Think of it this way. When you tell the G1000 to “Activate an Approach” you are telling it you want it to fly the full approach, as programmed, from the entry point. So when you are halfway through the approach and turn on AP, it tries to do what you told it. And flies the approach, from the entry point.
Sounds like it is working as expected.
In your example, you woudn’t want it to “activate the approach”. You would want it to fly the plane starting with the next waypoint. So you would tell it to “activate leg” of the next leg of the flight plan.
Not exactly. When you activate the approach, the aircraft will always head to the first waypoint in the approach, including any waypoint(s) you may have entered in the Approach section of the flight plan. Any waypoints you add in the En Route section are not part of the approach.
While in NAV mode, the approach can be activated whenever you are ready to go direct to the first waypoint in the Approach section of the plan. These are steps 1-3 in the Approach section of the procedure I posted. By the end of step 3, the AP has been switched from NAV to APR mode. So if you want to fly manually and just turn on the AP for the approach, then fly to the first waypoint in the approach, ideally with a heading that will cause a turn of no more than 90 degrees to the heading of the first leg of the approach.
If the magenta line you were trying to sync the plane to was the 1st leg of the approach and the approach had been activated, then yes, the plane would turn away from the airport and fly to the first waypoint of the approach and then try to turn 180 degrees to fly the approach to the airport. 180-degree turns are best avoided, especially on a visual approach so close to an airport that is just STRGHT, FINAL, and RW.
Once about 500 feet or more AGL I turn on AP and usually leave it on in NAV mode during the flight until I do the approach procedure before landing when it switches to VNV + APR. If needed, I will add an En Route waypoint to have a turn of no more than 90 degrees to the heading of the first leg of the approach.
I use Lock Mode and I do this to change waypoint altitudes:
Have the Flight Plan displayed in the MFD
Move the mouse cursor to the small FMS knob so it turns blue
To activate scroll waypoints mode, while holding Left Click down, Right Click
Move the mouse cursor to the large FMS knob so it turns blue
Rotate the mouse wheel to scroll through the waypoints and waypoint altitudes and stop at the waypoint altitude you want to change
Move the mouse cursor to the small FMS knob so it turns blue
Rotate the mouse wheel to change the value of a digit that flashes to an integer between 0 and 9.
Move the mouse cursor to the large FMS knob so it turns blue
Rotate the mouse wheel to select any other digit of the 5 digit altitude
Go to step 6 and repeat as needed until all digits of the 5 digit value are shown
Click ENT to exit edit waypoint altitude mode and return to select waypoint and waypoint altitude mode
Move the mouse cursor to the small FMS knob so it turns blue
To deactivate scroll waypoints mode, while holding Left Click down, Right Click
The Nxi is slated to become the default sim G1000 when it’s released and as such is deeply embedded in the whole sim code base. You can not know what other directories affect the functionality of the Nxi or are affected by it.
Rolling back the main Nxi directory will not roll back any other directories that may, or may not contain Nxi dependent code and/or contain code that the Nxi depends on. Doing so has the potential to make the whole sim unstable…
I’ve been feeling extra dumb about this so the help is appreciated.
What I have been doing is making a flight plan and then adding in a waypoint or two to navigate in on the approach from a reasonable distance and angle. Once I add the procedure I can then edit the altitudes for the arrival points.
Everything goes well until the final approach procedure. I think the original flight plan to the airport center seems to take over.
It’s really hard to tell what is going on without screenshots of the FPL page, but I suspect it is going to the airport fix.
Depending on when you add the approach to the plan, the Garmin units will add the approach after the destination airport fix. This allows the pilot to decide how they want to sequence into the approach and avoids the AP swinging dangerously towards an approach fix as soon as the approach is added.
You have a few options, but they all depend on what the flight plan paths look like on the map and only you will know what will work best:
Delete the destination airport fix that is now before the approach. If you are on this leg, this will cause the AP to swing toward the new line that connects the prior fix to the initial approach fix.
Activate a leg on the approach. If you are near an approach leg, this option may make the most sense. This is not a direct-to, this will make your guidance be along the flight path line that makes up the activated leg.
Activate the approach. This has nothing to do with autopilot approach mode; this is simply a shortcut to doing a direct-to the initial approach fix.
Go direct to a fix on the approach. If you aren’t near a leg and don’t want to activate the approach, you may decide it makes sense to go direct-to some other fix on the approach.
Oh yeah, don’t assume the G1000 just works like other flight plans. Where you just “set it and forget it”. This isn’t an airbus. The G1000 is a tool to help you achieve a goal. But you have to manage it.
Sounds to me that it is working correctly but you don’t know how to manage your flight plan with it.
I dont know what everybody else does but when I contact ATC nearing my destination airport and they tell me what approach to use, I program that into the G1000 at that point and as ATC clears me to the IAF, I activate the approach. The system then alters course from its current course towards the airport centre to the first approach waypoint instead, nice and easy.
I usually have the AI Autopilot on radio. Unfortunately, it’s usually way too late on approach. I’ve seen it contact the tower on touchdown.
If I manually override the radio the the AI completely stops radio. Although it seems to never acknowledge the tower on approach anymore anyway. I’m in VR so it makes working the radio on approach tough.
Those seem straight forward, especially activating the leg.
Is that selecting activate from the proc button menu? This is where I’ve had hit or miss. There is also the APR button which I’ve read is supposed to trigger the vertical navigation for ILS. But I don’t know what it does for a visual approach.
Is that a matter of using the D button while highlighting the fix in the FPL menu?
I usually fly the C208 with the G1000NXi, but lately have been using the BN-2 with the (GS350?) - the proc button is where I remember it being on the G1000NXi though.
As for the ILS portion of the flight - yes, if you want the Autopilot to fly it I believe that is correct. Make sure the frequency in your NAV radio is correct, and then (thinking) I believe you have to hit the CDI button on the G1000NXi to switch it from GPS mode to LOC (localizer.)
Keep in mind that a Direct To on the approach may sometimes go to that waypoint and then turn around and go to the Initial Approach waypoint. I find it safer and more reliable to “Activate Leg” instead. Then the autopilot will sequence automatically to the following waypoints.
Also it’s not intuitive. Say the Approach is W → X → Y → Z → Airport. If you go Direct To X, the plane may go there and then turn around and try to go to W, then X, then Y, then Z. If you Activate Leg, you want to activate the leg Y, then the aircraft will navigate directly to the beginning of the leg going to Y. In other words, it will go direct to X and then fly to Y (and then Z, etc)
Thanks Bishop! That worked out perfectly. It’s actually easier than rebasing a messy branch in GitHub.
I opened the flight plan in the PFD and highlighted the straight leg. Before reaching that leg I hit menu and then activate. The AP followed both the navigation and vertical navigation all the way down!
Now another question, is it possible to only edit waypoint altitudes in a procedure? Otherwise the altitudes seem to be disabled.
Question. Do any add-on aircraft use the NXi. I use it in the Baron and was wanting to try some add-on 3rd party planes. I only want to buy / install some planes that use the NXi.
I use the Improvement Bonanza, which is technically a 3rd party. I believe it’s recommended to use the WT NXi with it. Occasionally I get in the standard Bonanza by mistake and become horrified by the interior design.
Most 3rd party aircraft seem to use different GPS systems. There aren’t many I’ve seen that use G1000 but I would assume they should be compatible. Especially with how popular the WT version is.
Kodiak uses the NXi although there’s some compatibility issues at the moment.
Try some of the mods that improve stock planes.
In addition to the Bonanza mods, there are mods for the DA62, the DA40NG and the C172 JT-A, all by MrTommyMxr (and the last with DanielLOWG). They all use the NXi.