Hi Colin,

 

Let me play with this instead of wasting your time... I think my test might be corrupt - I had trouble with the flight earlier and I didn't save it until after messing around with the FMC some... It has RSW listed as my "ORIGIN" while I departed from KEYW - not sure if that's part of my issue... Do the previous waypoints get deleted as I cycle passed ? Let me go back to a full flight plan - get airborne - and - then save before testing... I might just be spinning my wheels here...

 

Regards,

Scott

You can find the Hold Pattern under the Pattern Button. Press DTO Hold to select the fix to directly go to then press activate.

 

See page 51 of the manual for further explanation.

 

Have fun. :Big Grin:

Hmm - yeah - I played with it some more last night - I think my issue is that I was trying to use the waypoint RSW which was already listed as the ORIGIN for that leg... I can insert other waypoints OK... I even managed a HOLD - thanks Nmerced... I won't have a chance to mess with this again until next weekend... Appreciate everyone's help and patience...

 

Regards,

Scott

I don't think I can offer much further help with that FMC. Either it's much more advanced than the one I'm used to, or it's a fairly basic rendition of the ERJ's real thing.

 

Hopefully, Bert might be able to offer more since he appears to use it.

 

Just curious - what do you spend your time flying in MSFS ??? Just the PMDG birds in FSX ???

I had a go with the PMDG 737s (600 to 900) for a while. but I now stick with the LevelD 767. It's just like the real thing. I'm also one of the dinosaurs still using XP with FS9. Does all I need, so... If it ain't broke, don't fix it. :rolleyes:

 

Colin B

It's a fairly basic rendition of what is a fairly basic FMC on the real ERJ (no VNAV on either the simulated or real FMC, for instance). But 'basic' doesn't always mean 'easy to use'...

 

I've been flying the (simulated) ERJ for years and have never needed to route direct to a previous waypoint, but then again boring old default ATC doesn't make you do stuff like that. After a bit of experimenting, though, it seems that you're right: you can't use DIR to insert the origin of your current leg as the direct-to waypoint (ie, make the aircraft perform a 180-degree turn) as the FMC automatically clears the second of two identical waypoints placed together in a flightplan . What you can do is separate them by inserting another waypoint (let's call it ABCDE) between the origin and next waypoints (type it in the scratchpad and then press the LSK next to the next waypoint), then insert the origin after ABCDE. So you end up with a flight plan page which in your case would look like this:

 

RSW

ABCDE

RSW

KTPA

 

...and that works just fine; after ABCDE the aircraft routes back to RSW.

 

The trick is in selecting "ABCDE". One thing the ERJ FMC does let you do is create manual waypoints. You need to pick a name not in the database already (like "ABCDE"); if you try to enter than in the flight plan it brings up the manual waypoint page instead. You now enter position information which places ABCDE shortly ahead of you on the same track. Suppose you're already 30nm from RSW on a 270 degree course. Type

 

RSW/270/35

 

in the scrachpad; enter it using the LSK below "P/B/D"; and then select RETURN using LSK1R. This creates waypoint ABCDE 5nm straight ahead of you as the next waypoint; on reaching ABCDE the aircraft should turn through 180 degrees back to RSW. It's a convoluted and I dare say wholly unrealistic workaround, but it does work.

 

Also NB that saving and reloading flights in the ERJ causes all manner of strange things to happen. Not recommended.

 

Hope this helps. It's a lovely little plane, and its quirks are just part of its charm (for me).

Hi Tim,

 

Thanks so much for all the testing and write up... I like the plane hence all the time I'm spending on it... I'll try all this again next weekend when I get some time in front of my PC... I posted on FlightSim as well and a real world ERJ145 driver is helping me out and he's a bit perplexed as well... He also see's the system crashes so no real breakthroughs there... I'll give your work around a try...

 

If you haven't tried it - I would strongly recommend trying RC4 out - while not perfect - it really adds a whole new dimension to MSFS... It's worth every dollar - I can't fly IFR without it anymore...

 

Regards,

Scott

No worries. I just doubt that the workaround would have much credibility with your real-world pilot. There must be an easier and quicker (but non-simulated) way...

 

FeelThere's E-Jets (ie EMB170/175/190/195) are in my experience less prone to crashes BTW, and with a more intuitive (but more complex) FMS. But the cockpit isn't as well done and they're not as much fun to fly IMO.

 

I'd love to try out RC4, but on this ancient PC I have to be selective about the addons I use... The ERJ is fine, even with addon scenery, but adding too much other stuff means I get frame rates in low single figures.

Hi Tim,

 

Really appreciate your help as well - the real world ERJ guy stated the modeled FMC is nothing like the one he flies with... All we're doing is trying to come up with work arounds for bugs... So yours are a big help...

 

I reported this on FeelThere and the response was along the lines of - the product is close to four years old and nobody has ever reported system crashes... I find it so hard to believe that I'm the first person to come across this issue - and - the consensus in these threads seems to support that... It seems that many have experienced these crashes in both FS9 and FSX... I can recreate the crash easily...

 

If possible - anyone experiencing system crashes - please post on my thread in the FeelThere support forum so they are made aware this is a wide spread issue... Maybe they will fix it if given enough support...

 

http://forum.iemit.com/Default.aspx?g=topics&f=22

 

Regards,

Scott

Yep, saw your post on the FeelThere forum. They're normally really helpful on there (so long as you use your real name...) so the response was a bit odd. I've flown the ERJ for thousands of hours since it came out, and I'd like to think I knew it pretty well. But you're definitely not the only one with problems. I can think of several more FMC-induced glitches - eg double-clicking on the NEXT key any of the right LSKs on the Perf Plan page can also cause an immediate crash to desktop. And there are less fatal ones too - inserting a hold or procedure turn in slightly the wrong order erases your flightplan; attempting a direct routing with no intermediate waypoints (eg KJFK.KBOS) messes up the fuel calculations; inserting some STARs gives you waypoints thousands of miles away (try any approach to 23L at EDDL, for one), and so on. It's a lovely plane, as I said. But it's not flawless - so I may well weigh in on that thread IDC.

Hi Tim,

 

Thanks for the info...

 

Have you tried to load an approach in flight ? Let me preface this with I'm still pretty new to FMC use and Colin has walked me through so much.... When I attempted to load an approach in flight - it allowed me to do so - but - it loaded it after my destination... About the only thing I could think of to do was delete the waypoints previously programmed prior to loading the approach - which resulted in a discontinuity I couldn't seem to clear... Actually if I call correctly - I wound up purging my flight plan and subsequently crashed the sim...

 

Regards,

Scott

Just an OBTW - the ERJ never looked so good...

 

http://m.youtube.com/watch?client=mv-google&v=PZ5izMBoJEA&rdm=03p2

 

Regards,

Scott

Your last way point in the flight plan should be the entry point of the approach (I hope that made sense) in order for the FMC to add it to the flight plan. Otherwise it will give you a discontinuity and put it at the end.

Hi Tim,

 

Yep - sure does - man - I'm going to be busy this weekend...

 

Regards,

Scott