Let's post this in the correct forum this time. :-)

 

I know you're tied up with the new NGX Emergency you're developing but I have a little update request for in the future with the voice NGX. Most of the time I start my flight cold and dark. I choose ground power and air conditioning for the FS2C setup. All is good. About 10 minutes before pushback I fire up the APU for engine starting. As it stands now I have to manually disconnect the GPU/AC after putting the APU on the bus/bleed. Maybe a "disconnect ground hookups" option to do it automatically? Just an idea. Thanx for a great product.

 

-Rick

you could also contact the ground crew to dissconnect the air and gpu

I believe you can only do that during the after start procedures.

 

-Rick

I only use the button version but it might relate but it might not. I start the APU and I can ask ground to disconnect the EXT power and air before the "before start checklist" no problems. In the button version, as soon as you start the APU disconnecting the EXT power/air becomes a option, but not before.

 

I imagine you should be able to request it after APU start in the voice version too.

Hi guys,

 

You are supposed to call the ground crew and have it disconnected. Please read through the manual again.

 

Regards

I think Rick is right. I am doing the same procedure, starting FS2Crew with Ground power and air conditionning cart. 5 min before pushback I start the Apu, put the buses on and apu bleed on. Then I call "cockpit to ground", "you can disconnect the external air and gpu now". After a few seconds, the guy answers : "ok, external air and Gpu disconnected, you can start the right engine now".

So this last dialog is a bit weird, and as I understand it, it supposes that left engine is already started ? Maybe I am not using the correct sentence to request gpu and air conditionning disconnection ?

 

Stéphane LI-THIAO-TE

Envoyé de mon iPad à l'aide de Tapatalk HD

Again, please have a read through the manual again. You're not correct. You have four options for engine start, start left engine at the gate then disconnect external stuff and push back, start both engines at the gate and then push back, start both engines at pushbackback start both after pushback, you cannot pushback and have external stuff connected at the same time.

 

As far as apu+ ext goes, when you start the apu 10mins before you put it on the busses and you'll have the ask the ground crew to disconnect. External stuff after . The reason is the same as the RW, groundcrew sometimes disconnect external power before we put the apu on the bus and the result is an aircraft in darkness, dammaged aircraft or injured ground crew, or all the above. I urge you to have another read through the manual, it'll give you the necessary details.

I perfectly understood the different modes :

Procedure 1 : starting both engines at the gate before pushback with GPU and ASU, starting left engine, ask the ground crew to disconnect ASU/GPU, start right engine then pushback,

OR Procedure 2 :

starting left engine at the gate with the ASU/GPU, ask the ground crew to disconnect ASU/GPU, then pushback and starting the right engine during pushback

OR Procedure 3 :

starting the APU, put the APU on the bus, APU Bleed ON, disconnecting GPU and External Air conditionning, asking for pushback and start the engines during the pushback.

In this last case, we have to "manually" disconnect the GPU and External Air conditionning via the FMC menu. If I Speak: “YOU CAN DISCONNECT THE EXTERNAL AIR AND GPU NOW”. The ground crew answers the phrase used in Procedure 1 or Procedure 2 above : "ok, external air and Gpu disconnected, you can start the right engine now".

I perfectly understood the different modes :

Procedure 1 : starting both engines at the gate before pushback with GPU and ASU, starting left engine, ask the ground crew to disconnect ASU/GPU, start right engine then pushback,

OR Procedure 2 :

starting left engine at the gate with the ASU/GPU, ask the ground crew to disconnect ASU/GPU, then pushback and starting the right engine during pushback

OR Procedure 3 :

starting the APU, put the APU on the bus, APU Bleed ON, disconnecting GPU and External Air conditionning, asking for pushback and start the engines during the pushback.

In this last case, we have to "manually" disconnect the GPU and External Air conditionning via the FMC menu. If I Speak: “YOU CAN DISCONNECT THE EXTERNAL AIR AND GPU NOW”. The ground crew answers the phrase used in Procedure 1 or Procedure 2 above : "ok, external air and Gpu disconnected, you can start the right engine now".

 

Do you say it before or after calling the before start procedure ? I'm trying to understand exactly what you're doing as i can't reproduce it.

 

Do me a favor, tell me what mode is showing in the FS2Crew panel as well.

I say it before calling the before start procedure at around T+5. The FS2Crew panel is in mode <B.START PROCEDURE>.

What I am doing is :

- Choose an airport from the intro page of FSX.

- Fly now with the Trike selected.

- When the flight is loaded, change time, wait for the sim to reload.

- Change aircraft to PMDG B737-800, which is loaded in Cold And Dark (I have set it up in the FMS Option Menu to load CnD everytime.

- Open FS2Crew Panel.

- Click the CFG button, for PWR/AIR SRC I choose "EXT/AC".

- Click BR Button, and set my departure options.

- Click on RUN PF.

- The FO is powering up the aircraft, set the chocks in, connect ground power and air conditionning unit via the FMS.

- Then I am doing the Captain preflight cockpit preparation flows (IRS, Route, Radios, MCP, ZFW etc) while the FO is doing the walk around.

- When he's back, he's doing his preflight flow, when he has finished, I call for the "Preflight Checklist". Then I do the departure brief and wait for the Loadsheet to come.

- At T+5, I put left fwd fuel pump on (Center tank is empty), start the APU

- When the blue light comes on, I put Left + Right APU GEN ON, the blue light (APU GEN OFF LIGHT) extinguished

- I put APU BLEED ON (L+R Packs are OFF).

- Now I call ground and request "You can disconnect the external air and GPU now".

- After the ground crew has done his duties, he says "ok, external air and Gpu disconnected, you can start the right engine now". He says right engine or Engine 2, don't remember the words, but I am sure he's saying Start the engine.

 

This is what I am doing. I will try to make a video to show.

I say it before calling the before start procedure at around T+5. The FS2Crew panel is in mode <B.START PROCEDURE>.

What I am doing is :

- Choose an airport from the intro page of FSX.

- Fly now with the Trike selected.

- When the flight is loaded, change time, wait for the sim to reload.

- Change aircraft to PMDG B737-800, which is loaded in Cold And Dark (I have set it up in the FMS Option Menu to load CnD everytime.

- Open FS2Crew Panel.

- Click the CFG button, for PWR/AIR SRC I choose "EXT/AC".

- Click BR Button, and set my departure options.

- Click on RUN PF.

- The FO is powering up the aircraft, set the chocks in, connect ground power and air conditionning unit via the FMS.

- Then I am doing the Captain preflight cockpit preparation flows (IRS, Route, Radios, MCP, ZFW etc) while the FO is doing the walk around.

- When he's back, he's doing his preflight flow, when he has finished, I call for the "Preflight Checklist". Then I do the departure brief and wait for the Loadsheet to come.

- At T+5, I put left fwd fuel pump on (Center tank is empty), start the APU

- When the blue light comes on, I put Left + Right APU GEN ON, the blue light (APU GEN OFF LIGHT) extinguished

- I put APU BLEED ON (L+R Packs are OFF).

- Now I call ground and request "You can disconnect the external air and GPU now".

- After the ground crew has done his duties, he says "ok, external air and Gpu disconnected, you can start the right engine now". He says right engine or Engine 2, don't remember the words, but I am sure he's saying Start the engine.

 

This is what I am doing. I will try to make a video to show.

Thanks for that, I appreciate the detail. I'll look into it. At any rate, once I can reproduce it'll be an easy fix i think.Regards

I bolstered this so it shouldn't happen again.

 

I tested it and it worked for me.

 

Make sure your Audio panel was setup properly to communicate with the ground crew, and your Mode was not Pre Flight.

 

Cheers,

Hi Bryan,

 

Microphone was on FLT on the captain's ACP, and the service interphone was set to ON on the overhead panel.

Speakers are set to FLT, SVC, SPKR and PA (white lights on).

I will try with the microphone set to SVC.

Wow. Kinda opened a bag of worms here, huh? :-) I will try the disconnect after running the before start procedures and see how that goes.

 

-Rick

I tried something else different today and I am happy with it.

I started the sim like I described above, on external power and external air conditionning.

I commanded the FO to "start the APU".

I commanded the FO to "put the APU on bus".

I put the APU BLEED ON.

Then I called ground crew and asked : "Disconnect External Power", and the ground crew did the action.

I tried the same with the external air conditionning unit but unfortunately this voice command didn't work.

Maybe for a future update, to add a voice command "Disconnect air conditionning unit" to request the ground crew to disconnect the Air conditionning cart via the FMC ?