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N1G

aerobask eclipse 550 autopilot - approach ILS

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Oh my, a little bit overwhelming. I am trying to do an ILS into KSEA . Nav1 tuned properly. I select Autopilot and then tried the Nav button then Nav & approach buttons but no glideslope. Altitude button was off. Sometimes it has a downward approach but not at all near the threshold. What am I doing wrong?

 

Bob

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That's due to the Eclipse not having VNAV capability.  I usually manually set approach speed, tune the NAV1, once at the glideslope, hit the APPR button and manage the speed until final then disconnect and fly manually...she glides down rather smoothly. :biggrin:


Engage, research, inform and make your posts count! -Jim Morvay

Origin EON-17SLX - Under the hood: Intel Core i7 7700K at 4.2GHz (Base) 4.6GHz (overclock), nVidia GeForce GTX-1080 Pascal w/8gb vram, 32gb (2x16) Crucial 2400mhz RAM, 3840 x 2160 17.3" IPS w/G-SYNC, Samsung 950 EVO 256GB PCIe m.2 SSD (Primary), Samsung 850 EVO 500gb M.2 (Sim Drive), MS Windows 10 Professional 64-Bit

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32 minutes ago, Jimm said:

That's due to the Eclipse not having VNAV capability.  I usually manually set approach speed, tune the NAV1, once at the glideslope, hit the APPR button and manage the speed until final then disconnect and fly manually...she glides down rather smoothly. :biggrin:

Your kidding! All of the nav software and sophistication and no VNAV, that's not fair! The vertical seems to be locked in though sometimes, because it is difficult to get nose movement when moving the stick, but when you do a pitch stick movement even a little, it seems to reestablish itself nose down. I was thinking the navigraph data might be incorrect of something. I am going back to steam gauges :angry: I thought it would be fun to mess with the touchscreen stuff.

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1 minute ago, N1G said:

Your kidding! All of the nav software and sophistication and no VNAV, that's not fair! The vertical seems to be locked in though sometimes, because it is difficult to get nose movement when moving the stick, but when you do a pitch stick movement even a little, it seems to reestablish itself nose down. I was thinking the navigraph data might be incorrect of something. I am going back to steam gauges :angry: I thought it would be fun to mess with the touchscreen stuff.

Ok, from my own experience flying this wonderful (and I emphasize wonderful) aircraft, is that it is extremely easy to set up.  While there are official checklists and flows for the Eclipse, I fell into my own set, which still work out pretty well.  anywho, there isn't an controlled VNAV in the traditional sense.  Setting your VS, helps with takeoff, climb and cruise, as well as during descent (manage that with ALT CHANGE and the VS dial next to it).  So for example, when it's time to descend, I dial in the ALT, via the touchscreen, then click on the ALT CHANGE button, but of course, the aircraft still flies it's LNAV path until you physically turn the VS dial to the descent rate you need (and you should calc this to make sure your profile is close to spot on).  Decrease your speed, which I usually do via the setting on the PFD, and using the ATIS (autothrottle).  I'll scale back my speed as necessary, in order to maintain a smooth vertical profile and then once I hit the last STAR point, which is the approach, I'll hit the APPR button, which will cause the aircraft to pitch down to follow the approach (as long as NAV1 is tuned to the correct freq).  As it descends, I introduce flaps, lower the speed to a manageable rate, about 100kts, lower the gear and within 500 feet or so, disengage autopilot and land.


Engage, research, inform and make your posts count! -Jim Morvay

Origin EON-17SLX - Under the hood: Intel Core i7 7700K at 4.2GHz (Base) 4.6GHz (overclock), nVidia GeForce GTX-1080 Pascal w/8gb vram, 32gb (2x16) Crucial 2400mhz RAM, 3840 x 2160 17.3" IPS w/G-SYNC, Samsung 950 EVO 256GB PCIe m.2 SSD (Primary), Samsung 850 EVO 500gb M.2 (Sim Drive), MS Windows 10 Professional 64-Bit

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4 minutes ago, Jimm said:

Ok, from my own experience flying this wonderful (and I emphasize wonderful) aircraft, is that it is extremely easy to set up.  While there are official checklists and flows for the Eclipse, I fell into my own set, which still work out pretty well.  anywho, there isn't an controlled VNAV in the traditional sense.  Setting your VS, helps with takeoff, climb and cruise, as well as during descent (manage that with ALT CHANGE and the VS dial next to it).  So for example, when it's time to descend, I dial in the ALT, via the touchscreen, then click on the ALT CHANGE button, but of course, the aircraft still flies it's LNAV path until you physically turn the VS dial to the descent rate you need (and you should calc this to make sure your profile is close to spot on).  Decrease your speed, which I usually do via the setting on the PFD, and using the ATIS (autothrottle).  I'll scale back my speed as necessary, in order to maintain a smooth vertical profile and then once I hit the last STAR point, which is the approach, I'll hit the APPR button, which will cause the aircraft to pitch down to follow the approach (as long as NAV1 is tuned to the correct freq).  As it descends, I introduce flaps, lower the speed to a manageable rate, about 100kts, lower the gear and within 500 feet or so, disengage autopilot and land.

It would seem to me then that it may be capable of a WAAS approach i.e. GPS for VNAV? I wonder if this is the case? Just seems to me that without the VNAV then your are really only capable of a non-precision approach for the lack of a better description. The avionics is the Eclipse are not that old are they?

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4 minutes ago, N1G said:

It would seem to me then that it may be capable of a WAAS approach i.e. GPS for VNAV? I wonder if this is the case? Just seems to me that without the VNAV then your are really only capable of a non-precision approach for the lack of a better description. The avionics is the Eclipse are not that old are they?

Understand that Aerobask's avionics are their own creation.  The real avionics of the Eclipse were not modelled or programmed into the flight model.  I'm not sure why it was done this way, perhaps due to licensing and permissions.

Here is a snippet from one of the creators, who clarifies things a little:

"There's no VNAV, except glidescope guidance when doing an RNAV approach (providing data is available for the runway). VCALC computations are on the roadmap for improvements, but we don't have a time frame yet."

**************

I suspect that Aerobask will work on improvements, maybe implementing more robust and complex functionality, but again, timeframe is unknown at this time.


Engage, research, inform and make your posts count! -Jim Morvay

Origin EON-17SLX - Under the hood: Intel Core i7 7700K at 4.2GHz (Base) 4.6GHz (overclock), nVidia GeForce GTX-1080 Pascal w/8gb vram, 32gb (2x16) Crucial 2400mhz RAM, 3840 x 2160 17.3" IPS w/G-SYNC, Samsung 950 EVO 256GB PCIe m.2 SSD (Primary), Samsung 850 EVO 500gb M.2 (Sim Drive), MS Windows 10 Professional 64-Bit

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Just now, Jimm said:

Understand that Aerobask's avionics are their own creation.  The real avionics of the Eclipse were not modelled or programmed into the flight model.  I'm not sure why it was done this way, perhaps due to licensing and permissions.

Here is a snippet from one of the creators, who clarifies things a little:

"There's no VNAV, except glidescope guidance when doing an RNAV approach (providing data is available for the runway). VCALC computations are on the roadmap for improvements, but we don't have a time frame yet."

**************

I suspect that Aerobask will work on improvements, maybe implementing more robust and complex functionality, but again, timeframe is unknown at this time.

Yes, the VCALC has come up in another discussion I read earlier. This is my first "fancy avionics" aircraft I have purchased that I decided to get serious with. Oh well, I was hoping for VNAV on those .5 mi visibility days.

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1 minute ago, N1G said:

Yes, the VCALC has come up in another discussion I read earlier. This is my first "fancy avionics" aircraft I have purchased that I decided to get serious with. Oh well, I was hoping for VNAV on those .5 mi visibility days.

Well, consider it a challenge! :biggrin:

I would say that the Eclipse is unique in its own right, having the touchscreen capability is handy, and there is a lot of functionality to it, not to mention the excellent GTN750 included.


Engage, research, inform and make your posts count! -Jim Morvay

Origin EON-17SLX - Under the hood: Intel Core i7 7700K at 4.2GHz (Base) 4.6GHz (overclock), nVidia GeForce GTX-1080 Pascal w/8gb vram, 32gb (2x16) Crucial 2400mhz RAM, 3840 x 2160 17.3" IPS w/G-SYNC, Samsung 950 EVO 256GB PCIe m.2 SSD (Primary), Samsung 850 EVO 500gb M.2 (Sim Drive), MS Windows 10 Professional 64-Bit

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2 minutes ago, Jimm said:

Well, consider it a challenge! :biggrin:

I would say that the Eclipse is unique in its own right, having the touchscreen capability is handy, and there is a lot of functionality to it, not to mention the excellent GTN750 included.

Indeed. I am enjoying the aircraft for sure. It is a real beauty in many respects. Thanks Jimm for your time and input!

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1 minute ago, N1G said:

Indeed. I am enjoying the aircraft for sure. It is a real beauty in many respects. Thanks Jimm for your time and input!

Hey, no problem my friend.  I am nearing my record in XP for most flights flown with the Eclipse 550, that's how much I love the aircraft.  If it didn't take so long to load, I'd fly it more.  I've even started to create some liveries for it, though patience is a virtue for that, as it doesn't have layered psds.  I started to create one, and it's a real challenge.


Engage, research, inform and make your posts count! -Jim Morvay

Origin EON-17SLX - Under the hood: Intel Core i7 7700K at 4.2GHz (Base) 4.6GHz (overclock), nVidia GeForce GTX-1080 Pascal w/8gb vram, 32gb (2x16) Crucial 2400mhz RAM, 3840 x 2160 17.3" IPS w/G-SYNC, Samsung 950 EVO 256GB PCIe m.2 SSD (Primary), Samsung 850 EVO 500gb M.2 (Sim Drive), MS Windows 10 Professional 64-Bit

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7 minutes ago, Jimm said:

Hey, no problem my friend.  I am nearing my record in XP for most flights flown with the Eclipse 550, that's how much I love the aircraft.  If it didn't take so long to load, I'd fly it more.  I've even started to create some liveries for it, though patience is a virtue for that, as it doesn't have layered psds.  I started to create one, and it's a real challenge.

Yes, the load times are terrible. About 90 seconds here from an SSD. It has to be the nav data. One more question if you have time. I noticed that the lighting in the cabin automatically changed at some point during my decent, but I could not tell what lighting that was and don't remember what exact phase of flight I was in. Have you noticed anything like that? Pretty interesting.

Bob

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If it's the lighting in the cabin, at night, it may be due to an automatic setting in the aircraft.  There is a cabin override switch, in the INT LIGHT panel, as well as a switch for daytime and nightime and a dimmer.  If your flight was during the day, that may be an XP thing, since I've experienced both scenarios.

As for load times, also remember you are loading 4k textures, unless you choose the low-res livery in the aircraft selection.  The exterior and interior textures are superb, but they do put a bit of a load on the sim.


Engage, research, inform and make your posts count! -Jim Morvay

Origin EON-17SLX - Under the hood: Intel Core i7 7700K at 4.2GHz (Base) 4.6GHz (overclock), nVidia GeForce GTX-1080 Pascal w/8gb vram, 32gb (2x16) Crucial 2400mhz RAM, 3840 x 2160 17.3" IPS w/G-SYNC, Samsung 950 EVO 256GB PCIe m.2 SSD (Primary), Samsung 850 EVO 500gb M.2 (Sim Drive), MS Windows 10 Professional 64-Bit

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Hmmm, I never noticed the lighting change except for this plane. There was no change in fps or smoothness when using 4k textures vs the low-res for me. If there was, it might have been a 1/2 frame or so. Now, my experience with glass cockpits in FSX were extreme. My 6700k-GTX1070  had issues with complex avionics in FSX, but not so in XP, at least XP11. Good job dev's!!

Bob

 

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Jimm, I moved the GNS430 folder out of XP, and my load time was 18 seconds! There might be a little with the 4k but not much. 

Now that 18 seconds was just during the .acf file

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1 minute ago, N1G said:

Jimm, I moved the GNS430 folder out of XP, and my load time was 18 seconds! There might be a little with the 4k but not much

You may be right about the navdata, but since I use it, or rather, need it, I can deal with the slow load.


Engage, research, inform and make your posts count! -Jim Morvay

Origin EON-17SLX - Under the hood: Intel Core i7 7700K at 4.2GHz (Base) 4.6GHz (overclock), nVidia GeForce GTX-1080 Pascal w/8gb vram, 32gb (2x16) Crucial 2400mhz RAM, 3840 x 2160 17.3" IPS w/G-SYNC, Samsung 950 EVO 256GB PCIe m.2 SSD (Primary), Samsung 850 EVO 500gb M.2 (Sim Drive), MS Windows 10 Professional 64-Bit

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