badderjet

Nice. Certainly a surprise! The probably least appropriate question: :( What can we expect from the GNS430, how deep will that one be modelled? Just got curious when I saw it, as it certainly doesn't seem to be the FSX stock unit.

Ryan, pretty sure Berni aka "Circletoland" has experience here. Might wanna try to contact him, although I believe he might be in Canada right now, so I'm not sure if he's avail but it'll be worth the try for sure.

Doesn't exactly sound like too much at all, but certainly around the higher edge for normal operations.

Ahh yeah it does indeed. TBH I have yet to see more convincing distant landscapes than visible in 1:35 and 2:50, or trees in 1:55. Dunno why but the look and feel seems way better than what I have in FSX, but then again I'm not running the fancy add-ons here so that might change a lot as well. In any case, thanks for the HU.

What exactly was the original need anyways? I know some say cause the Bobby drivers need look at the stars and stuff ... :( In all seriousness though, has there ever been any real use for them?

Dunno if that one's an oldie (certainly has such potential to be one haha) so sorry should that be the case. Other than that it was pretty new to me and I just came across it, albeit a little late.Enjoy.

Hey there, you might wanna check your uploads. No pics for me thus far.

Well... can you tell the difference then or not? The one is more suited for close in sensitive areas than the other one. Some of the topic has already been discussed a long time ago. Maybe that's a good start.

No, is that related to ENB somehow? In any case I'll make sure to check it out, thanks!

Post SP1B observations§1-7 no change §8 CDU FAILUREChange: Not all the FMC pages are accessible, apparently only the one that was active right before the CDU failure.§9-21 no change§22 INTEGRATED APPROACH NAVIGATIONWhere did IAN go in the first place? Am I missing a new setting, because I'm simply not getting any G/S selection anymore on my approach page. This used to be the case all the time, no matter what equipment was set and no matter what approach was selected. At least the option at LSK 6L was always there. Maybe that was wrong or superfluous in the first place - as arming FAC and G/P still works as far as the AFDS modes go.Also, I just noticed for instance it's very possible to engage LNAV during a coupled IAN approach (FMA reads FAC and G/P, then LNAV and G/P). However, the LNAV button does not light up although LNAV is very much deselectable (and would revert to CWS R).§23 and following to be checked

Correct. There isn't exactly a ton of possible messages - but depending on your failure scenario you'll probably end up with NO LAND 3 or NO AUTOLAND. These can be cancelled and recalled at a later time using that button. FCOM Vol II 15.10.4 is your friend here.

Correct - check the manuals. Your line of sight shall be pretty much flat parallel to the glareshield. Maybe that's how others do it, but in the case of the NGX I'm not 100% positive on that. Maybe they did something to the layering how things are drawn, but obviously they needed to do something in order for the HUGS image to appear 200' away while still appear "in front" of the cockpit. Because usually it does not get hidden by the wiper but rather appears (correctly) in front of it. So it's not that easy to tell where the actual image is located. Just my uneducated guess.

The NG uses uncorrected baro altitude for altitude hold modes. It's all in the manuals. Whenever the AFDS maintains a certain altitude that you had set before and then change the QNH setting, that doesn't quite change the outside pressure so the AP doesn't really care for that because outside pressure is the only input it has. Hence you'll have to figure something out in order to get the AFDS climb or descent to your adjusted altitude.

Great, first one ruled out. Hopefully more to come. Thanks! I hear ya, but we're in a sim here, so 100% realism is impossible. Furthermore I don't think they'd have to do all the FO panels just if they did the master caution one - that one still has an important difference to the captain's one and since we're flying single pilot (still...), I think it would be a handy tool.

Hello,this is my totally non exhaustive list of finds, thoughts and maybe questions collected over the past months, which I wanted to open for discussion. In fact I have a few more items on the list but I'd have to double check again as last time I looked at them was in the pre SP1 era. Little disclaimer: I'm sure there will be items that have already been mentioned, but I hope there will be some new ones as well. Also, some or all of the things I found might be a direct result of my not understanding the systems. In fact there are a number of cases where I were unable to find any definite reference in the docs as to how the correct behavior would be. In this case just put a yell below. To make things a but easier I numbered them, but other than that there is exactly zero order. Last but not least, excuse the longish read. §1 2D F/O MASTER CAUTION PANELMaybe I'm missing it, but it would be more than useful to have a small popup of the F/O's master caution panel as it obviously shows different items than the captain's one.§2 ISDUThe ISDU position entry is a little erroneous. During alignment and mode selector in PPOS, position entry is possible on the IRS display unit. However, crosschecking to several references, it appears that the numbers appear in the wrong order. After the N/S or E/W sign, numbers should appear from the right and fill to the left. Leading zeroes should be added automatically.Example position: N05°35.4"/W002°05.9"Right now I have to enter:N05354, ENT, W002059, ENT.On the actual aircraft though, I think the following would be sufficient:N5354, ENT, W2059, ENT.The unit would fill in zeroes to get 05° north and 001° west.§3 IRS STATUS CODE 03Once I start to move the aircraft during alignment, I get a status code 03 on the ISDU which seems correct. Wouldn't that be accompanied with an IRS MOTION CDU message? I have tried great deals to annoy the IRS, but I haven't seen that message so far.§4 EFIS PANEL BARO SELECTOR (+ probably MINIMUMS SELECTOR)In the VC, the QNH knob appears to be turning when operated. As I remember from the real aircraft though, this knob seems to be a momentary rotating knob only, that is spring loaded to center. Means you just displace (rotate) it a bit, which changes the baro/QNH setting, then release it and it would go back to where it was before. I would assume the same applies to the minimums selector.§5 PFD/ND HDG READOUTNGX seems to show both 360 and 000 when passing through north. While I don't have appropriate reference to check which one the real one shows, I am pretty sure it only displays either 360 or 000.§6 CDU APPROACH PAGEManual entry of GW is allowed. However when switching pages forth and back and coming back to the APPROACH page, current GW is there again, losing the previous manual entry. Intentional?§7 DEP/ARR PAGESelecting approaches with longish identifiers (like RNAVX 22R), selecing it will result in <SEL>AVX 22R to be displayed. Or say VORD 31C results in <SEL>ORD 31C. Is the approach identifier really limited to three characters when selected?§8 CDU FAILUREActivate CDU L failure (preferably from CDU L). Display goes blank and yellow FAIL flag appears. Press and hold MENU. Display reappears. So far not a great problem, as this is the same as it would happen in cold & dark state. But now you can again navigate to the usual FMC menus, with the FAIL flag still lit up. If it really WAS like in C&D, I think it would be ok (navigation only possible in the Options menu, but not FMC). CDU R obviously has the same bug, as could be expected.§9 FMC FAILUREShows no FAIL flag. Now the FCOM says something like this was an option for single FMC installation? So in fact maybe there will be no FAIL flag for dual FMCs, but I'm not sure.§10 ANALOG STANDBY ALTIMETERWhenever dialing QNH down so the indicated altitude becomes negative, the needle direction reverses.§11 PFD SPEED TAPE LOWER RED BANDWhen banking the aircraft, the lower red band will come up with increasing bank angle. Sure enough, this is due to increased stall speeds during turns. However, when exceeding 40° of bank, the upper limit will snap back to what is valid for straight and level flight. Not sure if that's intentional, FCOM doesn't say anything about it. I would have expected it to either stay where it is or continue to rise with increasing bank.§12 STICK SHAKERNot sure how precise this works on the real thing, but FCOM states stick shaker will activate at lower red band on PFD speed tape. This is usually not the case on the NGX though. Stick shaker activates at much lower speeds on a regular basis.§13 SPD REFWith FMC failures, the SPD REF selector shall be used to enter speeds and gross weight. QRH 11.5 Step 6 for instance asks for GW entry during approach preparation. However, in flight INVALID ENTRY will be shown when selecting WT on the knob. On ground weight entry is possible though.Furthermore, V1, VR, VREF, spare bug and WT entries know no bounds (so yes, all of them). They happily accept thousands of knots or billions of pounds, and yes, you can also dive into the negative region of numbers just as well. Pretty sure there should be some limit somewhere.§14 SPEED BRAKEI understand the lever has some actuator in it that allows the speedbrake to extend automatically on landing, and also to retract when advancing thrust levers afterwards (that's Andrea's topic ). But does it also prevent manual speedbrake retraction during thrust reverser operation? Right now, after landing with thrust reversers applied, it's not possible to manually retract the speedbrakes. The lever would move for the fraction of a second but immediately snap back to UP detent.§15 NIGHT LIGHTINGOVerhead R WIPER switch lacks illumination on 2D panel (just the switch, not the PARK-INT-LOW-HIGH text). On the 3D overhead it's correct.§16 MULTI MODE NAVIGATION CONTROLI request this option for future updates! See FCOM Vol II 11.10.27 for information. Obviously ILS and VOR would be sufficient for our intents, no need for GLS. But I do like the direct frequency entry. Furthermore and to complement this device, what about this very fancy digital transponder:§17 RADIO TUNING PANEL1. While I have no idea what VHF3 could do to this simulation (probably nothing), it's frequency selection is still erroneous. It doesn't depend of what tuning panel you use, it's just the VHF3 radio that's wrong. Usually, with 25kHz channel spacing, the decimals of COM frequencies would be: .000, .025, .050, .075, .100 and so on. On the two decimal digit display, the would get rounded down: .00, .02, .05, .07, .10 etc.Now on the VHF1 and VHF2 radios this works as it should.VHF3 however shows this irregular pattern of decimals:.00, .03, .05, .07, .10, .13, .15, .18, .20, .22 (correct again!?), .25, .28, .30, .32, .35, .38, .40, .43, .45, .47, [...], .82, .85, .88, .90, .93, .95, .97.It's not quite clear to me why sometimes they would get rounded up instead, especially in this totally unpredictable pattern.2. Furthermore, setting the captains RTU to VHF1 or VHF2 and setting any other RTU to the same radio, changing values on either RTU will immediately be mirrored on the other RTU. Selecting VHF3 however on two RTUs will not synchronize the VHF3 radio when changing the frequency on any one RTU.The same applies to the HF radios - they are never synchronized. It's like every RTU would tune its "own" HF radio (and VHF3, respectively).3. Frequency strings are centered. As on the real thing we have "fixed digit" LCDs here, you certainly should not center those strings when there's a chance they might change their length.Do the following to see the erroneous behavior: Select any HF radio and do the rollover from 2.000 to 29.000 MHz. You will see the digits and decimal point jump laterally by a number of pixels in an impossible way. As said before, the digits should be "fixed in space". I suspect this to be a direct result of erroneous center alignment of the strings.4. Not of great importance, but frequency selection differs in special cases as far as HF1 and HF2 go. Do the following:Select HF1. Tune 2.000 MHz to standby. Turn outer knob to the left once. Frequency displayed is 29.999 MHz. Then:Select HF2. Tune 2.000 MHz to standby. Turn outer knob to the left once. Frequency displayed is 29.000 MHz.Weird? I guess HF2 is correct here though, as the outer knob should mainly change tenths.§18 ADF CONTROLAccording to FCOM, the outer knob should select hundreds (and I read that as "only hundreds"), middle knob tens ("only tens"), and inner knob ones and tenths.NGX outer knob correctly sets hundreds (and thousands, if you will). However, if I interpret the FCOM very stricly, the other two knobs exhibit erroneous behavior. The middle knob will in fact change hundreds when rolling over from a -9- to a -0- frequency (e. g. you can go from 590.0 to 600.0 using the middle knob, whereas FCOM suggests you'd go from 590.0 to 500.0 when turning the middle knob clockwise once, as it should only change tens, not hundreds).The inner knob shows the same flaw. You can basically tune every frequency using the inner knob if you just have enough time to twist the knob. Always when rolling over from 9 to 0 or vice versa would also change the higher digit(s). E. g. you can go from 680.0 to 679.9 whereas 689.9 would likely be correct. Also hundreds and thousands can be changed that way, e. g. going from 999.9 to 1000.0 works as well (as opposed to 990.0). It doesn't just change ones and tenths exclusively but rather scrolls through all frequencies consecutevely.§19 PANEL STATE FROM INIT/REF INDEXWhen accessing the load panel state page (SEL CONFIG) from the INIT/REF INDEX page, the RETURN LSK6L will take you to the PMDG SETUP menu, not back to INIT/REF INDEX.--- seems to be obsolete or pre SP1 observation, disregard... ---§20 CLIMB PAGE DURING CRUISE PHASEDuring your flight and after climb phase has been completed (CLB page blank), go to CLB page and try hitting LSK 5L or 6L. Interestingly enough, you might end up with a "MOD CLB" and a lit EXEC key. You can cancel the "change" by e. g. going to CRZ page (which will, interestingly enough, read MOD CRZ by then...) and hitting ERASE LSK 6R.§21 FAILED CDU reloaded... Fail CDU L. Display should blank. Hold MENU key to get into the options menu again. Now for example clear the failure again. You will find that you need to execute the change (just as usual) but the EXEC key won't light up to show you that. Apparently its light has failed too. This seems to be a bit inconsistent - if you can access the CDU even if failed using the MENU key trick (which is ok, we're still in a sim here...), the EXEC light should light up in that case as well when changing failure states. Would be just a tad more user friendly, otherwise one might miss the missing button push to activate the change.§22 INTEGRATED APPROACH NAVIGATION1. Whenever using LNAV/VNAV to get to the approach, APP can be armed if IAN is set up and G/S is activated e. g. on the APPROACH page. FMA reads for instance FMC SPD | LNAV | VNAV and FAC | G/P (armed). Now exiting the pitch channel will leave G/P armed. Selecting any pitch mode like ALT HOLD, V/S or LVL CHG will also leave G/P armed. However reengaging VNAV will cancel G/P armed status, so only FAC remains armed. To rearm G/P APP needs to be fully disarmed, then rearmed.Intentional?2. Next thing about IAN is, we get this neat PFD indication of your selected approach with some useful data. Example:VORD04R/043RW04R 14.0So the FMC is so smart to add up the distance to our next waypoint, and then all subsequent distances up to our runway. So we also know our trackmiles down to the threshold which can be quite handy. When looking closely at the number, you will see it has a decimal place. But this one remains at .0 at all times. Why do we only get rounded distances up there? It won't go down like 14.0, 13.9, 13.8 as the format would suggest. Instead, after each mile it jumps down to the next integer.Intentional? The way it is suggests a precision that it just does not provide.§23 INSTRUMENT LANDING SYSTEM1. The LOC course on the PFD would normally be amber and stroke through if left and right course windows don't show the same value. The reading turns white and the stroke is removed once the two course settings are in sync. Now resetting one of the courses though, and hence getting them out of sync again, would not turn the reading amber again. It stays white - indicating everything is set up properly when in fact it's not.2. Hitting TOGA early on the approach, disengaging AP and FDs, then reengaging will not allow G/S to be armed anymore. The approach has to be reselected in the FMS first. Or actually, this happens all the time whenever you go around and fly the exact same approach again without touching the FMC. Arming APP however shall be independent from any FMC data. In fact it should be possible to arm APP without any data fed to the FMC at all (which usually works beautifully, but just not in this particular case).3. The amber SINGLE CHANNEL annunciation on the PFD should actually have an amber box around it, not a green one (same as CWS annunciations).§24 HCP FONTWell the font is off, to say the least. I'm SO glad the devs put a ton of work into making the EFIS and especially the HUD (!) visually appealing, and the fonts play a crucial role there IMHO. The HUD is second to none, font wise (well, and otherwise anyways LOL)! The HUD control panel however does again seem to use some not-so-pleasing standard font, whereas it's actually a dot matrix display, as can be seen in the manual, but also in this noteworthy of a fellow forum member.The font is a sans-serif (except for the "I" maybe) dot matrix type. At least the letters A, C, E, L, M, N, P, R and the digit 0 are off! §25 HUD FEATURESI believe the ground guidance cue is new to SP1, and I'm glad to finally have it! However, there are some things I'd still like to have added in the future (although they might be HUD type specific):Rollout excessive deviation indications are missing. This is no surprise, as during rollout there is even no ground roll reference symbol, let alone the guidance cue at all (why not? It's been added to low vis take off in PRI mode, but not AIII!?). These indications should always be available after touchdown following an AIII assisted approach.Also, the runway remaining indications are missing in every case (LVTO and rollout following AIII). The nav database contains all threshold positions, and the aircraft position is also known to the system at all times, so it should be possible to defer the distance from the runway end from this info I would think.Furthermore, the ground deceleration scale in rollout mode is missing.Ground localizer deviation scale and pointer are missing. Apparently these are an option (?) but it would sure be nice to have it included.Unusual attitude indications are missing. I see the pitch ladder chevrons, but not the round attitude display as per the manual.TAILSTRIKE warning below 100R is missing.§26 EICASI assume the devs chose an approach where displays would only get redrawn if there is actually updated data to show. Seems to be a good idea to preserve fps. However, try out the following: Go to VC and popup the upper DU. Then hit the ENG button a few times to get the compact view (might need a few tries, doesn't always "work" right away, for me it usually takes two or three cycles). Apparently the values get drawn only when they change for the first time. Eventually you will come up with this (note the FMCs are failed and pay attention to the A/T LIM indication as well, the box is off).This is not happening without the popup, and not at all on the 2D panels. However, the missing line around the A/T LIM box is present in every case. There seems to be something in the way that hides it.§27 PANEL FOGSet some ridiculously low outside visibility and watch the fog enter your VC... Might be a video card problem, although I got a rather new one (nVidia), but still - there's a number of 3d parts that certainly suffer from the weather and look extremly dull, just as if the fog was right there on the flight deck. §28 FMC OPTION MESSAGESSome messages, like FAIL OP A/LAND DISABLED, are treated like user entered text, not like an actual FMC message. What I mean by that is the difference in means how you delete them. Any message like UNABLE CRZ ALT can be deleted by hitting CLR once. If you enter something manually, you have to delete character by character. The aforementioned message (and probably some others) behaves that way, which can be a bit annoying.That's it for now. Comments appreciated.

Cool thanks. Something I've been doing in small scale here and there, but certainly not across the entire structure, wow! Too bad the upload seems to be down. Yeah the aligning part usually took like 90% of my time... a nightmare.

It can even be found from inside your system... FIX page is your friend. It will output a generic ARP altitude if you just enter the ICAO, other than that it will even come up with TDZE once any specific runway is entered as well.As for temperature, do you need planning data? Because your question sounded like you did not, and for just knowing what the OAT is, have a glance at the upper DU. Other than that, PROG 2/2 will also provide some useful data, namely SAT as an addition to the regular TAT readout.

Correct. This is different than on the CL. Compare the NPs - you won't find any check for start pressure on the NG, unlike the CL, because there is none. As soon as the starter demands pressure, it will be provided. But as long as the packs are off, it's simply not there.

Sorry but why do you do that... The alpha is already contained in the master files. Why reimport them in an additional step? Furthermore you shouldn't use an alpha from any other livery as they might have different window configurations etc. Same goes for spec, bump and other textures, obviously. Also there should not be any need to mess with any bitmap file at all. DDS is what you need, because that's what FSX smacks onto the 3d model.

Great, at least one to sign my petition...

I wanted to bring up this suggestion anyways, and this thread seems to be an appropriate place to do so.There was a related problem with hardware throttles and the A/T system. People never knew where their throttle had to be physically placed when disengaging the A/T in order to avoid a rapid thrust change upon disconnection. Obviously it's impossible to link the hardware to the A/T other than installing servos on your levers. The devs brought a neat little workaround and added an "TLA" (the Airbus donut equivalent, if you will) that is selectable to only appear when you move the throttles, or show it all the time or hide it altogether. We all know this indication is 100% unrealistic (!), as not present on the real counterpart. Still it's there, and I have yet to see one to complain about it.I hereby cast a vote for a similar small indication for the elevator trim. We don't have a 2D control stand panel, and it's been stated it's a lot of work (probably too much after all even for an SP) to create. So what I am thinking of would be a small numeric readout, say somewhere on the EICAS (upper or lower DU, preferably upper though...), and I propose the following conditions: Display only during trim change, and display e. g. only on ground, or only on ground until takeoff phase, something like that. And an option to turn it off altogether, obviously.Anyone with me?

Not sure if the procedures differ by much in general. In fact I just tried two of those approaches in a row, a joy to hand fly if you stay focused hehe. Are you talking about airline procedures using LNAV/VNAV or do you want to try raw data...? Cause that's what I did, just for the heck of it. Still there was no great difference to flying it in a G/A prop for example. In fact it's even less difference since you'd usually only have an HSI there as well - not talking Garmin Perspective or Entegra Release 9 here of course. So I suggest to use full VOR mode on the ND and know your radio setup... Intercept at flaps no less than 5, the final descent is then similar to an ILS (I would assume) - FAF or just before: gear down, flap 15. If you're on the usual 5.24% slope, aim for about GS*5 as your ROD (although when doing the math I think it as GS/2 and add a zero, but that's just me), usually around 700-800 fpm, just as usual. Prepare for the aerodynamic effects during flap extension. One potential change however, if your chart shows MDA, I'd instead change that to some sort of DDA, add 50' and go around at that point should you not see the runway. Do not level at MDA and try to reach the MAP, a landing from there would most likely not be a wise (let alone beautiful) thing to do. You can do that in your 2000 lbs prop but please don't in this 60 ton piece of metal.

Well that's a limitation of IVAP for sure. It knows nothing about any particular transponder modes. It doesn't differentiate between A/C or S, let alone different submodes of S. At least not to my knowledge. As far as their network is concerned, there is only on or off. The controller will see you in any way, the only difference it will make once you switch it on is he'll get the full data set, whereas with 'squawk standby' he'll get a reduced data set. But whether you shut down your avionics altogether or not, he will always have the reduced data as a minimum.

Mode S also seems to have a ground mode. Even a certain G/A XPDR I've been using had a seperate switch position for that, on a small single engine prop. I wouldn't know what it does though or if it has a special code to it, never really used it as I wasn't going into airports that had anything close to ASDE (don't even know if that's the correct term here, at least some sort of tracking system that interacts with mode S xponders). However it's common practise for the heavies to have their XPDRs on for that reason. I would also think their air-ground logic takes care of appropriate mode selection and deselection of altitude reporting during taxi.