This a huge help to me, I’m progressing through Career mode and have only done about five 737 missions so far and see the same thing with VNAV and not being able to transition to GS. GS will be armed but never goes active and I need to manually intervene to reduce altitude to catch the GS after passing above it on VNAV. Didn’t know this has been a thing since release, lol.
Don’t care for this current behavior but now can at least plan for it. Thanks!
This is exactly why this irritates me. I have a Commercial License including IFR of course and these types of details make your training impossible. If they really want this to be at least quasi realistic such items should be fixed… students think they are crazy but it is the simulation. This works just fine if you go from LNAV and Altitude Hold into the ILS/GS. Capture should be automatic and not involving punching a ton of buttons.
Anyone tried the other boeings like the 747. Are they affected too?
Have not heard anything on 747 just 787 and 737.
Did a testflight with the 747-8 that is included.
Guess what…. it had the same issue. GS capturing only if VNAV is disabled. The vertical diamond remains white and does not lock until you deactivate VNAV.
Yup. You know I have carefully researched this issue and I am pretty sure this is a BUG. Prior to the final release of SU4 I never noticed anything so it must not have been there. I also checked appropriate 787 references and it should be automatic.
I guess they have teams that work the aircraft in parallel to the sim itself and then suddenly put all the parts together for the SU.
I appreciate the legwork on the 747 as the more general the problem maybe the faster fixed but they seem short of staff. I believe the 747 and 737 share the AP in real life. When I was doing research I had the occasion to fly a real 747 simulator at NASA Aims in Mountain View California. I recall I had no idea where the ground was when landing… seems the pilot is looking up and a long way off the ground when the mains touch.
I somehow doubt, that there is any boeing plane at all, that comes by default (no marketplace vessel) in one of the msfs editions, that doesn’t share this issue.
I see no discussion of SU5 or much note of revisions of SU4 so maybe this is it for a while.
I have gotten so used to this bug I now have developed the reflex that as soon as I turn on APP (i.e. the GS is in range), I shut down VNAV. The sim captures the GS when it captures the LOC then.
787 VNAV mode not capturing G/S when APP is enabled!
Tested in SU5, 20 feb version.
Could you please have another look at this?
Tested on KLAX deluxe airport.
It would be nice to have this fixed simply cause I like this plane. There are 3rd party options for heavy boiengs but they don’t like simerate 4x much, while the Asobo 787 flies well under time compression so I have the time for longer hauls even if I have shorter time in the evening!
Yes, the plane is very nice for IFR pilots especially the profile view that the other 787 do not have. I work around this by developing the reflex of turning off VNAV the moment I enable APP (approach). If you do this the capture occurs properly…. just one more button push.
Yes for KLAX. You will see the bug drop but not capture… try turning off the VNAV like I mention and I assume it will capture. I tested this at a couple Northern California airports.
@A68yoSniper Thanks, a good work around for now!
When do we get a fix? SU6 does not seem to have one as kinetic said
Not sure when we get a fix but seems the aircraft development does not move in parallel to the SUs. I think they just dump them in when the SU is released… this bug showed up like that.
Since we are raising a bit of a racket here I suspect this has been noticed and should be a relatively easy fix since then can look back at the old code that worked.
I can live with an extra button push, mostly concerned I was wrong or misconceiving how the AP worked. I do have a real-life Instrument Rating but that buys you little in MSFS land as this is still a game and not a certified flight simulator.
I am not 100% positive on this one but I have read somewhere that you should not do approach while in VNAV. It is not intercepting GS as VNAV is using GPS wile APP is using localizer (radio). If you try to intercept GS while in VNAV, plane is controlled by FMC (VNAV) which takes priority and will descend still in this mode. It seems that based on that, the implementation works as expected.
The correct way to intercept GS is to descent in VNAV, enable VOR/LOC and ALT HOLD when in range of FAF (if you are already on the FAF altitude) or VOR/LOC and V/S (if you still are descending). If still descending and you enable V/S, you keep your descent rate so transition is not noticeable at all.
Doing it this way I always capture successfully GS in Asobo Boeing 737 MAX 8. Good luck!
Yes, you know I was always worried that this was my error. I have an instrument rating and prior to 9/11 I had an FAA cockpit clearance since we did relevant research. I do not remember what the procedures were as I was around when they transitioned to the glass cockpit in the 757/767.
However, I know it worked the other way before SU4.
I actually flew the approach into SFO on VNAV and it does let you down. But I do not think it controls speed correctly or does the flare on autoland so there are advantages to the GS.
So maybe this is a feature and not a bug, but we need a real 787 pilot to tell us so.
Or a 737 pilot… or a 747 pilot. All of the boeings in SU4 behave that way.
I am not certified, I just enjoy flight simming, especially that it finally came to Playstation. I have checked 737 MAX 8 FCOM (can be found on scribd if someone would like to read more about it), and here is an extract:
VOR Localizer (LOC) Switch
(…)
The selected course can be intercepted while engaged in:
• LNAV
• HDG SEL
• CWS R if an autopilot is engaged in CMDApproach (APP) Switch
(…)
APP mode operation:
• localizer must be captured prior to glideslope
• localizer can be intercepted in HDG SEL, LNAV, or CWS R
It is not mentioned that we can intercept G/S in VNAV, only lateral navigation is mentioned. On the other hand, in different section it says that ILS approaches can be flown in VNAV, but I have not seen GS-XXX waypoints in the sim so far…
If an ILS approach is flown in VNAV using vertical angle guidance, VNAV will disconnect when passing the GS–XXX point if G/S is armed, but it can be reengaged. If the GS–XXX point is deleted, VNAV will remain engaged throughout the approach.
There is also this section…
The ILS should be intercepted in LNAV/VNAV when executing a RNAV ILS.
When a RNAV ILS is not available or when on radar vectors, V/S should be used to intercept the ILS and LVL CHG mode may be used before OM.
So, at this point I am no longer certain that my “theory” was right, even more, I was probably wrong - it does not work as it should. Anyway, for now I will capture G/S in ALT HOLD or V/S as it works reliably for now. Fingers crossed for this to be corrected in near future!
The 787 manuals are not much better, but my work around is pretty simple. No matter what you do whenever in range of the localizer & glide slope you have to hit those buttons. If you are in LNAV & VNAV mode, when you hit the localizer it automatically switches over to the localizer when you intercept. The GS is more complex.
At SFO I intercept the localizer at 4000’ but as coming in on the STAR anything under 6000’ will allow the APP button to be implemented (pushed and lighted), then just disengage the VNAV button and the GS will capture. You hit the localizer while the GS is above you… correct practice… but it comes down as you stay at 4000’, which is my VNAV altitude, when it hits.
Not sure if above is clear but bottom line is as soon as you can engage APP, disengage the VNAV and the GS captures and takes you into a autoland.
Has anyone tried the new beta (i can’t on ps5) from yesterday in the 737 max, or 787 (they all have the same issue).?
The patchnotes say: “Fixed an issue where G/S did not show on the FMA when captured with VNAV on.”
The fix in SU5 Beta is for the B737, see related topic and comments: 737 MAX Glidescope (G/S) not capturing