Is there a way to import a Flight Plan from FSCommander ?...   even to be able to  'save'  a flight plan would save a lot of repeated waypoint entering which gets tedious. Have the guys at Carenado ever used an FMC ?

 

Have they tried a PMDG FMC to see how it works and how to make things a bit easier - like Panel State save ?

 

 Even the very least be able to load a flight plan from FSX flight planner....

 

They should all be made to fly in VATSIM for a month doing at least one flight per day to learn what is needed...   anyone agree ?

 

aero

.... another thing which irritates..  why only a few POP UP windows ... for instance -  can anyone read the Warning annunciator panel on the main panel ? I cant make out the writing from the pilots seat and have to zoom in to read whats illuminated....  now if it popped up then that would be so much easier.

 

....and the clickspots are too small on the existing POP UPs...   very difficult to catch a small spot when using trackIR and with Dynamic Head Movement on, flying in a gusty wind.

 

...  perhaps they should have a play with the PMDG 737 for a few days/weeks and find out how much easier it is the way they do it.

 

aero

I do find it really strange that Carenado adopted an excellent system in their TBM, Phenom and SR22, where, as soon as you hovered your mouse over a knob, it would turn blue and by simply rotating the mouse wheel, you could adjust it ......

 

.......and then abandoned this excellent system in their Citation II and Hawker XP...

 

Yes I know that the above 3 aircraft are all G1000 planes, but the thinking (and usefulness) behind the system, extends beyond just the G1000.

 

I don't have the Hawker but have seen that the above feature is no longer included. I do have their Citation II and the altitude selection knob is a major pain to set - also with a tiny clickspot zone - why on Earth aren't they using their 'blue knob' system any more?

Not sure, but even the blue knob system didn't work great for me.  Any time Track IR is involved the clickspots in C planes are just tough to get to.

Another buggy release. But we did not expect any different.

 

Setting the pitch/altitude oriented functions of the AP aside, things like the fuel management are a mess. I have not been able to fine a way to turn off the APU. The fuel consumed by the APU is far too high and cannot be removed from the total fuel being consumed (as indicated in the FMS) making the plane not flyable over any distance without running out of fuel. I have not looked into the gauge code to see if this can be fixed by the user.

 

A BIG service pack is in order here. :-(

Right click on the APU switch until it clicks down.

Actually, you can shut down the APU by clicking on the "Stop" button right next to the "Master Start" switch. Then turn off the Master switch.

 

Jim

Actually, you can shut down the APU by clicking on the "Stop" button right next to the "Master Start" switch. Then turn off the Master switch.

 

Jim

Tried that, and the APU shut down (partially) but then spooled back up again. I was able to shut it down completely by shutting off the master switch.

Actually, you can shut down the APU by clicking on the "Stop" button right next to the "Master Start" switch. Then turn off the Master switch.

 

Jim

Well, it might be shutting down the APU at least by the sound of it spooling down, but the FMS (fuel management display) does not budge for the APU. It appears to work for the main engines, but not the APU....leaving the pilot to guess as to what to believe in terms of actual fuel consumption.  Oh, well.

Jim,

 

That is strange. When I hit the stop button, the APU winds down all the way and stays that way. The gauges stay lit up but all read zero. Then when I shut off the master switch the lights in the guages extinguish. It does not ever spool back up. Go figure.

 

Bob,

 

As far as the APU fuel reading in the FMS, the lbs per hour and fuel used never change. They have the same reading (1750 lb/hr) and 380 lbs used even before I start the APU. Beats me.

 

Jim

 

 

As far as the APU fuel reading in the FMS, the lbs per hour and fuel used never change. They have the same reading (1750 lb/hr) and 380 lbs used even before I start the APU. Beats me.

 

Yes Jim -- this is a HUGE bug. When viewing the total fuel remaining in the FMS, with both the main engines AND THE APU shut down, the total fuel still shows a decreasing figure at 1750 lbs/hr.  HUGE bug.

Yes Jim -- this is a HUGE bug. When viewing the total fuel remaining in the FMS, with both the main engines AND THE APU shut down, the total fuel still shows a decreasing figure at 1750 lbs/hr. HUGE bug.

Huge bug is right! The Honeywell 36-150 APU should have a fuel burn of about 235 lbs/hr on the ground on an ISA DAY... even less if used in flight. Even the main engines would not burn 1750 lbs/hr (each) at a typical cruise altItude!

Just so you guys know, the FMS, although shows the endurance, range, fuel use etc with the 1750 lbs/hr, does not actually use that in flight.

 

I haven't checked but I believe it doesnt use fuel anyway for the APU as I can restart it after complete fuel starvation.

 

Carenado has unfortunately seen fit to now protect their gauge coding by compiling into spb format so although we can fix it easily we're locked out.

 

The FF as indicated by the pilots MFD also appears incorrect.

 

The actual fuel burn of the aircraft though, funnily enough, is 12% too low at 37000 ft, using 1560 lbs/hr instead of 1800 lbs/hr although I have adjusted my thrust scalers to provide a bit more realistic engine power so that may be why.

 

The most damning problem of this though is that the AUX fuel transfer switch doesn't transfer fuel but simply uses fuel from the ventral tank. This is a problem because once the fuel is used up in the ventral tank the engines don't automatically switch back to the wing tanks, which starves the engines and shuts them down in flight.

The most damning problem of this though is that the AUX fuel transfer switch doesn't transfer fuel but simply uses fuel from the ventral tank. This is a problem because once the fuel is used up in the ventral tank the engines don't automatically switch back to the wing tanks, which starves the engines and shuts them down in flight.

Given our collective observations of all posters here, this plane is a real mess. In my opinion, it is not flyable as the sim of the plane it is supposed to be. I have shelved mine, hoping that these blatantly obvious errors might be corrected by the designers. It is also sad that Carenado is coding their gauges now...given they probably will not fix them or let their customers fix them.

It is a trivial task to de-spb the XML gauges. Unfortunately, each customer would have to perform their own 'surgery' on them...

Carenado has unfortunately seen fit to now protect their gauge coding by compiling into spb format so although we can fix it easily we're locked out.

 

This is really quite a staggering move by Carenado.  The only thing that made most of their aircraft passable, was the fact like people like Bert Pieke and Autogyro put such hard work in - post release - to fix up things like messed up autopilots, electrical systems, pitot heat, etc, etc (I'm mainly thinking about the PC-12 as an example, but the S550 too).

 

So now, Carenado change to using SPB format, making the sharing of fixes by community members like Bert and Autogyro, very difficult, to impossible.

 

So more people are forced to 'live with' Carenado's bugs and inaccuracies, rather than being able to at least make use of the skills of people like Bert and Autogyro...  :rolleyes:

 

They really are the most bizarre developer where practices like this are concerned. They seem to treat the customer as a "given" and seem to place a very low value on what customers should be able to expect from a product.

 

I thankfully haven't bought the Hawker - wasn't one bit tempted after the S550 experience, and I can categorically say that I will never purchase from nor support Carenado again.    The reason they are getting away with this, release after release (and things seem to be getting worse) is because they're seeing that there are virtually no consequences to their shoddy work and lazy approach to testing.   People keep punting up the cash and then getting disappointed.   If we want change, we have to show them that enough is enough.