B757 freeware addon with working fmc?

[ghembree]

This is my first time to use fmc for controlling the aircraft. I am in the early part of learning curve and what I have learned so far is lot of the directions do not work for one reason or the other and none of the fmc units work as of now. Is this operator error or equipment error. When do we find out? We find out if one of the flight community knows if the freeware ifly 747-400 works as advertised and if that person is willing to provide some information that will help me to carry out the instructions for a well planned flight. I feel much of the problem is nav data input. The fsuipc4 is installed into computer. The last part ???? I do not have any payware of any kind and trying to avoid for awhile I may not even want to use the system? If it flies like I think it will I would probably prefer it.

 

IMPORTANT: The iFly 747-400 WILL NOT FUNCTION PROPERLY without FSUIPC4 4.12 or higher.

 

INSTALLATION

Open FSUIPC4.zip, follow the instruction and install FSUIPC.

Just open iFLy setup.exe, follow the instruction and install the files into main directory of FSX

We recommend to update the navigation database from http://www.navdata.at, we use the same database as pic767/pmdg737. We also recommend to update the SID/STAR database from http://PlanePath.com

[ghembree]

The points you made are givens and we all know that. I want a readers digest version of procedure not a world class encyclopedia. This is not about short cuts this is about a taxi driver taking you the long way instead of the best shortest way. Both ways will get you there the later takes too much time and cost. does this make sense to you

[ghembree]

The points you made are givens and we all know that. I want a readers digest version of procedure not a world class encyclopedia. This is not about short cuts this is about a taxi driver taking you the long way instead of the best shortest way. Both ways will get you there the later takes too much time and cost. does this make sense to you?

 

I have general idea about sids and stars rnav andn vnav only used them a couple of times sids and stars with the fsxpilot, from munich, rnav a vnav in 777 add on, not in fmc at this time.

The fsx experience has been a very good one and also the most frustrating! In today's high tech world you would think this system would be clean as a whistle and run like a swiss watch.

[evm]

The points you made are givens and we all know that. I want a readers digest version of procedure not a world class encyclopedia. This is not about short cuts this is about a taxi driver taking you the long way instead of the best shortest way. Both ways will get you there the later takes too much time and cost. does this make sense to you?

 

I have general idea about sids and stars rnav andn vnav only used them a couple of times sids and stars with the fsxpilot, from munich, rnav a vnav in 777 add on, not in fmc at this time.

The fsx experience has been a very good one and also the most frustrating! In today's high tech world you would think this system would be clean as a whistle and run like a swiss watch.

 

The FMC is the means to navigate RNAV. These purely virtual navigation points only exist in computers, they don't have any reference in the real world, not like Navaids. So your aircraft needs a computer too, that knows where those points are and how to find them. That is what the FMC does.

 

The steps to set it up are always the same

1. Tell it where it is. For that you initialize the IRS system and grab the current coordinates from the GPS. The computer does not know initially where it is, it needs your input. After that the IRS will tell the computer the movement of the plane in all 6 degrees of freedom and the FMC can calculate where it is at any given point of the flight (it uses other means of cross-reference too, not only the IRS, but this is the general idea)

2. Tell it where you want to go, and how you want to get there - input the route = the RNAV points and the airways.

3. Tell it how you want to depart = enter the SID

4. Tell it how you plan to arrive = enter the STAR (can be done later too)

5. Tell it how high you want to fly in cruise

6. Tell it how much the plane weighs and where the center of gravity is

7. Tell it how much fuel you want to burn (performance data) on takeoff and cruise, at what flap setting. The computer will calculate the necessary thrust settings to handle the autothrust system later

8. Set the initial altitude you have been cleared to on the MCP

 

That is basically it. When you enter the runway, you arm LNAV and VNAV (or whenever the checklist calls for that). Engage autothrottle and TOGA mode, then take off - manually (!), the FMC cannot do this for you. At acceleration altitude (400-1000ft) you engage "Commmand A" "AP" whatever the automatic flight guidance is called on your plane, which at the same time turns on the FMC guidance and the autopilot. From then on you only adjust the altitude on the MCP when you are cleared by ATC to your next flight level, until you reach cruise. The FMC does the rest, using the autopilot and the autothrottle.

 

At TOD you dial the altitude down to your initial approach alt (or whatever you were cleared for by ATC) and let the FMC descend. If it asks for "drag", extend the spoilers (to slow down). If you chose a correct STAR and transition, the FMC will find the ILS for you. You then engage the second autopilot too, and the two autopilots will autoland your plane using the ILS radio beam. If you want to land manually, disengage the autopilot(s) when convenient (or, more realistically, at the decision altitude required for the runway)

 

Be prepared that things will go wrong. These systems are sophisticated, but they are not fail safe. For example, you cannot engage the FMC guidance if you are too far from your path (laterally and vertically) in the first place. And it will not engage if you forgot to activate systems that are related to it (so it is imperative to use the checklists!).

 

But the biggest problem for us simmers is, that we never know if the developer of the addon (and simulator) we are using bothered with implementing everything like it would work in the real world. Freelance developers seldom have access to the real wold specification and documenation of the aircraft and devices that they try to simulate, and only rarely can get their hands on the real thing. Especially not in every circumstance imaginable.

 

"Frustrating": why? Because programming that computer is not intuitive? It doesn't have to be. And besides, programming computers seldom is "accessible" or "fun" - or maybe only for nerds :o) The FMC does exactly what it has to do, and it does only what it has to do - and it requires exactly the right information to be capable of doing it. And it is not alone, in an airliner there is always more than one FMC, doing the exact same thing, in case the other system fails.

[ghembree]

Wow! another homer in right field over bleachers into water, at&t park (sf giants) It don't get much better than that.

[ariking777]

evm - you're confused. INS was the old navigation system used before FMCs came. What you align and the system that feeds the FMC with Coordinates is the IRS (Inertial Reference System), instead of an INS (Inertial Navigation System), which nowadays isn't used by any jet.

[evm]

evm - you're confused. INS was the old navigation system used before FMCs came. What you align and the system that feeds the FMC with Coordinates is the IRS (Inertial Reference System), instead of an INS (Inertial Navigation System), which nowadays isn't used by any jet.

 

True, the acronym is not correct. I apologize and I have corrected my post.

 

I meant the system behind it, the bunch of gyroscopes picking up the aircraft's movement. IRS, ADIRU.

[evm]

Wow! another homer in right field over bleachers into water, at&t park (sf giants) It don't get much better than that.

 

Suit yourself.

 

This is also a much abbreviated version of the FMC procedure that is required to get the simulated PMDG 737 NGX into the virtual air.