Stewie

If your instruments are routinely displaying true headings instead of magnetic, I don't know of a setting in FS9 that will change that (there is a setting for true vs indicated airspeed, but that is not this).

 

The usual reason for this problem is an addon scenery that (for some reason unknown to me) causes FS to stop reading the default magdec.bgl file, which provides all of the magnetic headings in the world. This file is found by default in the Scenery/BASE/scenery folder.

 

If this is true, removing that addon scenery should fix it.

 

A workaround to avoid that is to place a copy of the magdec.bgl file into it's own scenery folder (i.e. Addon Scenery/Keep On Top/scenery), and add the Keep on Top folder as a scenery layer in the Scenery Library. This layer should be kept at the top of the listing at all times.

 

Then the headings should go back to magnetic.

 

Hope this helps,

 

Thank you for the reply. WHere would I find the magdec.bgl file?

I don’t understand what you mean when you say one of the install files went into the main folder and the other in the add on scenery folder. Can you elaborate here on the fix for the grass issue?

Thanks. PSS Dash 8

 

When you open the Flight Simulator file, you are on the main page. From there, you can enter into any of the folders. The two folders I referenced were Taxi2Gate and Addon. A copy was in both of those folders. Please let me know if that clears it up for you.

Wishing you a speedy recovery!

Hi,

 

Normally, there should be a keyboard shortcut for this.

Go into Controls - Assignments, choose Instrument Commands from the dropdown and check Heading Indicator (Reset).

And while you're there also check Altimeter (Reset), to autotune the altimeter pressure.

 

Mine are set to "D" and "B" (don't remember if that's the default). So your gyro and altimeter are realigned at the press of a key...

 

And about ATC, I follow the RW procedures and ignore the ATC commands. I only use it to keep the runway clear when I come in to land.

 

DDP.

 

Thank you so much!

The only way I know to check if you are using true or magnetic headings is to sit on a runway with an ILS known to be right down the middle (i.e. at most large US airports) and check the heading on the gauges (or in the red text on the screen by using Shift z) to the runway's ILS heading in the airport's description in World/Map. If they match you are using the correct magnetic headings.

 

Thanks! How do you fix it, if it's not?

Let me explain this in as simple in terms as possible and show you one of my videos.

 

1) ATC in these Sims is very mundane. I was hoping the new Sim would have better ATC utilizing real procedures, plane stacking rules, and holding patterns among other stuff but no. When you fly ILS and come in for the approach, ATC will have you do the zig zag dance which does get very annoying. But if you think about it, what the computer is doing is trying to get you at a right course for ILS intercept. And that's where point 2 comes in at.

 

2) ATC will have you intercept the ILS beam. It will NOT have you all aligned and fancy like where all you have to do is is press APP and glide right in. What you'll see is you'll intercept the ILS at an angle and once that happens you have to have the ILS frequency already tuned in, runway course set, and the APP button pressed prior to interception. Once you intercept that ILS beam on that angle your plane will automatically then start to bank and align straight with the runway.

 

Now if you do this manually it takes practice. You have to know when to bank at what cross track error from the runway to bank given your GPS, and at what angle on your HSI to bank. I've done this so many damn times I'm practically an expert.

 

Since the ATC is so mundane and can be very annoying, I rarely ever file a flight plan anymore. I just go VFR and play the roll of ATC myself watching my second screen with LittleNavMap. Only on approach I contact ATC for landing. I do this at 30 NM out.

 

Watch this video and you might get an idea on what I'm talking about with angle of interception. In real life it is NOT like this at all. Well, kinda actually.

 

That's an old video and I sucked! Not only that, I was using a camcorder and my chair was a POS.

 

PS: In the video I kept using the stupid word "distinguished" and I meant extinguished. As in the light for heading or what ever turned off because ILS took over via APP. LOL! I had the right word in mind, it just came out wrong. At least I didn't crash...

 

Thank you for the reply. LOL it was informative.

Hi,

 

Just did a quick landing with the stock C172 on PHOG ILS RWY2. Didn't use ATC, set up NAV1 to 110.10 and a course of 24 Magnetic. I had a normal landing... straight in, no offset.

What aircraft were you flying? Is the sim set to use magnetic headings, maybe it accidentally got set to true headings?

 

Regards,

DDP.

 

Thanks for the reply. How would I know if my Heading was changed from magnetic to True?

Thanks for the update. How would I change the Directional Gyro to make sure its' set to Magnetic North instead of True North?

As the zipper says, that's pretty normal for the sim, though not for the real world. It happens because the default ATC doesn't do vectors very well, among other things. As he also says, some of the ILS courses are offset a bit. Perhaps if you mention which airport(s), which runways and how much your heading is off we could check whether the ones you that don't align are the ones that have an offset approach.

 

 

With where as a reference point? Or are you saying that your heading is off by 5º-10º? Your actual description might indicate that the DG (Directional Gyro) isn't properly set, or maybe you are using True north as a reference rather than magnetic (which is what runways are) -- if that's the case then the amount your heading would be off would vary quite a bit as you travel east/west across the country.

 

So some further info might help a diagnosis.[/quote

 

All Runways with ILS. A good example is landing at PHOG Runways 2. I was about 5 degrees off. Definitely understand that wind could cause the deviation, but I can't imagine that it would happen consistently with every flight

The heading switches are fairly normal because it also happens in FSX! Is it one runway or all runways where you are not lined up correctly? ILS at some runways are offset.

 

It's all runways.

Happy New Year Simmers.

 

I'm not sure if I'm the only one experiencing this, but there are two issues i'm trying to find a solution for. The first is frequent directions changes by ATC when using IFR flight plan. Using this example, i'm flying heading 130 then told to turn left 095, then as soon as I've completed that turn, then told to turn back to 130.

 

Second issue is whenever I select the runways for ILS, it never lines me up correctly. I'm usually 5-10 degrees to the left of the runway.

 

Has anyone else experienced these issues and is there a way to resolve them?

 

Thanks in advance.

You probably need to try some different effects from your main Effects folder.

 

https://www.surclaro.com/fsdownload-detail-15484.html

 

Thank you, Mr. Zippy. Happy New Year!

I know this has been posted and discussed many times before, but for whatever reasons, I cannot find anything that has worked. Does anyone know how to make the lights on the plan not look light little Christmas Bulbs?

Great post, as that "suddenly" happened to me as well. I just stopped flying there, but will look this over once again.

 

Qballbandit - Thank you for responding. Glad to know i'm not the only one. You can find the files on Avsim and those seem to work. Not sure what the difference is or why it ocurred. If you find anything with those from Flightsim, please let me know. Happy Holidays!

Try re-downloading it and reinstalling it. And had you previously used the replacement spring/summer photoreal textures? If so try installing those.

 

Tom - To the rescue as always. First, thanks for the response. I've tried everything. Un/reinstalling, without and with upgraded textures/afcad, placing higher/lower than other nearby scenery (KDCA). Avsim has what seems to be the same files. After installing those, everything works fine. The only difference I found was that the afcad no longer has multiple runways active at the same time, so there is alot of go around due to ai. The thing is I tried different afcads with the other version and that didn't seem to make a difference, so I believe there is a conflict with one of the scenery files. Which one, I have no idea. Please let me know if you discover anything. Thanks!

Happy Holidays.

 

Before just recently reinstalling FS2004, I've used the KBWI Scenery before and in addition to being thoroughly impressed, experienced no issues. Unfortunately, after reinstalling FS2004 and adding the scenery, whenever I try to fly to or start at KBWI, my system freezes. If I remove the scenery, FS2004 works fine. Does anyone have any idea of what could be causing this to happen out of the blue?

 

Below is the file information, which can be found at Flightsim.com

 

FS2004 (ACOF) - FS2004 Scenery

FS2004 Scenery--Baltimore/Washington Int'l

Name: kbwik5v2.zip

Size: 29,237,350 Date: 11-05-2005 Downloads: 8,395

 

FS2004 Scenery--Baltimore/Washington International Airport (KBWI), Maryland (MD), v2. Full version with an installer. By Matthew Perry and Joshua Broadwater. (The previous version had 1069 downloads.)

AI Flight Planner lets you load them in as BGL files, saving you a step.

 

Bulk Traffic/Traffic and Parking Analyzer (wait for AIFP to load data)

Traffic Files/Select Traffic Files/[choose folder(s) containing the relevant BGL files] (wait for AIFP to load data)

Maximize this window.

In the Airports list, click on the desired Airport.

Click Timetable.

Now you have Arrivals on the left, and Departures on the right. The days of the week are checked if that flight arrives/departs on that day.

In the Airport menu you have several other options for viewing data.

Right click the Timetable button to dump data to a text file or print it.

 

Hope this helps,

 

Tom - Thank you so much. Appreciate the assist.

Note that AITM has a Project feature that let's you combine all of your flight plans into a single plan so you can use the Timetable feature on all of them. I also use this to combine all the various airline's plans into a single world wide plan that I release on my site.

 

Thank you Tom. I'm trying to figure out how to use the tool in FS2004. in order for this to work, it seems that I have to decompile every flight plan I have, which is a lot. Not sure if there is another way to do this.

Thank you all for being so kind to help with this. Truly appreciate. Happy Holidays!

Mit dem Flughafenbauprogramm ADE 170 (airport Design Editor 170) kannst du die Lande Richtung und Start Richtung ändern. Da hat sich beim Bau ein Fehler eingeschlichen.Das macht man mit dem "ADD Runway Link. Zur Behebung : Runway aussuchen Runway link (schwarz dargestellt ) rechts anklicken und im neuen Fenster "reverse Direction" klicken. alle Taxiways entgegen der Startbahnrichtung einrichten. Dann klappt es. happy landings

 

Danka

Is there a tool that can show me all of the airlines for a specific airport that I have flight plans for? I'm trying to make sure I have gates coded for each airline. Thanks!

Thank you so much. Will give it a try. Happy Holidays!

Roger - Thanks for the reply. That would work. Would SceneGenX work for FS2004? Unfortunately, I'm not familiar with any runway programs other than AFCAD.

Dedl - Your suggestion worked. What apparently happened in for some strange reason, when I installed the scenery, it put a copy on the main page under Taxi2Gate and a second copy in Addon under George F Charles. I found it by using the AFCAD.exe tool to look for duplicates. I deleted both, removed the grass, and reinstalled one and voila! Thanks for your assist. Hope you have a Safe and Happy Thanksgiving.

FYI - the weather in FS9 does play a role in which runway is active for landing/takeoff. I would still like to find a solution to avoid AI from having to fly through the mountain to land. I know DDP may possibly create an approach code for rwy25. Question though, I have some AI that won't land at all. They just show up at the gate. There is no problem with them taking off, just with some landing. My thought is it could be an AI Flightplan issue? Not sure. Any thoughts?