FSX-MS ERJ 135/145 v2 issue

[abh_jc_03 0]

Altitude was at FL180. File is 8/2/2006. 128kb. I use megasceneryearth 2.0 and or orbx though.

[dheyer 16]

Not trying to be funny, but you did press the flight director button?

[abh_jc_03 0]

Yes. I had FD1 and FD2 highlighted.

[Scarp 20]

Sorry for the delay, work and sleep got in the way. I'll write a short tutorial, just give me a sec.

[dheyer 16]

This may give some additional insight on the FMS.

 

http://youtube.com/user/bushwoodful

[abh_jc_03 0]

I watched those already. Thanks though. I shouldn't be having problems with v speeds, fms and heading. I would understand more if I hadn't read the manual but I did.

[Scarp 20]

Here you go.....also, since we're in public space I wrote this in general terms to hopefully be of benefit to most readers and I've skipped alot of smaller items and completly focused on the core essentials for a FMC flight.

 

Btw: I noticed you said you loaded a flightplan in your attempts, I assume that it is a FS flightplan you loaded? If so I must admit I have never tried that function myself, I always enter/program my flightplans directly in the FMC, just as we are going to do now. It realy doesnt take much time anyway. If I remember correctly you can also save the flightplan in your FMC for later use. 

 

1'st off, like in all aircraft equiped with a FMC, it is important that it's programmed correctly. So let's quicly run through it. I made a short flightplan between Denver (KDEN) and Aspen (KASE).

 

This is the flightplan: KDEN ELORE V356 DBL KASE

 

 

-------------FMC----------------------------------------------------------------------

 

So without further adue, let's open the FMC, hit the position initiation button and choose KDEN. Then hit the LSK where it says

FLT PLAN. By now, your departure (KDEN) should be displaying where it says ORIGIN. Now enter the destination which in this

case will be KASE.

Next we'll add our route, which in this case is deliberatly short but also contains airways so I get to demonstrate how to enter

them into the FMC.

 

Where it say's VIA.TO, we enter our first waypoint which is ELORE.
From ELORE we are going to follow the airway V356 to DBL, so for the next VIA.TO we enter V356.DBL. Now you'll notice that all

waypoints between ELORE and DBL is automatically added by the computer, to our flightplan.

In the last VIA.TO we enter our destination: KASE.

 

Now let's check in with ground control and get the active RWY (or just choose whatever you like if you dont wanna mess around

with FS ATC). I got RWY 34R, so let's hit the LSK where it say's DEPARTURE and select RWY 34R. If you dont see it on the first

page use the PREV/NEXT buttons to switch pages until you find 34R listed. When you select RW34R, the next window that pops

up will be the SID page. This is where you normally would select a SID but since I dont have any charts we will skip it for now and

just head straight for our first waypoint after take off. So just hit ACTIVATE, and we should be back to our flightplan page.

 

And this pretty much conclude our fligh planning.

 

Now we need to tell the FMC about our plane, so hit PERF INIT, use the NEXT button to switch through the pages, in our case we are only concerned with pages 4 and 5.

 

On page 4, since we are in US we dont need to change the TRANS ALT as it is set for FL180 by default. In Europe however, you'll have to change it according to your local regulations.

Next I usually also enter my cruisealtitude where it says INIT CRZ ALT, and by looking at some freeware maps it looks like FL146 is the minimum altitude we should

use, and also note that the approach to Aspen starts at FL130. So let's just make sure we have some distance between us and the rocks below and go for a cruise at

FL180. So enter 180 into the scratchpad and press the LSK corresponding to the INIT CRZ ALT.

 

Quick note: The performance pages are important in helping the FMC to better calculate flight performance and fuel.

 

Next, switch to page 5  to enter aircraft weights. This one is rather self explanetory, so when you've entered all relevant data, CONFIRM INIT should be displayed in

the lower right corner of the FMC. Confirm by hitting the LSK.

 

General Tip: At this point, the FMC may give you warnings based on it's own calculations derived from the data you entered on the PERF

pages. For example, if you set a cruise alt that is too high compared to your aircraft weight and performance data it will let you know. If you do get a warning, then

just lower your cruise alt on page 4 in the PERF INIT pages until it stop's pestering you.

 

Now hit the FPL button on the FMC to take us back to our flightplan, we should now see that both speed and altitude data has been added to all the waypoints along

our route. Now since this is a crash course, we can just go ahead and add our arrival data as well. I usually enter it towards the end of the cruise leg when I can get

the most relevant met data as well as approaches and active rwy's. But for this "tutorial" we'll assume to know that we'll be landng on RWY 15.

 

So, hit the NAV button and choose ARRIVAL by hitting the LSK next to it. Press the LSK next to RUNWAY and select 15, and the APPROACH page should automatically

pop up. Next we'll choose the LOC/DME-E for rwy 15 by pressing the LSK next to L15-E.

Hit the LSK for ARRIVAL and we're back to the main ARRIVAL page and hit ACTIVATE.

 

This should bring us back to the flightplan page, use the NEXT button to scroll to the end of the flightplan where we'll find a DISCONTINUITY. To close the flightplan we first press the LSK next to RW15, that will make RW15 pop up on the scratchpad, then hit the LSK where the open VIA.TO is.

 

And that's it, we've done the FMC and now the plane knows where we want to go.

 

-------------Cockpit------------------------------------------

 

While we're at the gate we'll just do some cockpit preperations too, first we tell the airplane to use the FMC for navigation by

pressing the FMS button on the DCP panel*. That should change the color from green to magenta on your PFD's.

Next we'll dial in our assigned altitude in the AP, in our case we'll just set our cruise alt straight away, but normally you'd enter

whatever clearence you got. But that is not important for this lesson so just dial in 18000 and turn on the flight director by pressing

the FD1 button on the AP.

 

 

--------------Flight--------------------------------------

 

With the FMC and autopilot configured, fire up the engines and taxi to the rwy.

 

*Line up, sync your AP HDG with the RWY and off we go.
 
*When you've taken off, cleaned up the aircraft, engage the autopilot (AP) and then press HDG  (note: if we had entered a SID, we would hit the NAV button instead of the HDG button).

 

*Accelerate to 180 kts and hit the SPD button. I think, but dont quote me on this lol, but I think I remember that the best rate of climb was 180 kts for the ERJ, so that's what I'll use. It really doesn't matter for this tutorial anyway. You can use the FLCH function too, it will keep your speed below 250 under FL100 and accellerate to 270 above FL100 (or whatever numbers you've entered in the performance pages).

 

But anyhow, now we should be climbing at 180 kts on the rwy heading (or following the SID if we had one), because we do what we want in this "tutorial", we get a imaginary clearence to turn left to a heading of 220 degrees to intercept our flighplan.

 

*So turn your HDG indicators to 220 and the aircraft should be turning left to the new heading. While we are coming out of the turn, press the NAV button in order to arm it. Note: you should intercept a course at less than 30 degrees.

 

*The aircraft should turn automatically from HDG mode to NAV just before we cross our intended flightpath and bring us on course with the flighplan.

 

*Now we should be happily cruising along our airway at FL180. If you zoom out on the right PFD you should also see the calculated TOD somewhere between DOBEE and FIDLE waypoints.

 

Anyhow, I'll end my mega-fantastic tutorial here since my sim decided to to have a virtual funtion call and CTD'd on me lol. But there isn't realy much too do from this point except watching your airspeed and initiate the decent whenever it's time.

 

I would like to add, that this addon is rather well simulated in terms of systems and there's alot more under the hood than what I've barely touched upon. I just swung by the absolute minimum but essential steps to enable a LNAV flight with the FMC. If for some reason it doesn't work, you better call Huston and tell them you got a problem XD because I honestly wouldn't have any clue as to what could be wrong. It could be everything from the mundane "install as administrator" to maybe a defect or missing VB runtime installation etc. Because as I mentioned earlier, I have never had any issues with the plane(s). But I am crossing my fingers and I sure hope it works out for you.

 

*DCP panel are the two identical small panels just right and left of the autopilot on the glareshield

[dheyer 16]

Nice work Scarp.

[Scarp 20]

Thanks dheyer, hope it helps any frustrated ERJ pilots out there, this is truly a gem of an addon and she's still one of my favourite planes that I never get tired of flying. I mean, good visuals (even the VC despite it's age), pretty indept systems and a joy to fly by hand...what more can you ask for?

[abh_jc_03 0]

Thank you for the tutorial. I will try it when I get home from work. Would this be a solution for getting the heading to work as well? I opened up citation x 2.0 and we worked perfectly then opened ERJ and tried changing heading and nothing.

[Scarp 20]

No problem. As far as the heading function goes, it should work regardless. In fact you can even arm the heading control on the AP before you turn on your AP, it will then automaticaly engage hdg mode once you activate the AP itself.

 

So I must admit, it does sound kinda strange that it doesn't engage. You should pay notice to your left PFD because all AP functions you arm or engage will be displayed in green letters along the top edge of the display. First of all you should confirm that when you turn on the AP that the green light on the AP button itself is lit, then check you left PFD where it should be a green AP present. Same thing with i.e when engaging hdg mode, the light near the button should be lit green and the PDF should say AP and HDG with green letters.

[abh_jc_03 0]

Yeah I do that. On my pfd it shows PIT with a green arrow pointing to left with a green HDG. When I press heading first and then the NAV I get a white LNAV. Maybe I should uninstalling and reinstall. Not sure what else to do. I flew last night way off course and then turned heading to intercept and then selected HDG with a green light next to it but it has no response.

[Scarp 20]

_{First off, yeah, the PIT indicates that the pitch hold is engaged, and the green HDG should normaly indicate that it is activated. And when you hit the NAV it should correctly show a white LNAV which indicates that the LNAV is armed. Normaly it would turn green when you intercept the programed flightpath. Same goes if you were flying to intercept a VOR radial.}

 

_{But if nothing works, a reinstall could be the solution. Obviously something's missing if all indicators tell you that they are activated, but nothing happens. Just remember to run the installer as admin since win7 is notorious in the f-it-up department when it comes to it's build-in "safety measures". I have personally turned it all off and taken ownership of all folders + I run the whole shebang as admin lol. So my win7 runs more like the good ol XP in that regard. Never had a file secretly arrested by win7 since then.}

[abh_jc_03 0]

So I did a fresh reinstall and si far vspeeds,heading and LNAV are work8ng correctly. Now I can enjoy this aircraft! Thanks for the help.

[Scarp 20]

No problem my friend, I'm glad you got it sorted out.