Plane Ignoring T/D

[charlie.nine.ten]

Hello,

I'm having issues with the plane ignoring T/D. Flying between KABQ and KPHX on a published route (KABQ RDRNR EAGUL6 KPHX). The flight has worked only once, in maybe 20 or so attempts. Initially, with the Nimbus version of KPHX, when I would push the VOR LOC button the plane would veer to the left (on all runways I tried), and miss the runway.  I changed to the MisterX6 version last night and had one successful landing. Got pretty excited!

Now today, all three flights have ignored the T/D. Also, the altitude associated with the waypoint PAYSO changes from .73/30000, to .73/........, so for some reason the altitude value gets lost, or deleted before reaching that waypoint, even though it shows on the LEGS page at ABQ.  

So, yes, I have the right frequency dialed in on both Nav Radios (even though that doesn't matter at T/D), and I have changed the altitude setting down to 2500 before reaching T/D.

What am I missing?

John  

 

[Litjan]

Hi John,

I would encourage you to watch some of the tutorial videos I made for this aircraft. It´s operation has some details and things the pilot needs to know whic work different than other aircraft or even later model 737s.

https://forums.x-pilot.com/forums/topic/10746-training-videos/

The "veering off course" is typical for people used to more modern aircraft that automatically set the ILS inbound course (azimuth). This is the pilot´s job on the 737 Classic, you will have to turn the associated on-side course selector to the inbound course of the ILS. Just like when learning to ride the bike or a horse - falling down is part of that - this is sort of a "rite of passage" for every fledgling Classic pilot (I can vividly remember the embarassment when this happened to me first on the real aircraft) .

Regarding T/D - the plane will only start the descent automatically if the vertical autopilot mode is VNAV PTH. It won´t do it in any other modes. And yes, you did that correctly, the MCP altitude needs to be dialed to a lower value.

That being said - learn not to rely on vertical path indications when planning or flying the descent. Our model still suffers from weaknesses in descent planning, especially for complex arrivals with many vertical restrictions. Real Classic pilots at least always plot along with some rules of thumb, while most completely forego the managed descent mode VNAV, flying with FL CHG or V/S, instead.

If you use the avitab addon (free, I highly recommend it!) you will be able to see an "altitude vs distance descent planning sheet" I made expressly for the purpose of helping to plan your descent manually.

Here are some more videos I made explaining things like that:

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

Cheers, Jan

 

[charlie.nine.ten]

Thank you, Jan. I'll start your tutorials.