Simviation Forums

I recently downloaded a few aircraft that don't have the capability to land by ILS via Autopilot. Why do some downloads not posses this feature? What is the process behind making a download compatible for so many FSX functions? If the aircraft can fly via autopilot, why are they not able to posses ILS and Authrottle capabilities, for exapmle? These are the most common problems I notice with (my) freeware downloads:

1) Inoperable ILS approaches via Autopilot control
2) Inoperable Autopilot controlled Autothrottle(s)
3) Inoperable Autobrakes
4) Inoperable NAV radios for ILS approaches (Meaning that the morse code indentification does not sound within range of a transmitter; it simply does nothing.)
5) Completely Inoperable Autopilots; which I find totally unacceptable. This is unacceptable to me because it does not offer the user with realistc attention to detail, a realistic flying experience, or care shown by the aircraft's producer-they simply wanted to turn out an aircraft as fast as they could without putting thought into it.

Why do these faults occur?  Is it difficult for someone to configure aircraft so they can fly Autopilot controlled ILS format approaches? How are aircraft configured to respond accordingly to ILS information, autobrakes, etc; so they know when to react?
For exapmle, how does a person configure an aircraft to recongnize the ground? How do they in turn, configure the aircraft to turn on the autobrakes when it recognizes hitting the ground?

I just want to know why some people don't take the time to properly configure aircraft for these important functions to properly occur when they (by "They" I mean the aircraft in flight) are commanded to do so.
Can someone please explain this to me?
The more information given in greater detail, the better it will be for me.
Thanks!

Firts off. there are a lot of real planes that dont have an autothrottle, so it wont be moddeled, secondly, it takes a lot of time and effort to model a plane, actually doing the model, flight dynamics, cockpit detail, programming the instruments, and that simply takes a lot of work and there are a lot of people who do it for the fun and are slowly learning the complexities of fsx moddelling. I actually very rarely if ever fly an ils approach, i find the challenge in doing a hand flown approach a lot more fun especially when you pull it off. Simply put if you want all those features you would be better off buiyng an add on as they usualy will have all those features. By the way you never actually mentioned what type of aircraft you are flying.

Wow..

So I'm guessing your not an Aircraft designer, so with that I'll start with this. If you can't do better, don't complain.

Next, as just said above, some aircraft aren't certified for IFR flight or ILS approaches, that's just how their made and there's nothing you can do about it. So in fact leaving out the ability to fly an ILS approach IS attention to detail.

Then just a personal opinion: This is a flight sim. There's no need to demand such high quality for ILS. Most FS aircraft don't even model anything other then the the approach, I've only heard of 1 or 2 FS aircraft that are even capable of a full autoland on their own. If you want to set the AP and watch the plane land by itself check out this site, Its much cheaper then FSX as well: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pP2WZT_Deyo

Finally:

3) Inoperable Autobrakes

Some aircraft are incapable of this operation.

4) Inoperable NAV radios for ILS approaches (Meaning that the morse code indentification does not sound within range of a transmitter; it simply does nothing.)

Sometimes you need to set the NAV to an audible setting to hear the Morse code ident. I don't know what aircraft you fly so I'm unable to tell you how to do this.

5) Completely Inoperable Autopilots; which I find totally unacceptable. This is unacceptable to me because it does not offer the user with realistc attention to detail, a realistic flying experience, or care shown by the aircraft's producer-they simply wanted to turn out an aircraft as fast as they could without putting thought into it.

How are the inoperable? are the buttons there but they do nothing? or are they just absent?

And there's this cool feature about computers, you can delete things you don't want

I greatly appreciate your attitude "Fr. Bill."

Now, moving on:
Perhaps I should not have stated that post with the tone of voice it had. I didn't realize that it did infact sound somewhat offensive towards the creators on their part, and I apologize for that. I didn't see that untill I returned to the topic and read it again today.

I originally intended to post this with the intentions of recieving information, not hateful comments, so that must be my fault and I once again apologize for it.

BAW0343: I apologize for sounding like I was complaining. That was not my intention.

From the way the rest of you have discussed this; it seems as though these circumstances lie heavily upon your aircraft. I will admit-I didn't think about a few of the things that you guys mentioned.

Now, regarding you, "BAW0343:"
Lets speak in the context of something like a Boeing 777-200, an American Airlines aircraft. For exapmle- when I was referring to the autopilot of an aircraft being completely inoperable, I was reffering to a 777-200 with an aliased 737-800 2d panel. But only few aircraft have a completely inoperable autopilot-By this I mean the panel is there; complete with moving dials, but when you activate the autopilot, the aircraft just slowly moves in the way you last left in: so, in the middle of a left turn, for exapmle; the aircraft just begins a left hand nose dive. The autopilot never kicks in. This is what I mean.

When I reffered to NAV radios, I mean for an ILS approach. You have to tune the NAV 1 Radio to a certain frequency. (you Probably know all this but I have to explain it anyways to be sure. )
When you are in range of the transmitter, you begin to hear the Morse-Code Version of the 3-or-4-letter-long Identification code for that particular ILS approach. However, in some aircraft, I get within range on the correct frequency with everything else in the aircraft properly set, and the NAV radio does not respond. How? Why?

Guys, Again, I'm not trying to be offensive; I'm really into this stuff! I am driven by plain, simple curiosity; that's it. I want to know how you configure aircraft to work, how these errors can be fixed, How things work, etc. etc! I just want to know from the extremely-explorative-and-scientific side. Not the offend-everyone-I-can side.

You've really gotta step back and take this one topic at a time. We're dealing with that difficult combination of not fully understanding the systems, and not understanding the equipment.

Missing pieces to these puzzles would start with..

Do you know what the Nav/GPS switch does ?

b108,

The function of radios and autopilot are controlled in the aircraft.cfg file, [Radios] and [Autopilot] sections. It's possible these devices are not configured properly in these sections.

Check the sections against those of a similar 'working' aircraft.

Dave

B108,
 It's great that you're so inquisitive, but as Brett and others have suggested .... just tackle one problem at a time, and maybe one airplane at a time. Some freebies work great .... and some payware ... not so great. So do some research.  As suggested you might want to dump the ones you don't like ... and keep your selection down to the ones your really enjoy?  But keep up the enthusiasm .... it's a great sport ... and you're always learning and exploring!  

This topic can come off harshly as you will find many low and slow fliers on here will be quick to put down the commercial flights and aspects there of. I am one of those low and slow fliers.  ;)

Now, I apologize if my post came off as rude  :)


As said, slow down. There's a LOT of info that you need to learn to do this right. And it doesn't help that you seem to have picked up some bad aircraft along the way. I would suggest going through the aircraft you have and delete any that don't work well and stick with the ones that do. No point learning something with defective equipment  ;)

Glad to see your wanting to learn though!

I greatly appreciate your attitude "Fr. Bill."

I guess I deserve that...

...although the quote marks are rather obnoxious. I actually am a retired priest.

When I reffered to you, Fr. Bill, I used your name in quotes to establish the fact that that was your username and you were to whom I was reffereing when I made that statement. It was not insinuating hate or that I am an aethiest. Because I'm not. I'm catholic.


I want to thank everyone for their informative and helpful answers-I didn't really want to do some of the things you guys suggested, like actually taking time to start out small to gain experience, and do manual ILS kind-of-things at first, but now I'm looking forward to getting to challenge myself. I just realized how incredibly useful this may be when I leave high school and start myself on the road to flying for UPS or FedEx.

[quote]

I just realized how incredibly useful this may be when I leave high school and start myself on the road to flying for UPS or FedEx.

Did you turn on the switch for monitoring the sound on the audio control panel? They are off by default.

Did you turn on the switch for monitoring the sound on the audio control panel? They are off by default.

I don't understand what you mean.

OH! Yes, now I remember, the switch to actually turn the radio on.
And yes, I do that. Funny-for a few seconds I had no clue what you were talking about!
But yes, Like I said, EVERYTHING IS CORRECT when I tune the frequency-there are no errors, but the radios don't work. Does this mean there is a more complicated problem with the aircraft's system?

This misunderstanding (or lack of understanding) of the the systems, seems to be the nagging problem.

In FSX, the radios are ALL turned on by the master avionics switch. That's realistic enough... as I don't ever remember turning any of them off, in real airplanes. When you throw the master avionics switch, the radios and GPS light up.

The audio panel  IS realistic in FSX...  You don't turn the radios on and off with it.. you simply select what it is that you want to hear. Be it either (or both) of the Com radios.. or.. the audio identifiers of the Nav aids.

You don't  HAVE to have the audio turned on for a Nav radio to work. In the real world, it's a matter of redundancy. You listen for the Morse Code identifier, to make sure you don't start navigating by the wrong transmitter. Whether or not pilots admit to it.. most never take the time to do this, past a check-ride. The most common use of Nav aid audio, is when you tune the ADF reciever to an AM radio station, to catch the scores or hear some music  :D

ANYway.. Let's get more specific about these problems. Is it just one aircraft ?  Just one Nav aid ?..  are you sure you're within range to begin with ?

Well... I understand and already knew everything you just said. Except the music. That's hilarious. I didn't even know they could do that.

I'm reffering to a few aircraft that show the same symptoms-I am within range of the transmitter with the radio tuned properly and the radio is set so that I can hear the Nav 1 Frequency, when it begins to transmit (perhaps I meant "recieve"...). Unfortunately-It never transmits in these few aircraft. I actually turn into the ILS feather and the whole time I am on final, I never hear a thing.