I recently purchased the Majestic Dash 8 400 aircraft and have done a number of flights with it and RC4. Everything works as it should with one exception:

 

When I am cleared to descend (for example from 19000 to 9000 ft) I begin a 1500 fpm descent. Well before reaching the altitude, RC4 says "watch your altitude, your assigned altitude is 9000". I get this several more times before reaching the assigned altitude. I have done hundreds of flights with other aircraft and RC4 and have never encountered this before. I suspect something in the Majestic Dash 8 is telling RC4 it has reached altitude before it actually has (ALT SEL switch?).

 

I'm curious if anyone else has encountered this and if anyone has found a work around.

 

Dale

Yes, I have the same irritation with the PMDG 737NG. It is usually at the lower altitudes: the request comes to descend and hardly before I can dial the new altitude in, comes the warning " You have bust your altitude" or similar.

I just ignore it and carry on.

The answer is to turn off the auto answer, but that is such a pain.

There are two items that can cause this:

 

1. It is best to start the procedure before acking.

 

2. Related to (1.) in some cases there might be a slight opposite transient trend for climb or descent in initiating the procedure which might trigger RC's warning. This can happen as the aircraft configures manually or via autopilot. This can also happen in turbulence.

 

Delaying an ack allows for the delay in response by a busy pilot and also for the aircraft to settle down.

 

If this is a continual problem increase the default altitude variation range slightly up to 300 feet in RC options. Increasing it too much will cause strange RC behavior.

Dale,

 

Only thing that may come to mind is the altimeters.  Both the CA and FO altimeters are sync'd, but are you setting the standby altimeter as well?  If both the CA and FO altimeters are not sync's this can also trigger RC4 querying your altitude.

 

Have a look and let me know if this helps

 

 

When I am cleared to descend (for example from 19000 to 9000 ft) I begin a 1500 fpm descent. Well before reaching the altitude, RC4 says "watch your altitude, your assigned altitude is 9000". I get this several more times before reaching the assigned altitude. I have done hundreds of flights with other aircraft and RC4 and have never encountered this before.

 

The last sentence tells me you are an experienced RC user so it shouldn't be a case of you not setting the altimeter pressure to QNH when ordered to descend to an altitude (as opposed to a flight level when you should be on standard pressure).

 

RC will only issue the "watch your altitude" warning if you're not descending or are descending around 100fpm.

 

What does seem strange are the altitudes you're cleared to. The normal altitude before contacting App would be 11,000 or 12,000ft (or FL110 / FL120). For you to be cleared from 19,000ft (FL190?) down to 9,000ft is very unusual. Where were you flying from and to?

Ok, some good suggestions.

 

First, I have not been setting the standby altimeter (it's a new plane, I've been busy, at least that's my excuse!)

 

In all cases where this has happened, I've had the RC copilot handling the radios during the cruise portion of the flight. I'll try a flight tomorrow handling the radios myself and starting the descent before acknowleging.

 

The last occurance was a flight from KBNA to KAVL, cruise level was 17,000 and I was told to descend to 9,000, then to 8,000. I'm using the autopilot to descend, VS mode, and set at 1500 fpm, then pushing ALT SEL. I can delay the ALT SEL, but it has to be pressed during the descent or the autopilot will not level off at the selected altitude.

Hi Dale,

 

I'd be amazed if RC was reading the standby altimeter. In fact it would be a first. It will always use your primary altimeter and the pressure set on that to determine if you're adhering to rules and instructions.

 

KAVL is around 2,000ft asl. That instruction to descend from 17,000 down to 9,000 sounds odd but I accept it is what you were given. As the TA in the US is 18000ft you would be on QNH for the duration of your flight so that should eliminate any possibility of needing to switch from STD to QNH.

 

One way to test if you suspect anything with the Majestic would be to fly the same route using a default aircraft.

As Ray stated, there should have been a descent command to 12,000 or 11,000 feet which is the RC hard coded crossing restriction (selection dependent on arrival direction) at about 40 nm out from destination.

 

In case you missed something retry handling comms yourself where you will note the ack in the menu.

 

To insure RC has not stalled due to either your lack of an ack or in this case some copilot problem, check the status area of the RC in-flight window to insure your next waypoint is current.

 

You should be trying this without using any "crew" type add-on which might be causing a conflict.

 

 

I'm curious if anyone else has encountered this and if anyone has found a work around.

 

Hello Dale,

I am also a seasoned RC user with hundreds of flights with many add-on planes. I have learned long ago, to start my descent or climb before responding back, but I too have had this problem 4 times now while descending with the Q400.  While in an established descent of 1800 ft/min following RC's instructions to descend to FLXXX, I will get reprimanded for busting my assigned altitude. Might have something to due with the external FDE that the Q400 uses, but that's only my guess.

 

Rick

Tried another flight today, KAVL to KRIC, at a cruise altitude of FL 210. This time, I made sure to set both the primary and standby altimeters to the correct pressure.

 

First, the good news: RC cleared me to descend from FL210 to FL 190, then to 9,000. I used a rate of 1500 fpm as before, but this time there were no complaints from RC.

 

Now the bad news: Just before leveling at 9,000 ft, I got an APPCRASH as follows:

 

Problem signature:
  Problem Event Name: APPCRASH
  Application Name: fsx.exe
  Application Version: 10.0.61637.0
  Application Timestamp: 46fadb14
  Fault Module Name: StackHash_2264
  Fault Module Version: 0.0.0.0
  Fault Module Timestamp: 00000000
  Exception Code: c0000005
  Exception Offset: 43a7fee6
  OS Version: 6.1.7601.2.1.0.768.3
  Locale ID: 1033
  Additional Information 1: 2264
  Additional Information 2: 2264db07e74365624c50317d7b856ae9
  Additional Information 3: 875f
  Additional Information 4: 875fa2ef9d2bdca96466e8af55d1ae6e

 

This probably has nothing to do with RC. I'm probably pushing my system to the limit with an OC to 4.5 ghz and using Word Not Allowed's tweaks, including BP=0 and 1/2 VSYNCH. The flight included AS2012 and there was considerable weather, plus this was my longest flight with the Q400 so far, so I suspect a memory issue.

Dale

• What is an 'ack' please?

Acknowledge.

 

 

Sent from my Apple communications device.

 

 

First, the good news: RC cleared me to descend from FL210 to FL 190, then to 9,000

 

Dale, you shouldn't be getting a clearance down to 9,000. It has to be either 11,000 or 12,000. That's hard-coded into RC as Ron says. Obviously it's not connected to your 'crash' but I'm curious why you're getting non-standard descent clearances.

 

Are you definitely not hearing a clearance to 11,000 or 12,000?

Well, I'm going by memory, so there may have been an intermediate clearance to 11 or 12000. In any case, RC was saying my clearance was 9000 when I was still in a continuous descent of 1500 fpm.

 

As far as the APPCrash, I did a MEM86 Test and my RAM seems to be in good working order. All temps look good, so I have no idea what caused the crash.

 

I just finished another flight, KCVG to KBNA. This one went perfect. No problem on the descent from FL200. I made sure the standby and main altimeter were set to the current. Still, as Ray Proudfoot noted, it seems highly unlikely that RC4 would react to the standby. If the problem happens again, I'll try to make exact notes of the altitudes.

 

I'm also wondering if AS2012 could have done an update during my descent. I didn't note any large wind shift, but the altimeter setting could have shifted.

 

Dale

 

 

Well, I'm going by memory, so there may have been an intermediate clearance to 11 or 12000. In any case, RC was saying my clearance was 9000 when I was still in a continuous descent of 1500 fpm.

 

Hi Dale,

 

Only Approach could give you a clearance down to 9000 but only after you have levelled out at either 11,000 or 12,000 40 miles out from your arrival airport and contacted it. There is a clear instruction to contact Approach.

 

Good to see your KCVG to KBNA flight had no problems. Even if there was a weather update during the descent it seems unlikely there would be much of a difference in QNH.