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Finally I moved to New Zeland. Flew few times around Christchurch NZCH practicing landings. Today is my big day, I will fly from NZCH to Queenstown NZQN trying to use NZQN_RNAV (RNP) Y RWY23 approach. Route will be programmed to Airtrack and I will try to fly it all the way in on autopilot which I will disengage about 200 AGL. Wish me luck and keep your fingers crossed. Cheers, AJ

After several attempts I finally got it to the point that might be considered acceptable.

Yes, getting the clouds like in the video is almost impossible because of the way XP makes weather. SkyMaxx Pro is doing a great job but it can only show what X-Plane generates. I did not try NZ mesh yet, I have normal HD mesh all over the globe. If I stay longer around NZ, I might give it a try. Happy to hear you had fun flying LES Saab340A in Cami de Belli's airports, fun is a must. Shutting down one engine to let the passengers out, hmmm, I think it would not be practiced in real life but hey, this just a simulation, right? I am getting ready to fly to NZQN but I needed to do something first, read below. After being politely told by my favorite Instructor that my landings are scary, I decided to try to improve a bit in that area before doing any more flying at Queenstown. I went back to my "training" airport in NJ KWWD and practiced. Things did not work very well from the beginning. Video below shows my unsuccessful attempts to get the numbers right.

Good luck Jose. I will keep my fingers crossed, SMP is a great enhancement to X-Plane, since you get it running, you will never want to go back to default clouds and sky. Cheers, AJ

Rhino, Try using EFASS, Harvesine Air Account and Airtrack the way I described, much nicer than X-FMC in my opinion because it kind of overrides the certain SAAB commands and you can do full LNAV and VNAV. Anything you have doubts about, just shoot, I will explain in more details if you need. I do not like long hauls because they are simply boring so most of the times I just use standard navigation using NDBs and VORs but in case like RNAV/GPS( GNSS) routes, Airtrack is definitely doing the trick. Last night I have tried the approach to Queenstown and I was so happy to see it working. Today, I will fly NZQN_RNAV (RNP) Y RWY23 approach which is part of my LES Saab340A challenge thread,I will set up clouds like in the real life video . Keep an eye on it, you will like the videos I am going to make. And lastly, enjoy your experience with our phenomenal LES Saab340A. Cheers, AJ

Hi Rhino, I have never tried to use X-FMC autopilot instead of SAAB's one so I can not be any help here. I was only using X-FMC to get SAAB to fly the route, vertical navigation and power/speed was done using SAAB's controls. Then, I wanted to try something different and it worked perfect but it needs Ipad use. Here are few steps I do if I want to use FMC/GPS flight plan. I have tried and liked a lot EFASS Electronic Flight Assistant http://froom.de/efass/ I use EFASS to make my route ( or I can use external flight plan source and just copy and paste route ) Then EFASS exports my flight plan to X-Plane FMS plans folder . Then I use Haversine Air Account ( free) to import my flight plan. https://haversine.com/account Since I save the flight plan, it will be ready in about a minute to load on Ipad using Airtrack Application. From there things are really easy, I just hit G key which is mapped to "autopilot/hsi_select_gps" X-Plane command and SAAB autopilot follows the programmed route. Not only LNAV works great but VNAV IS WORKING as well. That is how I fly RNAV/GPS/Airways/Waypoints routes, works like a charm. Actually, this weekend, I will be trying the RNAV routes for approach to Queenstown NZQN as described in post #73 linked below http://forums.x-pilot.com/topic/6326-leading-edge-simulations-saab-340a-experience/page-4 Have fun, LES Saab340A rules! Cheers, AJ

Great job MAXX Team, amazing how much happened recently as far as the XP much better look. Thank you. Cheers, AJ

Keep it this way, John, we all need some humor in XA forums to keep the balance. I do it all the time.

Jose, I perfectly understand your first reaction, you buy theproduct and you get crash.... On the other hand, there are so many variables that ocasssionally users will experience crash etc. In the case like that, Maxx Team will investigate things but need a bit of your input. I started also with a very negative feelings but I realised that there was a big part of my setup causing my problems. See that thread http://forums.x-pilot.com/topic/6375-to-all-members-of-lead-edge-simulations-team/ Just give it a minute, attach your log files and work with John, I am sure you will become a happy user of SMP. Of course I do respect any decision you will make but I am trying to encourage you to give the problem a chance to be fixed. I totally love SMP and I do not even want to fly without it. Keeping my fingers crossed for you. Cheers, AJ

John, great news and great job, will be definitely interested. Seems like MAX FX will take care of everything else but clouds, I would even incorporate future Water Maxx in it also. I will be looking forward to your replies here just hope that this crash on Goran's back you mentioned in the other thread will not distract you too much. :D :lol: Just had to say that because you made me laughing after I read your reply. Seriously, excellent job, you guys really make a difference in a way X-Plane looks, love it. Cheers, AJ

Horani, thanks, I did not know about that source, I knew the website and I was watching videos though but did not look for SF34. I might buy it after we get LES Saab340A update. Thank you. Cheers, AJ

Canox, have fun, I will do the flying this weekend, will have some time. Yes, I also love LES Saab340A, probably the best aircraft I owned so far, the only thing is that I hope the update will materialize some time soon before Citation is out. Take your time, we have a whole year to do all mentioned and some approaches and flights. Important part is to have FUN while doing what we are doing, right? I will be practicing a lot to get that hands off landing but it is definitely not easy to get it all close to where it should be. Another factor at NZQN is a weather, mountaneous terrain creates some drafts and gusts that need to be compensated for. I can hand fly straight and level , all trimmed and all of the sudden aircraft sinks or raises. I think that this weekend, I am going to go to my "home" airport KWWD, set the weatheer to no winds and gusts and get my numbers straight. If I can do it with a perfect weather, that with a not so perfect one, I will just compensase for gusts and drafts but the main setup will be there. I think, in my setup, I got as close as one can get to flying LES Saab340A like in real life, keeping the balance to it is still lots of fun while learning. My main goal will be to get the landing established with descend rate less than 1000 FPM and speed around 125 KIAS with 20 deg flaps. As fara as NZQN flying, have you gusy see this video? Absolutely beautiful. I have read that they do not fly exactly like that anymore but the video is great. I also read some on NZQN RNP approach and it would be also nice to try that with the weathere like in the video above. I will definitely try Queenstown - RNAV (RNP) Y RWY 05 & 23 I looked at the available plates at NZQN and beside the one mentioned above I will want to fly VOR/DME B appraoch http://www.aip.net.n...N_43.1_43.2.pdf The unique part is that you need to expect to fly Visual Circuit at 4000 MSL. Will be doing some flyingthis weekend and will post my results here. Stay tuned. Cheers, AJ

I have seen that before also but not too many people have guts to say in public they were wrong. Well, it was totally MY fault, we all know that, SAAB still is due it's update. Cheers, AJ

Just found the scenery for next challenge , Queenstown, NZQN Cheers, AJ

You will like that one. Very cool video of above crosswind landing from outside, had fun. Thanks Andy. Moving on to Queenstown NZQN. Cheers, AJ

Now, the video from yesterday, winds were bad for RWY 06, VATSIM also.

Gentlemen, another thing is done. Just for request from Andy, I made three videos. Below, VATSIM, today, winds were favorable and that is the most probable scenario to take off and land on RWY 06 at EGPO. Pretty smooth, no problems at all except the "terrain" couple times, need to keep the plane a bit higher.

Goran is NOT scared off, just speechless for a moment. You guys are funny, not in a funny way , just funny. You know what I mean, smile is good. Cheers, AJ

@Canox: wow, brave man, the difference between your approach and first of mine is that you decided to land and I chickened out. Watched couple of times, very cool but yes, also crazy , like mine. I was laughing hard reading about you working as a cab driver in that town, lol,lol,lol. I was doing the very first one with the base leg almost 90 deg to the runway and that did not work well, then I watched the real life guys and narrowed the angle, worked like a charm. One good flight for each continent, great idea but I can tell you now that we will have more than that, see Jim's and Theo's reply. Hey, I am excited like a boy, well, I am always like a boy when it comes to flying..... @Andy: I did not forget the EGPO RWY 06 take off, I am having fun with it just now, took a break to reply here. I can already tell you, with the headwind, take off is piece of cake, with real weather and forcing to take off from RWY06, it is much more challenging but also quite easy. What is HARD is landing on RWY 06 with real weather when winds do not cooperate. I will post videos soon, stay tuned. @Jim: NOW I am sure we will be very busy trying all these approaches with LES Saab340A. Thank you tons, Jim. It also makes me happy that you are reading this thread, you are one of the guys that made that thread possible. @ Theo: Hi Theo, this is my first direct contact with you and I do remember you because when I posted an apology some time ago, I missed your name ( because I did not see too many replies of yours in the threads I was reading). I apologize for that because I have learned that you are the texture master which shows very well. Thank you very much for chipping in. Now, we HAVE to fly NZQN VOR App. Gentlemen, I am very happy that my idea of this thread is proving to be a good one. Thank you all for the inputs. Cheers, AJ

Hmmm, I do not know why you said that John..... BUT in this case you are on your own.

Hello Gentlemen, good to see all your input here,makes me willing to do more videos. @Andy: thank you Andy, well, second video was a near death experience but I just wanted you to see it. As far as the weather, it was not as much the weather itself but as the wind direction, look at the wind factor and direction on EHSI ( second video). That landing would be forbidden by ANY , even the least strict aviation rules but for simulation, it was fun to push it to the limits. I am really trying not to crash LES Saab340A , just like I was doing it in real life but I also want to get that adrenaline surge, you know what I mean. That is the plan behind that thread I started, to learn, to challenge and to share. I promise ( along with Canox's and others help, I hope) to make a very nice, challenging list of approaches/landings/trips for LES Saab340A THAT will be the subject of my next video, Andy, keep your fingers crossed. @ horani: Yes, landing lights off, that was easy and major mistake. No excuses except that I was in a hurry to get the mission completed and DID NOT follow the checklist, bad, bad, bad. Thank you for the kind words on videos, I am happy you enjoy them, more to come. Why aren't you able to make the videos? Frame rate? I guess , we just have to wait for the update. I just realized that even with removing all scenery I described in the other thread, I still can not switch to external view after a longer flight. I found a PITA workaround for that though. I save replay , restart the X-Plane and I am able to record from the outside. Let's hope for some mercy from Cameron to complete that long awaited update. Looks like IXEG B737 will be an awesome aircraft, maybe it will not "kill" my beloved LES Saab340A, maybe it will become just my another favorite plane, I hope so. @Canox: yes, second video is nuts but it WAS FUN. I do not even know HOW I managed to survive THAT. All the charts for EGPB are here https://charts.aero/airport/EGPB I pretty much used http://www.ead.eurocontrol.int/eadbasic/pamslight-56E52500A7F5AB963646137A401683CD/7FE5QZZF3FXUS/EN/Charts/AD/NON_AIRAC/EG_AD_2_EGPB_8-9_en_2012-05-31.pdf The idea was to fly toward VOR having the mountain to the right, I have flown quite a few times before I got to shoot third video. Yes, all recordings will be always in HD, glad to see you are able to see the numbers. LES Citation... it will be another Saab 340A competitor.... Cheers, AJ

And the third video, pretty much what would happen in real life, set weather to acceptable for RWY33 and you can tell that it was a whole different game. Thank you for watching, it was pure fun, getting to know LES Saab340A better and better, hand flying is awesome! Andy, hope you enjoyed the videos and thank you for a great idea, looking forward to more. Cheers, AJ

Second video, I almost killed few passengers and myself trying to land on RWY 33 with the VATSIM weather. Look at the numbers in above screenshot, notice the wind direction... In real life , I would definitely attempt to land , if at all at RWY15 but for the sake of fun in the simulation I did land on RWY 33, barely made it. Did not even damaged the plane but it was an insane attempt. Enjoy watching my struggles. Cheers, AJ

Gentlemen, as promised, for special request from Andy .... SUMBURGH, Direct Arrival VOR/DME RWY 33 I have made 3 videos. FlyBe presentation, take off, enroute and descend, all good, quite standard. WHAT MAJOR MISTAKE I made on take off?

Goran, I will make it quick, I know you are busy. I agree with you 100% on all you said above. I know how much effort went into SAB and my videos are just another way of showing the appreciation for LES Team efforts not to mention the pure fun of flying and learning SAAB. Yes, I will keep making the videos but I want to say that reply like yours make me even more willing to do that. Thank you for the input, it sure makes me feel good that some LES Team guys are reading my posts and watch some associated videos and even enjoy them. Cheers, AJ