When you say “initial” or “early” stages of the climb, how early are we talking? It’s taught to disregard the flight director during rotation and rotate smoothly (2 to 3 degrees per second) to 15 degrees up, and then transition to flight director guidance once the climb stabilizes. I can’t say I’ve noticed problems with the flight director guidance in the iFly after that, but I’ll pay attention the next time I fly it. But yeah, you aren’t flying the flight director during rotation and the first couple seconds after; that won’t work on the real plane either. Things need to stabilize first. (The exception is windshear escape guidance after V1; hit toga for escape guidance after a windshear warning and then stay right in the guidance.)
I should have made my post clearer By initial, I meant post rotation / gear up and getting into a stabilized climb.
BTW, on my flight today, during landing I had “LOC CMP” on the HUD. Any idea that that means? I had the proper ILS freq, APP was armed (LOC had been captured ) and my heading bug was aligned with the runway heading.
This is a bug - it occurred for me once after one of the first couple updates post-release last fall. The only fix was to uninstall and reinstall.
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Random questions -
What do the “INFO” and “C/R” buttons do on the MFD control panel? INFO brings up various fields but I can’t seem to get them to populate or enter any data? How is this used on the real thing?
When do I need to use Continuous Ignition - during all take offs / landings (if so, at what altitude is it turned off) or just during incliment weather / icing conditions?
Is there a way to reposition the HUD screen? I find that it blocks my view of the runway on T/O and landing roll-out? I can move my viewpoint but inevitably, I loose some of the data presented on the display. Also, is there a way to get that dark tint to go away on the screen? I find it to be annoying.
It’s a comparator flag; it’s telling you that the nav 1 and nav 2 radios are not tuned to the same ILS freq. You must have tuned your side but not your FO’s.
Info is for manually bugging speeds when you’re flying with both FMCs inop. C/R only exists on aircraft with Fail Operational autoland. Not many airlines use Fail Operational, especially if they have the HUD, as landing minima are the same with Fail Passive and the HUD as they are with Fail Operational. C/R stands for “clear/recall” and is used to manipulate the messages generated by the Fail Operational autoland system.
Cont is used for takeoff, landing, anti-ice operation, and operation in hail, sleet, and moderate and heavy rain. FLT is used for operations in severe turbulence (which must be avoided if possible.)
Nope, it only has two positions: down or stowed. It’s up to you to move yourself. In the sim, I have found in both the PMDG and the iFly that I need to zoom in one click and then adjust my seat position to get Primary mode to fill the combiner.
So, the combiner glass always has a little bit of color difference because of the coatings that are used to make it selectively reflective. But also, a sunshade attached by Velcro exists in reality, and iFly has modeled this. Maybe you accidentally installed it without realizing? You click anywhere within the combiner’s glass to install or remove this extra shade. With that on it’ll look dark for sure.
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Thanks! When you describe it, I know I’ve felt it on take-off, but didn’t realize the cause.
I know I’m asking a crapload of questions, my apologies if it’s getting a bit much. I’m just trying to wrap my arms around Boeing’s way of designing jets, after spending all of my FS2020 / 2024 career on the Fenix.
That said, my question du jour is - what purpose does CWS serve? Do any RL pilots actually use it and if so, under what circumstances? I can’t figure out what value it adds.
An interesting question. It’s actually pretty rare to see anyone use it. The recommended use for it is during inadvertent penetration of severe turbulence, when you want to fly an attitude vs chasing parameters. I’ve actually never tried that; when I’ve encountered severe turb that has kicked the autopilot off I’ve just grabbed the plane and hand flown, but I guess I can see how it could be a workload reducer. In general though, as an old retired guy told me a long time ago: “I’m either flying the thing or I’m not. I don’t like blurring the line.”. Most folks seem to feel that way.
There is ONE scenario in which I use a form of CWS; I should try it in the iFly and see how it works. Note this is purely technique. There are times when you get into a bit of wave during a climb or descent, and if the airplane is in a speed-holding vertical mode (VNAV Spd, Level Change), it’ll start rythmically pitching up and down as it chases the speed but can’t keep up with the wave. Most folks will switch to vertical speed and that works well, but I picked this up from a senior guy when I was new: if you deselect the vertical mode (for instance if you’re in VNAV you push VNAV to de-select it), the plane reverts to CWS pitch. But the lateral mode (usually LNAV) remains engaged, and the overall autopilot mode remains in CMD. This means that Alt Hold will automatically engage as necessary to prevent you blowing through an MCP altitude. So, you can let the plane mostly fly itself but you can control the pitch by just applying pressure to set the pitch you want and letting the plane hold it. Then as the speed fluctuates, you can smooth out the pitch changes.
It’s harder to say than do lol. Works well, but hard to see a need for it in the sim. So yeah, mostlu CWS is ignored.
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Thanks for the info. Regarding if you hit turbulence, which kicks off the autopilot - how’s the jet handle when hand flying at cruising altitude? Aside from issues like this, is it approved to hand fly at cruising altitude or do most airlines have SOP’s that require the autopilot to be on by a certain flight level?
It is a legal requirement that an aircraft must be flown on autopilot in RVSM airspace between FL290 and FL410. You could hand fly in a climb, but once leveling out at your cruise altitude, the autopilot must be engaged.
It’s an airliner; they’re the easiest things to fly that have ever been built. So, it flies just fine in cruise. The controls are noticeably more sensitive in the thinner air at high altitude which catches people unawares during high altitude stall recovery portions of the extended-envelope training, but other than that, nice and stable. It’s not entirely true to say that the autopilot must be engaged at all times in cruise in RVSM; you can disconnect to re-trim rudder trim etc. In general though, yes, we want people on autopilot in RVSM airspace. But cruise is certainly not always above FL290. I’ve hand flown entire milk run legs without ever turning on the autopilot and that’s perfectly fine here. Other operators have a range of procedures from recommendations to mandates about when they want crews leaning on the automation. The airplane is easy to fly though.
(Note that “fly” in this context means controlling energy state and lateral and vertical path with your hands and feet on the controls. That’s easy. Actually operating a jet safely in an airline environment is a little more difficult. It’s the non-technical skills that we earn our paychecks with. But any idiot can “fly” an airliner after being trained.)