July 28, 201312 yr While enroute at cruise level I encountered conflicting traffic and rather than waiting for TCAS RA I just thought to alter my course a few degrees to the right so I dialed in a divergence heading in the heading window and then PULLED the switch which should (by the FCOM) had taken me out of NAV and put me into HDG SEL and commanded the airplane to turn to the selected heading. Well it turned all right, but in the OPPOSITE direction and right into traffic. After taking manual control to avoid collision, I pressed NAV to have the aircraft resume the flight plan course which it did correctly. Now alone again in the sky, I experimented with the HDG SEL again and each time I selected a heading, the aircraft responded by turning in the OPPOSITE direction. In the following image yo will notice that the HDG SEL has 115 dialed in and the white heading line is point decidedly left of the current course and yet the plane is beginning a bank in the OPPOSITE direction! And no, my control surfaces are not reversed!
July 28, 201312 yr Hi Craig, You found another thing that makes the MD-11 so special. The aircraft will turn in the direction you turn the knob. Example: You fly heading 360 and you turn it to 040 clockwise, the aircraft will turn right. If you turn it counterclockwise, the aircraft will turn left. You can see that on the ND. Do you see the doted line, beginning at the HDG mark at the 12 o'clock position? It goes all the way clockwise to the heading you selected. The MD-11 will always turn in the direction that line shows. Best regards, Jonathan John Rubens
July 28, 201312 yr Author @ Jonathan: That is absolutely incredible! I never noticed the dotted line on the circumference until you just pointed it out. But I had the heading line in sync with the NAV hdg but apparently it had been rotated all the way around during the course of the flght. Well now I know so I can be more observant. Thanks again. You seem to be the information guru on this simulation. I am glad you monitor this forum regularly.
August 20, 201312 yr You fly heading 360 and you turn it to 040 clockwise, the aircraft will turn right. If you turn it counterclockwise, the aircraft will turn left. I never knew this either. Thanks! FSX: PMDG 744/MD11/JS41/736/737/738/739, CS752/753/763/C130, SimCheck A300, Leonardo MD82, MJC DH8D, Aerosoft CRJ7/CRJ9/A318/A319/A320/A321, RAZBAM Metroliner, ORBX Global, FlyTampa KBUF/OMDB/TNCM/VHHX, ActiveSky Next DCS: A-10C II/F-16C/AH-64D/F-15E/KA-50 III/Mi-24/Persian Gulf/Syria/F-15C XP11: FF 752/753, iniBuilds A306, HotStart TBM900 MSFS: Fenix A320, FS2Crew Fenix A320, FS2Crew Pushback Express, PMDG B77W, ActiveSky FS, Drzewiecki Design UUEE
August 23, 201312 yr you have to pull (you can also push) the knob first, THEN rotate to the heading. then you have to pull the knob again to start the turn. Denis Kosbeck KPHX
August 24, 201312 yr Commercial Member you have to pull (you can also push) the knob first, THEN rotate to the heading. then you have to pull the knob again to start the turn. PUSH the knob first, this is the safest option and will give you present heading - or track. Then rotate and pull. Cheers, Markus Markus Burkhard
September 3, 201312 yr Commercial Member General rule for all functions: * PUSH - HOLD what you have now * PULL - FLY the selected SPD/HDG/ALT Note that the only tricky one is SPEED. If you PULL, but due to config you can not fly that speed at the moment you pull it, it will command the fastest/slowest possible AT THAT MOMENT. If you are making a config change, it may be necessary to pull the knob a couple of times as e.g. the flaps/slats retract and the aircraft accelerates. Also nice is the ghost speed bug on speed tape for present but not selected target. Empty magenta circle always displays (assuming FMS is capable) the current FMS ECON speed, so you always know what the FMS thinks, too. MD on all their later aircraft (MD-80 upwards) did an outstanding job with the AFCS. Best regards, Robin.
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