On 5/28/2023 at 9:11 PM, Ray Proudfoot said:

This morning’s flight from Lisbon to Manchester for 90+ lucky people. Weather provided by Hi-Fi AS16 and ASCA.

Climbing though 15,000ft at 360kts enroute to the accel point on the Portuguese coast. Seven years old but those clouds certainly still work for me.

Wheels down at 1hr 21m having reached FL580 and being subsonic at FL360 35nm west of Anglesey for a landing on 05R.
 

Even though the clouds on your picture are just 2-D sprites used in a simulator from seven years ago, I find them more fluffy and natural than the volumetric clouds with EA on in v5 and the blobs and volcanic ashes in the other popular simulator...

4 minutes ago, Afterburner said:

Even though the clouds on your picture are just 2-D sprites used in a simulator from seven years ago, I find them more fluffy and natural than the volumetric clouds with EA on in v5 and the blobs and volcanic ashes in the other popular simulator...

Thank you! I try to keep an open mind about what looks good and what doesn’t. I’ve repeatedly tried EA in v5 but of course that is not available in the somewhat ancient v3.4.

It just goes to show what is possible when put into the hands of experts. I’m talking about you @Damian Clark. 😁

For those of you contemplating the FS Labs Concorde and are firmly rooted to Boeing and Airbus aircraft here’s what Concorde’s Automatic Flight Control System (AFCS) looks like.

Notice the lack of LNAV and VNAV controls. Over on the left are the Autothrottle controls. One or both can be engaged shortly after takeoff and they are very precise.

INS mode will laterally fly to the waypoints in the three INS systems. Again, it’s highly accurate. This is Concorde’s LNAV mode.

TRK HDG will follow the heading in the window immediately below it. HDG HOLD will fly the current heading. Only one of these three modes can be active.

PITCH HOLD is used after takeoff and allows you to control the pitch to ensure you stay under vMo. A pair of throttle quadrant keys can be assigned to Pitch Up and Pitch Down to fine tune your climb rate if you prefer to fly that way.

MAX CLIMB / MAX CRUISE is the mode during transonic climb. That is engaged at the accel point and with throttles full forward and reheat engaged the AFCS will pitch the aircraft up to keep just under vMo. It remains engaged through the flight until the decel point. Concorde can climb and even descend to maintain Mach 2. No danger to other aircraft as nothing else is at those altitudes.

Over on the right are VERT SPEED and IAS HOLD. IAS HOLD is used with Autothrottles off and is the primary mode when descending up to 7000-8000fpm. The aircraft pitches to maintain the IAS at the time that mode was engaged. As speed decreases the throttles are further retarded causing the descent rate to increase.

VERT SPEED is used in conjunction with Autothrottles for conventional descent rates below 10,000ft.

ALT HOLD will hold the current altitude. ALT ACQ must be enabled for correct functionality of the autopilot and needs reselecting with any autopilot change.

When on finals VOR LOC will engage and follow the Localiser. GLIDE follows the glide slope. LAND requires both autopilots and NAV1 / 2 to be tuned and a full autoland will be performed. Autothrottles are cancelled at 40 feet.

A quick ‘n dirty explanation of how the autopilot works on this unique aircraft.

Edited May 31, 20233 yr by Ray Proudfoot
Minor amendments

Just to clarify: MAX CLIMB is a Vc - Vmo mode, so it holds the difference between indicated airspeed upon selection and Vmo of the day.  This means you have to fly the aircraft up to Vmo before selecting it or you will have to datum adjust a lot.  MAX CRUISE is a separate mode that is engaged automatically at Mach 2 and is too clever a mode for me to type an explanation of here!  

Auto-throttles are disconnected at 40ft not 15ft, as there is a short descent at constant power until 15ft when the throttles are slowly closed. 

Thanks @trumpetfrazz1 for clarifying a few points. 👍

I tend to handle pitch trim manually up to Mach 1.7 as it gives me something to do and I like to try and keep IAS as close as possible to VMo.

It takes around 5m of reheat to reach Mach 1.7 on the EGCC-LPPT hop.

Edited May 31, 20233 yr by Ray Proudfoot
Additional info.

39 minutes ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

Thanks @trumpetfrazz1 for clarifying a few points. 👍

I tend to handle pitch trim manually up to Mach 1.7 as it gives me something to do and I like to try and keep IAS as close as possible to VMo.

That wouldn't have been advisable in the real world because the MAX CLIMB mode was far better at holding the speed than the trim rates achievable with the datum adjust.  You should either hand fly it, which is very rewarding or use MAX CLIMB.  After all, MAX CLIMB was used to climb when subsonic also.   

9 minutes ago, trumpetfrazz1 said:

That wouldn't have been advisable in the real world because the MAX CLIMB mode was far better at holding the speed than the trim rates achievable with the datum adjust.  You should either hand fly it, which is very rewarding or use MAX CLIMB.  After all, MAX CLIMB was used to climb when subsonic also.   

In the real world there were three crew members with one assigned to managing the fuel. In the sim there’s just me and managing fuel whilst hand flying is nigh impossible.

I can trim pitch very precisely with the rocker switches on my throttle quadrant.

21 minutes ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

In the real world there were three crew members with one assigned to managing the fuel. In the sim there’s just me and managing fuel whilst hand flying is nigh impossible.

That's why MAX CLIMB was used. 

FS Labs have just announced Concorde for P3D has entered beta testing.

On 6/2/2023 at 11:57 AM, Ray Proudfoot said:

FS Labs have just announced Concorde for P3D has entered beta testing.

Oh my friend, I'm looking forward to the release.

By the way, would you please say the assign or command you use for the "AUTOPILOT Pitch Datum Adjust " a friend on the Forum indicated the command "Ap Pitch Ref Inc Up" (see pic), but it doesn't work for me, I tried using MACRO with FSUIPC (RX629300*X55cc,31) but it doesn't work either. 

I thank you in advance for any help, it seems that nobody else flies this plane.  😄

 

9 hours ago, Hamilton_ said:

Oh my friend, I'm looking forward to the release.

By the way, would you please say the assign or command you use for the "AUTOPILOT Pitch Datum Adjust " a friend on the Forum indicated the command "Ap Pitch Ref Inc Up" (see pic), but it doesn't work for me, I tried using MACRO with FSUIPC (RX629300*X55cc,31) but it doesn't work either. 

I thank you in advance for any help, it seems that nobody else flies this plane.  😄

 

Hi Hamilton,

That doesn't work as you've discovered. What you need to do is this...

1) In FSX/P3D select Options - Settings.

2) Filter Event Category to Control Surfaces.

3) Scroll down to Pitch Down (Elevator Down) and Pitch Up (Elevator Up).

4) Change the assignment for each to a unique key combination. I use Shift+Ctrl+[ for down and Shift+Ctrl+] for up.

You'll get a warning it conflicts with another command. That one isn't a problem for me.

5) Press OK and return to FSX/P3D.

6) Select Options - FSUIPC and choose Buttons + Switches tab.

7) Select "Profile Specific" if you want this purely for Concorde.

Choose two buttons on your hardware (I use the Saitek Throttle Quadrant). One for up trim and the other for down trim. Set things as shown on the attached screenshot.

That will work and makes trimming pitch extremely easy.

4 hours ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

Hi Hamilton,

1) In FSX/P3D select Options - Settings.

2) Filter Event Category to Control Surfaces.

3) Scroll down to Pitch Down (Elevator Down) and Pitch Up (Elevator Up).

That will work and makes trimming pitch extremely easy.

 

Hi Ray,

Sorry my friend, I think I could not express myself correctly (English is not my native language), I meant the "AUTOPILOT Pitch Datum Adjust " (Check the pics below) and not the Elevator trim, whichever works perfectly, by the way I used exactly the same method you mentioned above. 🙂 

I meant the "A/P Pitch adjust" or "Autopilot Pitch switch" (both are the same thing) and that command (function) is different from Elevator trim that you mentioned.

But thanks for your answer. 👍

@Hamilton_,

I don’t have anything assigned to that control. What is it you’re trying to achieve? If the A/P is engaged select MAX CLIMB and everything will be handled by the AFCS.

I use my settings when PITCH HOLD is engaged with the A/P selected.

2 hours ago, Ray Proudfoot said:

@Hamilton_,

I don’t have anything assigned to that control. What is it you’re trying to achieve?

Hi Ray,

I'm looking for an assign for this "A/P Pitch adjust" or "Autopilot Pitch switch" function. It makes possible to use the V/S (Vertical Speed) function with A/P coupled, both on climb and descents, usually used on approaches with lower speeds.

But no problem, I just want an assign for this feature, anyway, thanks for the reply and hoping that the new Concorde X will be released this year 🙂 

Edited June 15, 20232 yr by Hamilton_

@Hamilton_ the assignment I described earlier will also adjust v/s when that mode is engaged. I use it below 10,000ft. With auto throttle engaged you can adjust your descent rate.

V/S mode wasn’t used on departure. PITCH HOLD would be adjusted to maintain the correct speed for the altitude. Once cleared over 250kts power was gradually increased and pitch adjusted to get close to vMo.