Calling All Garmin Gurus (FSR500)

[Jazz 1,047]

Evening all.

Ok, I bought the FSR500. A fine and fascinating aircraft so far but with 2 major issues as far as this old simmer is concerned.

1, It's a turboprop and despite doing this simming thing since pretty much the start of it I have never bothered with turboprops. No matter, it was part of the appeal of buying it and I think I'm getting to grips with the fundamentals and it's fun. Plenty for me to learn and it's about time I moved into the modern era in regards to the aircraft that I fly. However, not why I'm here.

2. It comes equiped with the latest and greatest in Garmin glassware. This is proving a bit more of a challenge for this old git. Ok, it's mostly quite intuitive and I can easily see me getting used to it but I'm stuck on a thing or two and I'm sure many more questions are to come after these but I'll start here.....

Is there a way to set/change the airport elevation data? The FSR500, as stated in the manual, has an issue where when you set the minums then the elevation data changes to whatever you set the minimums to. Not sure if this is a Working Title problem or something to do with the plane. Anyway, they're working on it and I find myself wondering if there's a workaround such as being able to change the airport elevation figure after setting the minimums in order to correct it back to the correct setting? If there is then I can't find it for the life of me. Not sure if this would even work if I can or if the two figures are bound for reason I don't understand.

Also, is there an easier way to set the minimums. I can see the option when selecting my approach procedure, but earlier. I set the procedure and forgot to set the minimums. The only way I could find to set them was to select the procedure again. As an airliner guy I'm kinda just used to turning the relevent minimums knob and being done with it. What if I want to set minimums without a procedure selected?

That's all, folks!

P.S. Well, nearly all. I have to say, this thing is damned pretty and the EFB might just be the best I have seen. I'm so pleased to see the fidelity of aircraft coming out of some developers now. I have pretty high standards for what I'm willing to spend my money on these days. I rarely buy aircraft unless I can see that it meets my standards and this thing does for the most part. I did find an issue immediately that I have brought to their attention and I feel confident that this will be resolved given the high standard of the rest of the product and what they are clearly striving for. I would also like to celebrate the price they have brought this to market for. For a little under £30 this lands in the "more than reasonable" range and other developers should take note of what their competition is offering and at what price. Honestly, from what I have seen today this is comfortably in the £45-50 range for me and the price I paid feels like I have done them dirty somehow. Not that I'm complaining. I'm a man of limited means so I'm extremely grateful for such pricing.

For GA flying I have been stuck on the A2A Commanche since it released because it rendered all my other GA aircraft unflyable so I'm pleased to have another Aircraft that I consider worthy of my time and money. I'm looking forward to see where this product goes and FSR are now firmly on my flightsim radar.

[Mace 1,957]

I'm not exactly sure about what you're asking, but, you can (you should) set your ...not sure if it's minimums or landing elevation, in the left-most G1000 window, TMF/Baro submenu, one of the bottom-right LSK's.  It's a part of the checklist.

I'm not slick enough with the G1000 to know what impact this may have on any approach you select, or whether or not changing this value mid-flight has any effect, but I am sure this thread will help me to understand it.  I haven't for example flown any LPV type of RNAV approaches with this airplane, so I'd think it might affect that.

[diajohn 169]

I am not a Guru on the G1000.  I don't believe you need to worry that much about setting the minimums, just use you stick and rudder skills to put it down.  The best instructions I have found take some time to learn via Youtube but are worthwhile to really get it down.

 

[sd_flyer 6,088]

53 minutes ago, diajohn said:

I am not a Guru on the G1000.  I don't believe you need to worry that much about setting the minimums, just use you stick and rudder skills to put it down.  The best instructions I have found take some time to learn via Youtube but are worthwhile to really get it down.

 

Yes he does need to worry. He need set field elevation because it pressurize aircraft !LOL

[snglecoil 1,828]

9 hours ago, Jazz said:

Also, is there an easier way to set the minimums. I can see the option when selecting my approach procedure, but earlier. I set the procedure and forgot to set the minimums. The only way I could find to set them was to select the procedure again. As an airliner guy I'm kinda just used to turning the relevent minimums knob and being done with it. What if I want to set minimums without a procedure selected?

On the primary flight display, press the "TMR/REF" soft key (3rd ^ key from the right). That brings up a little timer and reference speed window. At the bottom of that is the option to specify minimums without having to reload the approach from the FPL menu. You interact with that window by pressing in the on the center of the PFD's inner FMS knob to bring up the cursor. Then scroll between fields with the outer FMS knob. Set values with inner FMS knob.

Edited November 16, 2023 by snglecoil

[Jazz 1,047]

16 hours ago, Mace said:

I'm not exactly sure about what you're asking, but, you can (you should) set your ...not sure if it's minimums or landing elevation, in the left-most G1000 window, TMF/Baro submenu, one of the bottom-right LSK's.  It's a part of the checklist.

That's the problem, I'm afraid. It's both minimums and airport elevation at the same time and it shouldn't be. It changes both.

16 hours ago, diajohn said:

I am not a Guru on the G1000.  I don't believe you need to worry that much about setting the minimums, just use you stick and rudder skills to put it down.

Doesn't work when flying in weather conditions that are marginal though, does it. Thatnks for the video. I certainly give that a watch later on today.

15 hours ago, sd_flyer said:

Yes he does need to worry. He need set field elevation because it pressurize aircraft !LOL

Exactly!

10 hours ago, snglecoil said:

On the primary flight display, press the "TMR/REF" soft key (3rd ^ key from the right). That brings up a little timer and reference speed window. At the bottom of that is the option to specify minimums without having to reload the approach from the FPL menu. You interact with that window by pressing in the on the center of the PFD's inner FMS knob to bring up the cursor. Then scroll between fields with the outer FMS knob. Set values with inner FMS knob.

Yes, helpful, thank you but the issue is it still adjusts both the minimums and the elevation at the same time.

Ah well, nevermind. I suppose I'm stuck with the problem until they fix it somehow.

[Egbert Drenth 250]

19 minutes ago, Jazz said:

Yes, helpful, thank you but the issue is it still adjusts both the minimums and the elevation at the same time.

Maybe it is deliberate that way and not a bug...just brainstorming

For de-pressurize purposes it really doesn't matter if both the minimums and field elevation are the same.
If it is a few 100 feet off, for de-pressurizing it really doesn't matter.

My 2 cents,
Egbert

[Jazz 1,047]

28 minutes ago, Egbert Drenth said:

Maybe it is deliberate that way and not a bug...just brainstorming

Of course it isn't. We know it's a bug because it's clearly wrong and it says so in the manual. It also states they are looking into a way to decouple the two. I wonder what the cause is.

Edited November 16, 2023 by Jazz

[psychedelic_tortilla 171]

On the real M500, you can manually set your DEST ELV in the Tmr/Ref field, at the very bottom, below the field for the minimums. This is not simulated on the WT G1000. So no, there's no way to manually set your DEST ELV on the WT G1000. 

[Jazz 1,047]

14 minutes ago, psychedelic_tortilla said:

On the real M500, you can manually set your DEST ELV in the Tmr/Ref field, at the very bottom, below the field for the minimums. This is not simulated on the WT G1000. So no, there's no way to manually set your DEST ELV on the WT G1000. 

Hmmm, this what I feared. Wonder why WT omitted this.

[psychedelic_tortilla 171]

1 hour ago, Jazz said:

 

 

Edited November 16, 2023 by psychedelic_tortilla

[Mace 1,957]

2 hours ago, Jazz said:

Yes, helpful, thank you but the issue is it still adjusts both the minimums and the elevation at the same time.

Ah well, nevermind. I suppose I'm stuck with the problem until they fix it somehow.

As you now know (?)  --  the developer is aware of this, I watched his recent interview with Emi (737NG/A330Driver) and they specifically went over this problem.  I don't know if it will require WT to fix or FSR or both.

[martinboehme 526]

1 hour ago, Jazz said:

Hmmm, this what I feared. Wonder why WT omitted this.

I think the reason may be that this is a customization that's specific to the M500.

Some aircraft that use the G1000 aren't pressurized. Others have pressurization controls that are separate from the G1000.

WT does provide some extension points for the G1000, but obviously not yet for this particular aircraft-specific behavior. By the sound of it, it's being worked on though. 

Edited November 16, 2023 by martinboehme
Typo

[MattNischan 3,867]

1 hour ago, Jazz said:

Wonder why WT omitted this.

This field was omitted because it's not a standard field for the G1000 NXi. Aircraft that require this kind of thing can implement it using the plugin system that we have provided for aircraft developers if they like or by modifying the code, in the same way that Garmin or the avionics engineers at the respective manufacturers add specifics for their installations.

My understanding, talking to @simbol, is that the pressurization behavior is being looked into. He's awesome (and the plane is stellar) so I'm sure this will be addressed down the road.

Edited November 16, 2023 by MattNischan

[Jazz 1,047]

18 minutes ago, MattNischan said:

This field was omitted because it's not a standard field for the G1000 NXi. Aircraft that require this kind of thing can implement it using the plugin system that we have provided for aircraft developers if they like or by modifying the code, in the same way that Garmin or the avionics engineers at the respective manufacturers add specifics for their installations.

My understanding, talking to @simbol, is that the pressurization behavior is being looked into. He's awesome (and the plane is stellar) so I'm sure this will be addressed down the road.

Interesting. Thanks for sharing and yes, I'm sure they will get it sorted. I have never been in doubt of that.