Robert1936

Where did I fly today? A couple of days ago I took a scenic flight from Las Vegas Henderson Executive to Fresno, circumventing the military and parks areas. Not a very demanding flight in the Beechcraft Baron but what scenery! Desert, Death Valley, mountains and then flat farmland - with an easy landing at Fresno. All in one flight this really showed off the MSFS scenery in a part of the world unfamiliar to most of us in the UK, but all the more impressive for that. This was a whole new way of touring. Here is my flight route KHND KITEE JAMIA ZIGLR OYODA JFFAR JOHKR BIKKR CAGEE KENNO CABAB NAHNT SIPZY KFCH Nothing very technical – but an afternoon well-spent in the Baron. A real fun flight. Robert

Thanks again Aptosflier. I guess I'll revert to Asobo's stock G1000 and watch the posts for news of NXi. BTW my grey matter is nine years older than yours! Robert

Aptosflier, I assumed the ‘mess’ was a result of having the NXi on top of the stock G1000 because I had found some sites saying that one had to removed the latter first. But your helpful response (thanks) suggests that I do not need to do this. Mess as follows: cannot always follow GPS flight plan or heading, altitude setting inclined to lock and cannot be altered (but not always). GOTO works most of the time. AP actually only works intermittently – sometimes it does, sometime it doesn’t, but always with the problems described. Interestingly I also have a Bravo quadrant with all the AP buttons and switches correctly bound. But cannot operate AP from there at all at present. All I get is the VS light permanently on. Quadrant use a minor inconvenience - obviously all the buttons are on screen. Robert

Rather carelessly I installed G1000 NXi without first uninstalling G1000. So now I have a mess. I would be very grateful for simple instructions on how to uninstall both and then install G1000 NXi. Thanks Robert

I have installed G100 NXi in MSFS. It looks very nice, but: I cannot operate any of the AP buttons on screen. I have the Bravo Throttle quadrant, all the bindings are correct but all I get is the VS button permanently 'On'. AP is not operable from the throttle quadrant either. At present I can only handfly the Beechcraft Baron - not feasible for longer flights. Anyone any ideas on this one? Perhaps I'm just making a simple mistake somewhere. Robert

Some pupils at a New Zealand secondary school did a giant phallus in the playing field (using Roundup, I guess) don't know if it's still there. I think (can't remember) that it was visible to the very high-res satellite imagery to which some agencies have access. It was certainly on Google Earth. Robert

Thanks Steve, I did notice that the firewall suggestion was for Dave, but I thought I'd try it anyway. I will report to Zendesk and try removing peripherals, one by one. Robert

I turned my firewall off for a minute or so but 'Controls Options' would not open. Robert

Controls Option had not opened after 15 minutes of 'loading'. I'll have a look at firewalls. Robert

I had problems with today's update but I eventually got into MSFS and started to fly. But I really wanted to mend the bindings on my Bravo Throttle after the previous update. All Options except Controls Options opened fine. But the latter just goes into 'loading' mode and stays there. So no chance of sorting out my controls! Anyone else had this one? Robert

The fix to update seems to have solved the issues for me - though I've lost a few bindings to Bravo throttle. Four test flights were fine today (including one unplanned view of sunrise over Grand Canyon!) Robert

Is it just me, or is there a general problem? I had to download an MSFS update today - it took two hours. After this a number of settings in my yoke went awry. But worse than this; no option to load a saved route on launch, no way back from a completed flight to start a new one without exiting the whole program and restarting it. Looking forward to some weekend flying - and look what I get! I hope this is fixable. Robert

Stinger, is this still available? Thought I had downloaded it - but if I did, I've lost it! Robert

Great, that worked. Thanks Steve. Robert

Thanks Steve, I will try that (I purchased from MS). Robert

Installed MSFS when it was launched but could not use it because of a sight problem. Eyes now fixed! Launched MSFS this morning for my first view and was told there was a compulsory update, clicking this led to a screen with multiple offers to download Chrome - no indication of how to get the update. Various forums suggest update has been a major issue for many and cannot be bypassed. So now I can see what I'm doing, what next? I really would like to try MSFS. Robert

My usual training flight is from Liverpool (EGGP) my home airport, to Aldergrove (EGAA). After a while with ILS, GPS and visual approaches I decided to try VOR, both with the A320 and the Navajo. With both aircraft a VOR landing on 170/350 presented few problems after a bit of practise (and low speed crosswind). The VOR is almost on the centre-line of the runway. For 260/080 (the longer runway) it was a different story with the 9 degree VOR offset. OK with good visibility but with visibility 5 nm I found I could not achieve stabilised flight on the approach in time to make a good landing – but I got plenty of missed approach experience. Is it a case of me needing to work at it for longer to improve my skills or just a stupid approach that no experienced pilot would try to fly in reduced visibility? Perhaps it’s only GA aircraft that are ever likely to need a VOR approach at this airport and hence the beacon on the shorter runway. I haven’t been able to find a Video of a low-visibility approach with on-field offset VOR. Would appreciate any references colleagues might have to such. Robert

Thanks everyone, this has been an interesting conversation, from which I have learnt a lot. As someone well versed in these issues from a maritime perspective I would never set out on a land, sea or air venture without carefully checking my magnetic compass (and taking spare batteries for anything else!) When walking in remote territory I usually write the time of meridian passage in my notebook so that if the Sun in shining I can check my sighting compass. I've never actually needed to do this - but better safe than sorry. I don't know how much of all this is modeled by flightsim, but I will 'fly' over the magnetic north pole just to see. Robert

Thanks all, this has been a most interesting discussion. Being somewhat versed in these matters from a maritime perspective I would certainly not be so rash as to embark on any land, sea or air venture without a properly calibrated magnetic compass _and_ some spare batteries. I presume FSX and MSFS don't model all his but provide a magnetic compass that are always correct (I'll try 'flying' over the North magnetic pole some time) Robert

So, just to clarify: The magnetic compass can be checked against a reliable instrument like a GPS. So I could take my hiking GPS in the aircraft to check the compass? But then if I have my pocket GPS couldn't I use that instead of the magnetic compass in order to check for gyro drift? In a plane with a GPS navigation system presumably it doesn't used a gyro so one can use it to check the magnetic compass - just in case the GPS system fails? Robert

Instructional videos always advise pilots of GA aircraft in Flightsim to check their instrument heading against the magnetic compass to correct for gyro drift. As an ancient mariner I know that the magnetic compass is itself subject to errors - and they can vary with the course you are steering - and presumably the heading one is flying. One of my last tasks at sea in a small boat was spending a morning crisscrossing a transit line on different courses, checking the magnetic compass error. So, how do pilots deal with this? In a small aircraft the magnetic compass is close to a large lump of metal (namely an engine). Robert

Thanks for that Loki, I will certainly be out of disk space.It looks as if MSFS2020 will have everything! But I hope Aivlasoft flight planning will be OK. I will miss my Navajo - which I very much like flying - this seems to be missing from the a/c available in MSFS2020. Robert

when our new MSFSX arrives will it just over-write existing FSX program, or will it be advisable to clear all FSX material before starting the installation? Robert

Many thanks Mr ZIppy, all sorted now and flying normally (well, as normally as I fly!). When I got to the line in regedit, it was all lower case, restoring the capitals put it right. Very odd error that. Robert

.... and is it the same for Windows 10 Mr Zippy? Robert