Altitude Alerter - Approaching ASEL altitude - no tone, no light

[richjb]

Hello,

I think I picked up a new bug in 1.32 that wasn't present in earlier versions.  When approaching your ASEL preselected altitude, for example 10,000', the altitude alert light and tone should sound 900' from that set altitude.  For example, it should sound at 9900'.  What I am seeing is that the alert light & tone are sounding at about 300 feet prior to the ASEL set altitude.  It appears that it is behaving as though it has deviated from the preselected altitude verses approaching the preselected altitude.

I did not note this behavior in previous versions, but with ver. 1.32, it is pretty consistent that the altitude alert light & tone do not sound 900' short of the ASEL set altitude when approaching that altitude in a climb or descent. 

Anyone else seeing this?

Thanks!

Rich Boll

Wichita, KS 

[Litjan]

Hi Rich,

Nothing was changed with regard to the altitude alert in the last few years.

There is an option for different behaviours of the altitude alerter which airlines can choose from. The ones I flew on did not have the "900 feet to go" chime - tone would only play if you approach the set altitude with a vertical speed that requires a "faster than normal" pitch maneuver to level off.

The altitude alerter will also sound if you deviate more than 250 feet from your set altitude.

I have the request to have an option for this already filed - we just didn´t get around to implementing it.

I personally think having this option is not optimal, because it will make the pilots accustomed to that tone and possibly not give it the due attention if it sounds in a real deviation alert.

Cheers, Jan

 

[richjb]

Hi Jan!

Thank you for the reply.  I can't speak for the airliners as my experience has been in business jets, but all that I have flown have sounded a tone at 1000' off of the ASEL altitude, then an altitude deviation of 300 or 200 feet depending on RVSM certification.  Most of later airplanes I've flown sound at 200'.  I know that airlines have options configuring this, so this will be change.  Then again, good pilots have to adjust to the equipment. 

It's a minor thing.  I could have swore that the earlier version sounded at 900', but then again I might be imagining things.  If it could be implemented as an option, that would be great. 

Really enjoying flying the latest version.  I has me much more involved with X-plane. I've been impressed.  My biggest fault with X-Plane has always been the lack of good airplanes.  IXEG has addressed that!    Looking forward to future developments!

thanks!!

Rich 

[Litjan]

Thanks for the kind words, Rich!

I have flown the 737 classic for 10 years, both as FO and CPT and while I enjoyed my time on the 747-400 as well, it is by far my favourite aircraft to fly (lets not talk about the A320s I fly now)...

We will continue to work and improve this, make sure to follow my videos where I talk about development of the plane, besides also doing some flying...

https://forums.x-pilot.com/forums/topic/17872-ixeg-videos-13-and-onward/

Cheers, and looking forward to hearing from you again with anything else you might spot,

Jan

 

Edited July 26, 2020 by Litjan