Setting Altimeter on Ground/In Flight

[topcat_1952 20]

In FSX and P3D, pressing the "B" key on the keyboard would always set the altimeter to the field elevation or, when in flight, the the nearest airport or ATC setting. In XP11, that key operates the brakes. I have looked diligently through the list of P11 keyboard commands and while I found the one for setting the DG to the current heading (the "D" key as it is in FSX and P3D), I could not locate the one for setting the altimeter. Anyone know what it is?

Thanks

 

[Guest-475 81]

I don't know if X-Plane 11 introduced a command for this, there was none in XP10 and I never looked for that funtion. But there's plugin you can use:

https://forums.x-plane.org/index.php?/files/file/35383-xbarometer/

Pressing CTRL+SHIFT+B toggles between the current QNH and 29.92

[topcat_1952 20]

ok. thanks for the info.

[Bjoern 1,156]

There's a script called "automatic set qnh.lua" in the "FlyWithLua\Scripts (Disabled)" folder. It does exactly what the "B" key does in MSFS.

[strider1 575]

20 hours ago, topcat_1952 said:

In FSX and P3D, pressing the "B" key on the keyboard would always set the altimeter to the field elevation or, when in flight, the the nearest airport or ATC setting. In XP11, that key operates the brakes. I have looked diligently through the list of P11 keyboard commands and while I found the one for setting the DG to the current heading (the "D" key as it is in FSX and P3D), I could not locate the one for setting the altimeter. Anyone know what it is?

Thanks

 

Why don't just tune into the local ATIS like real pilots:)

[deetee 164]

I usually get my local QNH in either FSGRW or Pilot2ATC. The X-Plane map or Atis will also give you it, albeit in Inches and not Hpa but that is an inconvenience rather than a showstopper. 

[Janov 2,383]

There is often a debate about how realistic a simulator pilot should be forced to play - I used to be in the camp of people asking for pretty realistic conditions, but have recently moved a bit to the middle. I have found out that many people play simulators not to learn about flying or even "training" for it. They like to sit in the cockpit, watch the scenery go by and pretend that they are a pilot flying across the countryside. After all, it´s THEIR way of having fun, and if they incline to do so, they should be able to.

The case of the "B" key is a good example. In real aircraft - even the most modern airliner types - it is a crucial and life-or-death step to have the correct altimeter setting dialed in. Modern planes will "flash" the subscale if you are below the (databased) transition altitude, but the transition level can change with pressure, so its still very much up to the pilot to set the subscale. In addition, the aircraft has no way of knowing the correct altimeter setting (QNH), so it is totally manual work to obtain that (either listening to ATIS, getting an ACARS Direct-ATIS or asking the controller). If you mess this step up, separation to other aircraft or the terrain (ESPECIALLY on a non-precision approach) may be compromised, possibly resulting in a mid-air or CFIT accident.

The chore of getting the altimeter setting is pretty boring and repetitive, so its a good candidate to replace it with a single keystroke in an entertainment simulator. You STILL have to remember to set the subscale, but you don´t have to go through the steps to obtain it (even though its as simple as having the dataref displayed on-screen in X-Plane, no need to even open the map).

So if you want to know what its like to really operate a plane - you need to get the altimeter setting the way real pilots would. If you simply want to fly some procedures, the B key (or a plugin) would be appropriate. If you just want to watch the scenery, set the weather to standard ISA and you don´t have to worry about that at all...

Cheers, Jan

 

[Bjoern 1,156]

Mind the limited possibilities for interaction in simulated cockpits. A lot of things have to be done by clicking on them with the mouse or using the keyboard, while in home cockpits, professional simulators and in the real cockpit, you can simply grab them without taking your eyes off the flight path and there's always one hand on the yoke.

On a normal sim setup, you need one hand for the stick, one for the keyboard and one for the mouse and you're all on your own. There's just no way that you can do everything at once when things get busy. That's why shortcuts like auto QNH or even the "pause" key are essential to get the amount of tasks to manage down to manageable levels.

 

I can even turn the argument around and say that driving an automatic transmission and using cruise control, automatic spacing, lane assistants and all the other gadgets doesn't count as real driving. And the reply is always "But it's so much more comfortable!". And bloody right you are, but that right also applies to simuations!

 

B. (manual transmission and no gadgets, but a merry user of the "B" and "Pause" keys and autopilots)

Edited September 18, 2018 by Bjoern

[fluffyflops 1,856]

On 9/17/2018 at 5:41 PM, Bjoern said:

There's a script called "automatic set qnh.lua" in the "FlyWithLua\Scripts (Disabled)" folder. It does exactly what the "B" key does in MSFS.

Thank you very much 

[Paraffin 2,197]

On 9/18/2018 at 12:13 AM, Janov said:

So if you want to know what its like to really operate a plane - you need to get the altimeter setting the way real pilots would. If you simply want to fly some procedures, the B key (or a plugin) would be appropriate. If you just want to watch the scenery, set the weather to standard ISA and you don´t have to worry about that at all...

This gets into the design philosophy of X-Plane, where Austin has always tried to stick with operations that are done -- as much as possible in a sim -- the way you'd do it in a real plane. 

For example, for many years we had no convenient pop-ups for different functions. We finally got that with the pop-up default GNS, but I think the philosophy is still to encourage sim pilots to follow standard real-world procedures like contacting ATIS for QNH.

And of course with add-on mods, you can still get the convenience of a "B" key, so everyone wins. But it's not the default setup in the sim.