22 minutes ago, sloppysmusic said:

1) GPU has issues with appearing and disappearing sometimes every few seconds making engine start with external power impossible. Can you start with battery alone? 

Yes, battery-only start should be possible, though I haven't tried. My understanding is start on GPU is preferred because it's easier on the battery.

I haven't had the issue you mention. Just to make sure, power source on the forward overhead is set to EXT PWR? If that's not the problem, my only idea is it might be a conflict with another addon or a control assignment.

24 minutes ago, sloppysmusic said:

2) Can't tune the ac for different stages of flights as both TGT switches seem to have no effect so leave them on full always, also throttles work fine but the rpm is either maxed out or idle, can't fine tune that either so just back off a little during cruise.

TGT switches - do you mean fuel trim? I haven't checked what happens if I mishandle them.

Not sure I understand the throttle issue - do you mean you can really only get either idle or 15,000 rpm? (If so, how are you managing to taxi and fly approaches at reasonable speeds?)

I don't have this issue either. I have throttles mapped to my throttle quadrant, and I can control rpm fine. 15,000 for takeoff, 14,200 for climb and cruise, 11,000 for descent and as appropriate for the approach.

If you can't control rpm in this way, I would definitely suspect you have a control assignment issue. Make sure you don't have anything assigned to mixture or prop, as that may interfere with the engine modeling.

30 minutes ago, sloppysmusic said:

3)Every landing so far if I don't plant it down fast I will float all over place like I used to in the a2a piper cub in fsx in any wind. Sideways up down you name it. 

Maybe caused by your throttle issues, and you're simply too fast?

30 minutes ago, sloppysmusic said:

Does the vor /app lock include ILS gs vertical coupling or do I need manage that myself?

Yes, the autopilot will follow the glideslope (and there are status lights for this on the autopilot annunciator panel - a vertical green bar if the AP is tracking the glideslope accurately).

1 hour ago, martinboehme said:

If that's not the problem, my only idea is it might be a conflict with another addon or a control assignment.

https://community.justflight.com/topic/6371/can-t-activate-external-power-gpu

It's a known issue in MFSF but I thought it either works or does not not flickers!

1 hour ago, martinboehme said:

Not sure I understand the throttle issue - do you mean you can really only get either idle or 15,000 rpm? (If so, how are you managing to taxi and fly approaches at reasonable speeds?)

I can control perfectly it's just only READING 15k or idle on instruments. Maybe in between but its mostly stuck on full when flying. The 14-15k green band its top of that range most of time.

NVM Throttle dial rpm working fine now. Just TGT switches do nothing at all. Stuck on full - decrease switch wont move reading.

1 hour ago, martinboehme said:

Maybe caused by your throttle issues, and you're simply too fast?

Nah, the last ILS landing it took me into the Mersey so pulled up and started to glide on idle at the end for a bit.

1 hour ago, martinboehme said:

the autopilot will follow the glideslope (and there are status lights for this on the autopilot annunciator panel - a vertical green bar if the AP is tracking the glideslope accurately).

Yes I just got this but at vref 110kts it was taking me way too low and into river I had to intervene. Pix below! Maybe need descend higher speed until minimums?

https://imgur.com/gallery/msfs-fokker-f27-500-ils-night-test-flight-egck-eggp-CFrklza

Gonna take off again and to another test at Leeds Bradford. Cruise last time was 2500ft the gs intercept alt. Will try gs at 150kts all the way to DH this time.

Edited December 11, 20241 yr by sloppysmusic

1 hour ago, martinboehme said:

My understanding is start on GPU is preferred because it's easier on the battery.

True and the proper way to operate, however, today I experienced twice a total engine shut down when I switched from GPU to Battery even though I moved the switch very fast. So I tried the start on Battery only and it worked fine.

Regarding the throttles, I also have difficulty getting down to 14'200 rpm at cruise level, even with my throttles almost fully back, I am still at 15'000 rpm, having said that, I believe it may be due to my hardware calibration which I will refine tomorrow in FSUIPC and see if it makes a difference. On ground, I had no problem at all to taxi at slow speeds.

ILS on AP performs as desired.

As for landing speed, 110 knots is preferable on short final Russell. No floating then. Strange your AP did not follow the GS correctly, did you put full flaps when stable on the ILS (other factors may have been wind and weight)?

54 minutes ago, Bernard Ducret said:

As for landing speed, 110 knots is preferable on short final Russell.

Yes I've read and tried that. No matter what speed it loses coupling unless I use EXACT speed to hold the slope. Tried 130 in first attempt and 150 on 2nd dropping to 140 at 1000 but it went OVER slope a little then so full flaps then the usual dive into the ground. No screenshots of 2nd here as was fine until end then had to grab controls to avoid crash.

For freeware I'm fine with it. Been doing auto ILS landings in many planes since FSX and this is first that wont hold slope. Planes usually go under if too slow or over if too fast but not by 10 knots usually much more out of whack than that!

In VFR conditions I always take over at 1000 but cannot get this one down safely to MDA in autopilot. It holds lateral very well, much better than JF F28 which has terrible lateral but solid vertical.

https://imgur.com/gallery/f27-mk500-msfs-ils-tests-mvFcUhz

110kts here final dive as usual...

Oh separate question what does A/S do on ap panel? I presume IAS hold for climb/descent but should NOT need that for VOR/APP right? It would decouple that mode anyway if selected?

3 hours ago, sloppysmusic said:

I can control perfectly it's just only READING 15k or idle on instruments. Maybe in between but its mostly stuck on full when flying. The 14-15k green band its top of that range most of time.

NVM Throttle dial rpm working fine now. Just TGT switches do nothing at all. Stuck on full - decrease switch wont move reading.

Just to confirm -- what you're saying is that the dials labeled "Fuel Datum" right above the TGT / fuel trim switches don't move when you operate the switches? (I.e. we're not talking about the actual TGT reading?) Have you tried using the mouse wheel with these? In my experience, that's the most effective way to operate the switches.

3 hours ago, sloppysmusic said:

Yes I just got this but at vref 110kts it was taking me way too low and into river I had to intervene. Pix below! Maybe need descend higher speed until minimums?

Hm -- I had this once (see description in my original post at the start of this thread), but since then it's tracked the glideslope flawlessly. I don't think I was holding a constant airspeed on the ILS -- so that shouldn't be an issue in principle.

Certainly, in your screenshots, it's showing the green vertical bar indicating that the autopilot claims it's tracking the glideslope (which it's obviously not actually doing). In the second screenshot you posted, there's also a red light though, indicating that the autopilot is disconnected -- but presumably you disconnected the autopilot after it had already gotten too low on the glide?

One thing I notice in both of your screenshots is that the ADI is showing a red "RWY" flag, presumably because the radio altimeter is not turned on (more details on page 39 of the manual). I don't see any reason why this should cause any issues with glideslope tracking -- but maybe still something to try? (The knob to turn on the radio altimeter is at the top right of the instrument -- see also page 42.)

1 hour ago, sloppysmusic said:

Oh separate question what does A/S do on ap panel? I presume IAS hold for climb/descent but should NOT need that for VOR/APP right? It would decouple that mode anyway if selected?

Correct on all counts. It's essentially an equivalent to the "flight level change" mode on Boeings -- it uses the elevator to hold a given airspeed for climb or descent.

2 hours ago, Bernard Ducret said:

Regarding the throttles, I also have difficulty getting down to 14'200 rpm at cruise level, even with my throttles almost fully back, I am still at 15'000 rpm, having said that, I believe it may be due to my hardware calibration which I will refine tomorrow in FSUIPC and see if it makes a difference. On ground, I had no problem at all to taxi at slow speeds.

Hm. That does sound unusual.

If calibrating the throttles doesn't help then again my suspicion would be that this is either a "rogue" control assignment that is interfering (make sure you don't have any controls assigned to prop or mixture) or a conflicting addon (try moving all addons except the F-27 out of your community folder, or turning them off with Addons Linker, to see if it works then).

1 hour ago, martinboehme said:

Just to confirm -- what you're saying is that the dials labeled "Fuel Datum" right above the TGT / fuel trim switches don't move when you operate the switches? (I.e. we're not talking about the actual TGT reading?) Have you tried using the mouse wheel with these? In my experience, that's the most effective way to operate the switches.

Thanks for the reply, yes agree/understand all you wrote! Regards the switches there's a click spot/asobe arrow above and below these I suspect it does nothing now! I will try the mouse wheel next time.

Yeh the ILS just seems off. The RA was on and off as I had problems starting the plane earlier so started on runway, so may have turned it OFF during flight not ON. Green light flashes either way I think.

Still phenomenal for freeware! Last flight of day in F28 now. I want to check I still got ILS couple in sim hehe!

14 hours ago, martinboehme said:

Hm -- I had this once (see description in my original post at the start of this thread), but since then it's tracked the glideslope flawlessly. I don't think I was holding a constant airspeed on the ILS -- so that shouldn't be an issue in principle.

Interesting post today on the download site. I KNEW it wasn't just me!

Hello. I have been flying the F27-500 and have a few questions. First question, I have noticed that the AP does not track the ILS glideslope when VOR-APP is selected. I also noted that the manual says to turn the AP OFF once the ILS glideslope is captured (page 48 and 49). Just to make sure my understanding is correct, the autopilot cannot fly a coupled ILS localizer and glideslope. All ILS approaches are manually flown, with or without the FD in VOR-APP. Is my understanding correct?

Second question. I have hardware (GoFlight) that I would like to program to use the heading bug and the AP pitch wheel. Do you have LVars for these two items? They do not appear to be mapped to the MSFS defaults.

Very much enjoying the new airplane!

Bgaurant

Hello, you should be able to capture ILS localizer and glideslope with autopilot VOR-APP mode. Setting autopilot to off at 1500 ft was Air Inter procedure as autoland was not active on Air Inter autopilots (autoland is set with the AMV button wich is disabled there). VOR-APP mode is available for approach only, not final. Yet this mode is able to intercept ILS.

On 12/11/2024 at 7:02 PM, sloppysmusic said:

On 12/11/2024 at 6:26 PM, martinboehme said:

the autopilot will follow the glideslope (and there are status lights for this on the autopilot annunciator panel - a vertical green bar if the AP is tracking the glideslope accurately).

Yes I just got this but at vref 110kts it was taking me way too low and into river I had to intervene. Pix below! Maybe need descend higher speed until minimums?

I've finally done some more testing on this, and my conclusion is that the radar altimeter needs to be on for the autopilot to track the glideslope correctly.

I did two back-to-back approaches to the same runway. On the first, I had the radar altimeter switched off, and I got exactly what you describe -- the autopilot got far too low on the approach. On the second approach, I had the radar altimeter switched on, and it tracked the glideslope flawlessly until short final.

As to why glideslope tracking would require the radar altimeter to be switched on, I don't know. Maybe radar altitude is used to vary the gain in the autopilot pitch channel?

In other news, an update to version 1.1 was released a few days ago. Highlights are the addition of a cargo version and the ability to add a GNS 530 on top of the glareshield if desired. Full changelog:

Quote

- empty weight corrected
- CG adjusted
- warnings lights translated in english
- indicators in LBS as an option
- added GPS versions
- added cargo version
- documentation updated
- added fuel trim settings in "flying with..." doc. section

 

14 minutes ago, martinboehme said:

In other news, an update to version 1.1 was released a few days ago. Highlights are the addition of a cargo version and the ability to add a GNS 530 on top of the glareshield if desired. Full changelog:

 

That's worrying.....

page 43 of manual:

Just Flight ruined the F28 by shoving in a gps for the mass market making the Cat II ac basically dangerous in IMC. They admitted it too in several posts.

I will not update this ac as it works fine and intercepts as VOR should! 

interesting about the radio altimeter. I think I might stick with the real world use and use it to start gs and tidy up then takeover at 1000.

No GPS is available on this panel (MSFS PS interacts too much with autopilot to give good result in this cookpit). Navigation VOR to VOR is recommended (or NDB and waypoints position which can be confirmed by VOR / NDB radials or DME).

7 hours ago, sloppysmusic said:

That's worrying.....

page 43 of manual:

Just Flight ruined the F28 by shoving in a gps for the mass market making the Cat II ac basically dangerous in IMC. They admitted it too in several posts.

I wondered about this too.

The update comes with "GPS" and "non-GPS" versions of each livery. This is in addition to being able to hide the GPS from the EFB. So I presume the intent of the non-GPS liveries is to allow you to avoid any issues associated with the GPS if you don't need it anyway. I haven't done any extensive testing on this yet though.

3 hours ago, martinboehme said:

So I presume the intent of the non-GPS liveries is to allow you to avoid any issues associated with the GPS if you don't need it anyway

I think it would have to be an entirely different plane folder to avoid issues. Kinda makes me wish I knew more about developing addons myself so I could remove the GPS code manually. Especially as that would help me solve the f28 too. 

At least the plane works well enough in initial version for me to stay with that. 

My comment on that fs to page is starting to get the usual flak from the usual people. It's a losing battle! Wonder if that comment above was removed from the manual in new version? Changelog does state documentation was updated. 

https://flightsim.to/file/84997/fokker-f27-mk500

On 12/21/2024 at 11:37 AM, sloppysmusic said:

I think it would have to be an entirely different plane folder to avoid issues. Kinda makes me wish I knew more about developing addons myself so I could remove the GPS code manually. Especially as that would help me solve the f28 too. 

I've taken a look at this.

Inside bgt-f27500-v2\SimObjects\Airplanes\Bgt_F27500v2, there are two panel folders, "panel" and "panel.gps".

In the "panel.gps" folder, the panel.cfg file contains an entry referencing the GNS 530 (NavSystems/GPS/AS530/AS530.html), and there's also a file panel.xml that controls when the GNS 530 is turned on and which NAV and COM radio it is associated with.

In the "panel" folder, the panel.cfg file does not reference the GNS 530, and there is no panel.xml.

The various liveries (configured in aircraft.cfg) choose which panel they want to use with the "panel" entry -- either 'panel = ""` for the non-GPS panel, or 'panel = "gps"' for the GPS panel.

I don't really see what would cause a non-GPS livery to load the GNS 530, given that nothing in its configuration refers to the GNS 530. And I assume the very intent of providing non-GPS and GPS versions of the same livery is so that users can avoid loading the GNS 530.

Hopefully, this also gives you some ideas on how you might remove the GNS 530 from the F28.