Scupper

Finally... I've done it! Here's what you have to do, and remember this is nothing to do with any route or arrival procedure that you have programmed into the FMC: I think I was getting mixed up with that. In the end I just set up the nav properly in the Primary Flight Display (PFD) and hit the right buttons in the autopilot controls. Jim's advice in the post above this clarified for me what the Preset does (the clue is in the name). First tune VOR1 in the TUN page of the CDU (flight computer) to whatever the ILS frequency is, then head towards a point on the extended runway centreline far enough away so that you can have a long final approach and intercept the glideslope (GS) from below at a higher height than normal (to give you lots of time to stabilise your speed during your approach). Use Heading Hold for this, (with the autopilot on). I tuned VOR2 to the same frequency but that step most probably isn't necessary. Make sure that VOR1 is selected in the PFD display below the attitude indicator/artificial horizon. Note, as Jim says, that while the "Preset" indication will say VOR2 at this point (or LOC2), the display shows VOR1 or LOC1, which is what you want. Adjust the course using the round knob on the grey vertical panel thing to the right of the PFD (the tooltip will confirm that you are selecting the course on NAV1) and aim to intercept at about a 30 degree angle on Heading Hold (e.g. if the runway is 27, intercept the localiser at about 240 or 300 degrees). Soon the horizontal and vertical deflection bars will appear on the PFD, showing that the ILS signal is being received. When the ILS deflection needle on the HSI starts to move towards the centre, hit the NAV button on the autopilot panel. this changes the mode from HDG to LOC1, the localiser. When the localiser is more or less centred, hit the VNAV button on the autopilot panel. At this point you can still be on ALTS (altitude hold) because the autopilot will override that when it intercepts the GS. Now hit APPR on the autopilot panel, which engages both flight computers. At this point, accross the top of the PFD you should see APPR LOC1 AP in green capital letters. As the glideslope bar starts to fall down the verical ILS deflection bar, you will also see GS above the PFD in green, - which means you've successfully captured the glideslope. Now you just need to control the speed with the levers and put the flaps and gear down (assuming you're a lazy pilot like me who doesn't bother too much with pre-landing checklists). Thanks to all who posted on this thread, and if you have any more advice, perhaps how to do it better, I'm sure it will be well received.

Tried again tonight and managed a landing by using vertical speed mode to roughly stay on the glideslope before disengaging autopilot. This time I set the frequency in the small panel to the right of the MFD but that didn't seem to make any difference, - it showed up in the TUN page of the CDU anyway. I noticed a few more things: The preset (left of the PFD) is odd: selecting Loc 1 was impossible, - it did select with the rotary switch it but it continued to display 'Loc 2' (although the course it was showing was Loc 1). Loc 1, although programmed as to frequency and course, wouldn't engage despite being in the ILS zone of influence, but switching to Loc 2 called up the expected ILS deflection bar so I tuned the ILS course and went with that, which gave me the horizontal and vertical ILS bars. Again, no GS intercept so I did the vertical part using Vertical Speed mode. I might have forgotten to press VNAV along the way, - have to try that next time (I normally do it but it hasn't engaged GS so far). Next time I'll try it at a different airfield, - it's possible that East Midlands' glideslope just isn't working.

"Forgive me for asking a really obvious question, but are you putting the ILS freq in the Nav radio? If you use the FMS to enter an approach, you'll track with LNAV, but it won't intercept the GS." I'm putting the ILS freq in the Tune part of the CDU. If that's wrong, I'll be delighted if you can tell me the right place to put it. Jim, you seem to have this down. Too bad Carenado couldn't be bothered to write a manual for how to use their complex product.

Interesting. I just tried again with the same result, - no glideslope capture. At least we know the FAF altitude isn't the problem and is overridden if the ILS is set up properly. I'm doing very long finals and higher intercepts to give myself a chance to sort things out but it does take a while to get onto an approach, - particularly as this plane doesn't seem able to save flight plan data. Perhaps if/when you feel you've nailed it, you could put together a short dummy's guide, - which buttons to press and at what stage? I think a lot of people would appreciate it and you're certainly further along that track than me.

Thanks Jim. I tried that just now, hitting VNAV before APPR and for the first time got a glideslope indication (vertical scale on the right of the PFD). I sailed over the airport again but I guess I need to change the ALT to zero instead of my intercept height so I'll try that later and report back.

Has anyone managed to intercept an ILS glideslope in the C90 using the ProLine avionics? The localiser function seems fine, and in another post on this forum there's a suggestion that you have to be around 1,200ft agl to pick up the glideslope but I don't think any real world interception would be that low. So far, when I do an ILS, I sail majestically over the airfield unless I wait too long, cut the autopilot and wrestle the thing down myself. It's just not very satisfying to fly a great plane badly.

I never saw it before V2.2 so I think it's a new thing. My cpu was overloaded in V2.0 and V2.1 but I didn't see these vertical lines. I'm loving V2.2 but LM might want to look into this to see if anything can be done.

I've had no CTDs, - just a few strange coastal textures in FTX Australia and some OOMs (also have FTX Global and Vector). I've pretty much stopped using it till V2.05 comes out because it looks like that will be very soon and seems like a lot of the main problems that people are having will be addressed. The good things about P3D2, especially the high frame rates and better autogen, stop me from going back to FSX too. Not having had major problems with it, I'm pretty happy with the state of the sim, - I don't expect perfection on release, although I know some feel strongly the other way.

Sometimes it happens to me that I can only get the P3D2 icon in the taskbar. The way I get around it is to click on it until I get a sort of thumbnail view of my flight and then if I right-click on that thumbnail, I sometimes get the option to maximise it. Sometimes no options are available but then I'll get on the internet to find a solution and when I try again, there they are and I can maximise. I think it happens when you shut down the program is full-screen mode. If you shut it down in windowed mode this doesn't happen (as far as I understand it). This seems to be a bug that will have to be fixed.

Sorted. I opened Task Manager, selected the program, right-clicked and chose 'Maximise'. Will know if it happens again...

That makes the screen go black for about a second, then it reverts to the taskbar and becomes unresponsive, - no sound even. W7. Any other ideas? I've got a feeling this is a known bug and it happens when you close the program in full-screen mode (I could be wrong...).

I'm sure I've read about this but it's the first time it's happened to me. I open P3D2 and it appears in the taskbar and I get sound but I can't maximise the window and see anything. I seem to remember there's a workaround but I can't find it anywhere. HELP!

Awesome info guys, - many thanks.

Very simple question but I can't figure out how to do it. The red line at top left with fps and fps limit (P3d2) looks horrible in screenshots, - so how can I make it go away? Thanks.

There seems to be a consensus then... Strange that there is a particular folder that is worse than all the others and it tends to be the default one. Thanks for your replies, - I'll just put it in its own folder on the C drive (which is a 1TB SSD)

With FSX, it was sometimes said that you shouldn't install into the default directory, C:\Program files (X86), because Windows 7 had some strange permissions attached to it which could cause problems of some kind. Having messed up my first install of P3D2 with some dodgy scenery that didn't work, I'm wondering whether the same advice applies to P3D2 for my new installation. Can anyone more knowledgeable than me see any reasons against using the default directory (which is the same as that above)? Many thanks.

Wow, - thanks Jerome. That's exactly what I need.

I'm pretty confused about this. On the OrbX website they seem to show all their products (that I checked) as being P3D compatible, but then we get info like this: So as I understand it, the airports that haven't been released work but those that have don't. That's not really that useful. There's a sale on at the moment so I'd like to stock up with stuff that I can use with P3D but I don't know if it will work. I'd like England and Wales, maybe Australia too, and Brisbane Airport. I'm not planning to return to FSX but I bought NZ SI and NI, - presumably I'll need to pay to migrate those to P3D?