetic (T is shown as well, but in brackets). Insofar as Norway goes, only Svalbard is showing with True tracks. Honestly, at this point, I really think this is going to be a lot more effort than it would be worth, in retrospect. I really should have done my homework before even mentioning this so I hope I didn't waste too much of your time here (although it is an "interesting" concept :smile:). "Spin37" has flown into Barrow IRL I believe (he's a RW 737 driver) and said he had no trouble using magnetic headings.

 

Anyway Bill, the choice is still yours, but at this point I think I'd be dropping this idea. Many thanks for even thinking about it though, and again I'm sorry if I caused you any inconvenience.

 

Glenn

 

[edit - removed earlier post and replaced with this]

Edited September 21, 2012 by BeaverDriver

[JB3DG 225]

By the way there is seriously no need to fear execution :lol: . KC doesnt bite unless you really get rude n nasty. And most of the others on the team dont bite either. If at all.

[Guest BeaverDriver]

:lol: Yeah, I know Jonathan. I've worked with these guys before on the 310. They're a good bunch and know their stuff. I was saying that more in jest than anything, but I really did feel like I was doing exactly what I was telling other (customers) not to do when asking for an add-on to this machine :rolleyes: . At least it was in context though, however ill conceived it was ^_^ .

 

Thanks Jonathan :smile:

[n4gix 4,949]

Well, to be honest it really wasn't much of a bother at all. I suspected that FS didn't really implement the truly weird, wild and whacky deviations of "magnetic north" that exist in real life, so having this option would serve no real purpose other than more eye candy...

 

...and the somewhat dubious claim of being the only developers to implement it... :db:

[Guest BeaverDriver]

Well, the claim to fame may be worth something, but yeah, eye candy is the term :smile:. Thanks Bill. We now return you to your regularly scheduled mayhem