kneighbour

Exactly my problem also. Bought V2, then V3. I could never use V3 so that was a total waste of money. I am not even using V2 anymore. Like Mad Mat I am very reluctant to spend yet more money. Anyway, good to see the effort is still being put in to improve the product.

ok, that fixed it

I had removed both SMP and RWC some time ago by removing folders from <xplane>\resources\plugins. Today I downloaded and installed SMP 3.2. It did an uninstall and installed itself ok. I then tried to install RWC, but it says it needs SMP 3.1.1 or greater and refuses to install. Any suggestions?

>> i've never seen the glideslope fail to capture, the only thing I can think of is it won't capture the GS until after the VOR/LOC has engaged. I perhaps was not explicit enough here. The glideslope does not even become active. It has nothing to do with the MCP operation or even the plane itself, I am guessing. The problem is that you are flying along at the capture altitude as per the approach chart, but the glideslope does not move. By the time you realise this, you are way too high and panic ensures. I guess the real answer is that you should start the descent down the profile manually. Anyway, I loved your base training video. Perfect.

Since you ask, would love to see videos on doing a circuit (touch and gos as well, I guess). Another thing that seems to happen to me is making an ILS approach where the glideslope is not captured (or not working). I think this is a failure of XP or perhaps even the navigraph data, but for some reason some glideslopes simply do not work. This leaves you high, especially if you do not notice the glideslope non capture until a bit late. So any video that covers issues on approach would be welcome.

Brilliant stuff! I hope that you do a few more of these videos. I just love getting tips from real pilots. It adds just that bit more realism to the sim. I was very interested in why you added Fixes to the FMC on takeoff at this particular location. Also very interested to see the reasons you managed speed on climbout. Fascinating stuff. Please do a few more.

So, in the IXEG 733, how far do you suggest I move the throttles to (N1% perhaps?) for effective and realistic braking?

ok. How far do you think I need to move the throttle after the reversers are deployed?

I have read that the reversers are rarely ever moved from idle when you land (especially in Europe) due to noise restrictions. So I have been trying to emulate that situation, but I am finding that the aircraft does not slow down very well. I don't even think the spoilers are being deployed. Once the nosewheel touches down, I operate the reversers. I have a hardware switch that I have mapped to a dataref for this. It seems to work - the two orange Reverser Unlock lights come on. I leave the throttles at idle. Should I advance the throttles at all? The manual mentions going to detent 1, but of course I don't have the real throttles. Is this perhaps why the spoilers do not seem to be deploying as well? I have my spoilers mapped to an axis, which it seems might be a bad idea as well - although so far it not does seem to be a problem.

I did a night flight last night, and noticed that the F/D Master light (captain side) is not visible. It is ok during the day.

This is very interesting. I assumed that setting the COURSE bug was just a visual thing - ie to more or less remind you of the bearing you will be flying once you have intercepted the LOC. Good to know.

good stuff, thanks. Being a non pilot, I always assumed that the idea was to land as close to the touch down area as possible (obviously wrong). After all, that gives you the most runway to slowdown on. What is the reasoning behind touching down in the 1000-1500 area?

Well, obviously I realise all of this. But mistakes happen, even in real life, I presume. I also realise that I could have removed the restriction - but at the time it did not work. Whether this is another bug, or I entered it incorrectly I do not know - it was a tense moment there! My first thought was it was a bug (I have had HEAPS, so I kind of expect them). I was seeking opinions on the best way to attack the problem as it occurred. In hindsight I think I should have just disabled VNAV, which I did in the end anyway.

I did an approach into Sydney tonight, and I did not notice that one of the waypoints on the approach was at the wrong height in the FMC. The descent was something like this Point A=FL70, point B=FL80, point C=FL60, point D=FL40, etc. Actually, this was the RIVET2 approach into 34L, so no idea why the heights were wrong. I got to point A ok, then the plane took off and climbed to 8000. I tried to alter the height in the FMC, but I got a faulty input message or something similar. Anyway, these points were very close together, so I decided to go with it and just slow the aircraft right down. I was still in full VNAV mode at this point, so speed was 240 and the aircraft was clean. The MCP Altitude was set to 4000 (the ILS approach height). I tried to press the SPEED switch, but it would not engage. Obviously in the wrong mode to allow selection. I guess I could have gone to V/S mode (which I presume would work), but I wanted to keep the VNAV doing it's thing for a bit longer. Actually, in the end, I did turn VNAV off and stuck with LNAV. But was getting a bit behind the aircraft at this point. It is actually a bit more complicated, of course. I disabled VNAV, went to SPEED mode, dialled in 220 and the plane started to pitch up (to slow down from 240). So I actually gained altitude whereas I REALLY wanted to lose some. I got it all together in the end, but purely by luck more than any skill. Any suggestions as to the preferred procedures in this case? I have a sneaking suspicion a real pilot would have gone totally manual.

I happened to read on another post that a user thought that the amount of power needed to taxi was excessive. I remember reading this and thinking - weird - the thing will start to move at idle power. Normally I have no problems taxiing and taking off. But I have had two occasions now (with V1.0.3) where it has been a real problem. I start up from cold normally, then try to taxi from the ramp. You basically need about 60% N1 to get moving. Take off very difficult - I used the whole runway and barely cleared the trees at the other end. Once in flight things seemed ok. It is like the plane has flat tires. Reversers are not on, nor are the speed brakes active (not that they should make much difference). Totally weird. The toe brakes still seem to work, so it does not look like they are jammed on or anything. Most of my flights are just fine and do not have this problem. I am not putting in a bug report as am not sure what the problem is, or indeed if it is something I am overlooking. I was really wondering if other users have seen this issue and might like to comment?

Yeah, I have dual GPUs also (GTX980Ti and GTX560) - no problem. I also cannot imagine that hardware is the issue. In most cases it is conflicting software as Sundog suggests. I have also found that the X-Plane/Output/Preferences folder can cause the weirdest problems. I have backed up this folder so that I can go back to a known good situation. I think you can delete the files in the folder and then it will recreate everything. Of course, you will then have to reassign all of your hardware and keyboard tweaks again (which is a real pain). But it is a suggestion that has worked for me in the past. I also have a basic X-plane demo installation where practically nothing is installed. I use that as my test bed. The only plugin I have installed in that is X-Camera (as I could not fly XP without it). All of my hardware is setup - but apart from that one plugin, very basic. No scenery even. You could try doing that.

As a programmer myself, I have to take exception to the logic of this. There are MANY reasons there could still be a problem with the software in question. It could be an unusual condition the software does not cater for or other people might have the problem, but might not have reported it. Endless reasons. Many times I have have written software that fails on only ONE customer's machine. And the fault has been my software (actually, usually a library I am using). It is so common in my programming environment we take individual/unique bug reports like this very seriously. For example, customers running Server 2008 systems can be a real problem. Then again, it could be something specific to the hardware/computer in question, but it is not as simple as you seem to make it.

I disagree completely. I think there is a reasonable chance. I have flown a 172 in RL after years of simming, and in some ways, the RL experience was easier than simming. Obviously this is a not a jet, but the same principals apply to some extent. Just to hark back to my few RL C172 flights - I could not have handled the ATC that well, and I could not have handled pretty much any emergency or bad weather condition. But landing and taking off in good weather. Not much of a problem. I think a lot of simmers like to think that they can take over in an emergency - not do the whole flight from startup to shutdown. I would like to think I would have a better than a 50-50 chance of landing a plane (even a jet) if every other pilot on the plane disappeared. I am a glider pilot and have done some light GA work, so I do have some experience with the basics of flying, I guess. And I have thousands of hours (35 years worth) on the simulator. But I take your point - flying is a lot more than knowing where all the switches are.

thanks for the tips - much appreciated!

This seems to be my experience as well.

Can we use Navigraph data with the 733 now?

No problems. I was holding off flying the plane until the next update came out. Too many workarounds to keep track of! Hopefully the next update will not be too long as I am dying to do some 'real' flights. And hey, I am a programmer- fixing bugs is my job.

Pressing the Period button on the FMC does not seem to do anything except generate an error message. But there was a Cycle dump file so included that. Youtube video showing the problem Gizmo errors This happens 99.99% of the time. Can reproduce it every time. Started the plane cold and dark. Put on external power, turned battery on and switched IRS to NAV. That is where the video starts. Log.txt GizmoLog.txt Cycle Dump.txt

Will do - but what is the Dot Button?

Well, I did a Cold and Dark start, and made sure to align the IRS with the correct GPS settings, and not the Departure airport. Still get a Gizmo crash when I add the STAR transition