First flight from Langkawi to Phuket. Nice.

[kneighbour]

Did my first real flight in FSE with the 340A today. From Langkawi in Malaysia to Ko Phuket in Thailand. Had a lot of learning issues with pitch trim and the autopilot. But apart from that flew very nicely.

 

I am used to flying the PC-12, which is very responsive and darts around like a sports car. This plane, being bigger and all, is quite different (but in a nice way)

 

I found it rather weird controlling taxi speed with the beta, but it works well.

 

The ILS approach into Phuket worked perfectly. All in all a very nice flight and looks like a good earner in FSE. The pretty low fuel burn and high cruise speed is just what you need to earn money.

 

Now I just need to work out how the navigation and autopilot system works.

Edited June 20, 2015 by kneighbour

[Goran_M]

Try the flight tutorial included with the package. 

[kneighbour]

Try the flight tutorial included with the package. 

yeah - read that - not detailed enough. Nothing I can see in the manuals for what I want to do.

[Goran_M]

Systems Manual.  Page 191-209.  Everything on the Autopilot is explained there.

[JGregory]

Nothing I can see in the manuals for what I want to do.

Perhaps if you told us what you want to do, we could help.

[diamonddriller]

Speaking of the manuals, mine are still dated 2013, despite the 1.2 update.  This means that none of the improvements or new features are documented in the package, but we have to read forums to know about them.   A new customer would be disadvantaged, unless the manuals should have been updated when I did the installation, or X-Aviation has them on their website.

[Cameron]

No update on the manuals at this time. The forums are a great resource and regardless of manuals most people don't read them. They come here instead. At some point they will be updated, but the focus has been to get this into eager hands.

[kneighbour]

The forums are a great resource and regardless of manuals most people don't read them. They come here instead.

That really surprises me. How on earth could you fly such a plane (or indeed any plane) without reading the manual? I have read every page provided, and I still don't find it enough! What I really want is the Procedures manual - might ask the experts here for the basics....

[Cameron]

That really surprises me. How on earth could you fly such a plane (or indeed any plane) without reading the manual? I have read every page provided, and I still don't find it enough! What I really want is the Procedures manual - might ask the experts here for the basics....

I have people writing me everyday asking silly things that are covered in manuals on the first few pages. People just do not like to read documentation, which beats me, because they could get their answers a lot quicker that way!

[kneighbour]

I have people writing me everyday asking silly things that are covered in manuals on the first few pages. People just do not like to read documentation, which beats me, because they could get their answers a lot quicker that way!

Sure, and I am probably one. But reading 300pages of some pretty technical stuff and comprehending it all in one sitting can be a hard ask, especially for older chaps like myself. I have read every single word in the manuals, some many times over - but I can assure you that I still do not understand a lot. But that is why I like study aircraft. The study bit...

[Cameron]

That's different than asking how to remove the chocks...

[Goran_M]

Kerry, perhaps if you can be more specific to what you're looking for, maybe one of us can help you out.  

You said you wanted information on the Autopilot and navigation.  The tutorial covers enough of that to get you familiar with the different autopilot modes AND using the radios to navigate.

The manual has an entire chapter, which I provided reference to in the post above, on the autopilot.

 

And just going by your last post, if you have trouble understanding the manual we provided, you'll have a harder time understanding the technical side of the official manual, as we had to refer to the pilots we had on our testing team several times for clarification on what seemed like conflicting statements throughout the AOM.

[kneighbour]

Kerry, perhaps if you can be more specific to what you're looking for, maybe one of us can help you out.

You said you wanted information on the Autopilot and navigation. The tutorial covers enough of that to get you familiar with the different autopilot modes AND using the radios to navigate.

The manual has an entire chapter, which I provided reference to in the post above, on the autopilot.

No problem. You will see that I am starting a few new threads on specific topics. Hopefully I am not asking totally naive questions but ones that will benefit other users as well.

 

I use autopilots in other aircraft all the time. Also navigation systems. In fact, when I was in the RAAF I used to fix them as well. But of course that is not using them in flight. I just need to work out some of the differences in this aircraft. I am holding off on asking any questions in this area as I am sure a lot of my issues is just working out these differences and any comments I make will seem stupid.

 

And no - I did not say I had trouble understanding your manual. Well, some parts, perhaps, but in general it is fine. The problem is taking it all in at once.