Busted Altitude message and chatter questions

[machie 1]

Hi allI have a few questions. The first question is about busted altitude. I have been flying in Australia lately for a virtual airline. During flights back and forth between Melbourne and Sydney this particular altitude problem has come up about 50% of the time. During descent when I am cleared to altitudes in the 15,000 to 12,000 foot range, after leveling off at that altitude I receive repeated messages to maintain that particular altitude combined with messages indicating the correct Q and H. I have VOS scenery installed in my current version of flight simulator nine(I don't know if this makes any difference). During my last two flights I had to turn radar contact off and continue to fight I know that the altimeter is correctly set This problem does not happen on every flight. On about 50% of my flights I get nothing but accolades from JD on the other flights get a visit from the Flight Services Director.My second question, when flying in Australia why does the chatter play over the air traffic controller voice?My third question is about adding more chatter to mine Radar Contact program. I have many hours of recorded ATC, and would like to know if there is a way to add this to the Radar Contact program. For instance it would be nice to add some San Francisco radio to some of my long overseas flights.A big thank you to anybody who can help or comment on these issues.Cheers

[jd 57]

i believe you are being told to descend to FL150 and FL120those aren't the same as 15000 and 12000read the european tutorial in the manual to understand transition altitudes and transition levelsquestion number 2, i'm not sure i understand. you can't have rc chatter and rc controllers talking at the same time. is there another program playing chatter?question 3, there is a section in the manual on how to add your own chatter files to rcjd

[machie 1]

Thanks JD--I will read up on the ATC commands--I thought that descend to flight level 150 ment descend to 15000 feetboth the controller and the background chatter ARE playing at the same time---there is no other sound playing---no other ATC except Radar ContactI will read the manual for adding files

[ronzie 21]

Descend to FL150 is descend to 15,000 feet but with your altimeter set to standard pressure of 29.92 in. or 1013 millibars.Also, do not use the "B" in FS to set your altimeter as it is hard coded to recognize only the FAA transition altitude of 18,000 feet.As JD stated, read the European tutorial for examples. (Actually, it means non-FAA territory.)

[machie 1]

Thanks RonA big help--your comments--Now the rather daunting task of how to manually set the altimeter in all the different aircraft--PMDG. PSS and LevelD---and the last ATC Q&H report---but this is real good info--this all makes perfect sense now--my flights will be better and more realistic. Altimeter setting has always been a major part of my real life flying--so now with no more B key--so will my sim flying be betterThanks againCheers

[ronzie 21]

On the PMDG 737NG panels:On the EFIS control panel you'll see the altitude knob. If you click on the hotspot over the word BARO it will switch from mb to in. Clicking in the center of the knob switches from standard pressure to what you have it set at. Clicking left or right of the knob adjust the local pressure. On the PFD below the VS indicator the numbers always read local pressure but there will be an indication if you are in STD or local pressure.

[machie 1]

Thanks RonYou have helped me out a lot here. It is always knowing about these small things, that makes the difference between a great flight and one that slowly descends into a nightmare.I have another question. I am not sure if this is the right place to ask it? It concerns flight planning.I have been away from flight simming for about a year and a half--I have been waging what appears to have been a successful battle with a number of health issues which suddenly appeared about 18 months ago. Seven months of chemotherapy was enough to get me off the sim. During this time,FSNav seems to have gone belly up. I always used FS navigator to do my flight plans. I am now using FS build, but it does not seem very adept at putting in sids and stars. Do you have any thoughts on the subject?Again thank you very much for responding to my question. At 65 it is still fun to learn.Cheers

[ronzie 21]

What current FSBuild SIDS and STARS are available can be downloaded in the free AIRAC cycle at www.fsbuild.com (upper left of the page). This is a .zip file to be unpacked including any folder paths into your fsbuild folder. Start FSB and in one of the options tabs I use Rebuild Indexes. I restart FSB.If you are using r/w plans and the terminal procedures in them, they might not exactly match the names in the FSB database. After your first build look at the waypoint grid and see if the via field is not blank where you expect the procedure to be exapanded. If the procedure name is not in there, click on the down arrow in the departure airport SID box and arrival airport STAR box to get a list of what FSB has available. If you find a name very close there might be just a slight revision. Once highlighting and getting in the box the terminal procedure to use click on the icon next to the box and it will appear in the route line. Edit the route line to correct any conflicts, then try a build. The waypoints in the grid will now reflect the procedures you chose with the via field stating the procedure name. Check the route map display to spot anything that appears in conflict. Occasionally there are non-exclusive waypoints that cause irregular legs.If a waypoint seems out of place delete it from the grid, under Build Options check Build From Waypoint Grid (or similar) and build again. If the map looks good enable the export to FS and your FMC and rebuild. I found a bug in FSB that sometimes when deleting from the grid and rebuilding the altitudes are off. Whether this will affect you depends if you are using the export altitudes option for your FMC.I save my plans in FSB for reuse once they are debugged. In the route tab I select catagories, then User Flight Plans, then save it. Make sure you put in the plan name as DDDDAAAA where DDDD is your departure ICAO and AAAA is your arrival ICAO. You can append a number after that for various versions. FSB allows duplicate titles but when you recall a user category plan the list description field shows the plan so you can identify your choice from that.I think I already stated I do not use the SID/STAR FMC database but the procedure waypoints are already included in the plan imported into the FMC so RC and your FMC have the same data.If your are doing an autoroute and it finds a stored route it is likely that any terminal procedures are outdated. These are contributed user routes over quite a long time. I think there is an option not to use them but to do a fresh autoroute. Any SIDS and STARS in the current database might be used but you may wish to choose your own after the initial autoroute plan is displayed.

[machie 1]

RonThanks again. I am going to be very busy for the next day or so---going back to work tomorrow after a long medical absence---AAGGugh!I will look forward to figuring this all out on the weekend.I flew a 747 flight YMML NZAA this afternoon--I had all sorts of trouble with climbing and fuel weight---I started out with sloppy fuel loading (too much)---could not climb to assigned altitude--don

[ronzie 21]

To do a step climb, get your initial step from your fmc cruise page. On the controller page of RC modify your fp cruise level to your desired first step.As you get to cruise check your fmc cruise page occasionally for maximum/optimum cruise. As higher flight levels are permitted use the RC menu item to request higher altitude as weight changes allow as your fuel burns off.

[machie 1]

RonThe weekend is here--two days back on the job--now two days to do a little simming. Thanks so much for the step climb info--everything I had studied before about it was sans RC--so it would work off the FMCin a vacuum--but not in a rich flight sim environment.Cheers

[machie 1]

RonIf you happen to come back by this thread might you explain what r/w Plans meansIf you are using r/w plans and the terminal procedures in them, they might not exactly match the names in the FSB database. After your first build look at the waypoint grid and see if the via field is not blank where you expect the procedure to be exapanded. If the procedure name is not in there, click on the down arrow in the departure airport SID box and arrival airport STAR box to get a list of what FSB has available. If you find a name very close there might be just a slight revision. Once highlighting and getting in the box the terminal procedure to use click on the icon next to the box and it will appear in the route line. Edit the route line to correct any conflicts, then try a build. The waypoints in the grid will now reflect the procedures you chose with the via field stating the procedure name. Check the route map display to spot anything that appears in conflict. Occasionally there are non-exclusive waypoints that cause irregular legs.Thanks and Cheers

[ronzie 21]

R/w is an abbreviation for real world. For FAA areas I get the airport charts from the airport information section section of flightaware.com. You can download individual or bundled charts at no cost.If you click on one of the flights in the arrivals or departure section, a window will open showing the filed route. As an example, clicking on KMSP departures here an Airtran flight from KMSP to KATL:MKT OTG SUX DSM J45 BNA ERLIN5If your planner doesn't have the ERLIN5 STAR it might have ERLIN4. In this case ERLIN 5 is in the FSBuild data base and was expanded to individual waypoints in the waypoint grid table.

[machie 1]

RonA little knowledge is a dangerous thing!Again thanks so much.Your many answers in this thread have been fantastic--and of immense value to me. I am now off to check out flightware.comI am excited about all my new knowledge; this new information is going to help me fly more accurate and flawless flights.My Virtual Airline (Flying Tigers Group) has an ACARS system--this means that flights other than accurate and correct ones don't get reported.You have really helped me in terms of accomplishing these goals.As I noted in an earlier post, I have just returned to work after a long battle with Cancer---since my job is very time intensive. As regards this Forum, I may disappear from view for extended periods of time. This is not for lack of interest, but rather from issues related to keeping the Wolf away from the door.I will be able to retire sometime within the next 15 months---at which point I am looking forward to learning to fly these airliners as well as an R/w Airline Pilot.Cheers