do the XP11 GPS handles well the whole route plan? I read that XP10 GPS was only good for Direct to.
Btw great flight. I am now somewhere in front of great big doors with SID / STAR on them, still not probably ready to enter 
1 Like
Not entirely true. You can make a flight plan and then load it in the default XP10 FMC (the crappy one, not the Garmin-ish one) and it will give you all the waypoints in sequence, but it isn’t editable in any way…and once you do a direct to, it makes it all go away.
1 Like
I have experienced a few WTF moments with Khamin’s Albatross during the past week. It occasionally decides to self-deploy flaps, which unlatches the autopilot that I entrusted will allow me a few moments of inattentiveness (usually to check the map or e-mail).
Yesterday I fast-tabbed (I run a single monitor) back to X-Plane to find this…
I’ve got some more Albatross-weirdness to report in my next AAR.
4 Likes
Something similar as my last approach (not posted yet). I mean the outbound radial was 313 yours 311 and I was also coming from the north. But because of time concern I just jumped straight on the outbound radial
1 Like
Welcome on board this train. Nice to see another aircraft departing Europe.
And also our previous experience is quite similar - after hundreds of kills and thousands of bailouts / ditches is time for some nice approaches 
Have fun!
1 Like
I am, just a bit busy with work between now and Christmas. So yeah, might be tricky to make it in time!
2 Likes
Unfortunately me too. I have had a busy couple of weeks and that won’t change until after the new year. I should have an interesting AAR to post though 
.
1 Like
Wow…nice report and you did good with the scenery selections!
2 Likes
Apparently you CAN build flight plans from the FMS itself (I never actually tried that)…here are some good instructions:
XB01 Signy Research Station, South Orkney Islands to SFAL Port Stanley, Falkland Islands
The next morning, we found that the appreciative locals had hauled the Albatross up to their helipad and gave her an improvised bath. Starting engine two…
We gingerly crept down the ramp…
And retracted the gear has soon as she buoyed…
And away we flew, satisfied with a mission accomplished assisted by large doses of good Antarctic weather…
Climbing to 5000 feet, we adjusted our course to 310 to compensate for the stiff 20-knot wind blowing from 270…
The wind became more turbulent coming into SFAL, forcing us to crab-and-stab for the threshold…
X-Plane Experience Note: A bad bounce and subsequent nose gear contact caused an immediate and unrealistic reversal of direction! The gear went up by itself and no amount of Equipment Failure resetting cured the weird perpetual backward motion along the ground. More weirdness was witnessed in the next leg.
After the botched landing, we got her parked and scrutinized the landing gear for any damage…
SFAL Port Stanley, Falkland Islands to SAVC Comodoro Rivadavia, Argentina
With a prolonged headwind and turbulence we fought our way back to the continent…
Midway we were subtly reminded to switch fuel tanks when the engines started to sputter. Sorry, there was no time to take a picture of that puckerous panic.
Landing at SAVC proved worse than it was at Port Stanley. Another ugly bounce, float, bounce, loft even higher, then a stall from 20-feet.
X-Plane Experience Note and Image: This time the reaction was truly bizarre and extremely quick to occur. After a (plane) crashing sound, X-Plane showed the Albatross in a tumble over the airfield much higher than the previous bounce. Then the simulator emitted a continuous high-pitched noisy squeal and froze with this showing on my screen…
If you can read the data output (image uploaded is original size), it has some incredible velocity and RPM values. I never had this (or the previously mentioned) experience before in X-Plane, going as far back as version 8. I had to force X-Plane to quit. The Log.txt had ballooned with hundreds of entries relating to SASL dealing with values of nil.
Once we got the Starship Candy Cane back down to Earth, we were encouraged to perform another thorough scrutiny, especially to those oleo struts.
7 Likes
I laughed hard at that. Good show!
2 Likes
I also own one such addiction and quite similar situation. Good thing for me is that my work is 40km from my home via nice roads so at least during summer I have this oportunity to ride.
All day rides are only in my memory now but also in my far future plans
1 Like
Does the A400M have an airspeed or Mach hold button? I can’t remember. If so, it can also be a good tool to hold the climb profile.
Thanks @BeachAV8R, yes it does. I haven’t been using it as I thought it was just to make sure you don’t overspeed, but that makes sense with using it particularly with the other features of the autopilot. I’m definitely learning more about the aircraft, especially with the longer flights.
One question I have is what is “flight director” mode in the autopilot used for? I’ve tried to google and Wikipedia has just confused me further.
Yesterday I fast-tabbed (I run a single monitor) back to X-Plane to find this…
LOL! - At least in real life you would feel something wasn’t quite right.
Have fun!
Thanks! Its amazing how much fun a nice approach and landing can be.
Keets.
I haven’t used an autopilot in a real aircraft before, but I believe Flight Director puts the cues on a cockpit display, but doesn’t actually put in control inputs. This allows the pilot to maintain manual control of the aircraft, but still follow the computer’s guidance for vertical speed, track following, etc. Basically, the autopilot tells you which commands it would be generating.
3 Likes
The crew spent a few days getting all the sand out of the aircraft, so we were stuck in Marrakech for quite a few days (ok RL interferred with my flying and there was a few work Christmas parties to go to).
As I’m growing in confidence I decided to take a bigger chunk out of the route by doing a longer leg, rather than a smaller hop.
Marrakech to Dakhla (GMMH).
Its a bit cloudy on the departure and looked a bit like a dreary UK December day
Using the route planner in game to plan the IFR route, the high airway route it chose is out to the Canary islands rather than more direct down the coast.
Something I didn’t spot on the weather were these thunder clouds…
I’m up at FL300, but spot a gap I can fly through, the A400 is now being tossed around like a leaf.
Eventually we’re through, we lost around 5-600ft with all the turbulence. In RL, I hate turbulent flights and would not have enjoyed that at all. The calming music is on and tots of rum are circulated in sympathy.
The Canaries are the next point of interest, holiday destination for many Brits after winter sun…
After overflying Lanzarote, a quick glance at the gauges and something isn’t right with number 1 engine.
The temperature is up and its running quicker. I look at the autopilot and knock off the auto throttle and the Mach hold goes off. Spooling the engines up and down, I can’t get it to run at the same speed as the others. Dropping the throttle, I get an oil pressure warning.
I’ve about 30 minutes to run, so rather than make an unscheduled stop I decide to press on, but shut the engine down and feather it.
Descending in to Dakhla, I’m expecting a nice clear day for a change, but ASN has other ideas and dumps a nice bit of cloud, along with a 20 knot wind. I can see all these nice screenshots in this thread of sun and clear skies and I’m convinced its me bringing the cloud with me from the UK.
Here’s a shot of an A400 descending in cloud for a change…
The island or peninsula that Dakhla is on comes out of the cloud in the wrong position and I see the runway off to my 1 O’clock. I was too high and too fast anyway, so declare a missed approach.
The next approach is better, but the cross wind and possibly the engine being out is making it difficult to line up and I need a fair bit of rudder to keep her straight.
I get down, but this is a sparse place. Doesn’t even look like there’s a duty free shop.
Good fun flight, for once I didn’t try and kill us, though I’m not sure what happened to the engine. I’m wondering if it could have been because of the storm we flew through. At least its given the crew something to do and its another one to add to the pile of scrap engines for the Christmas thread.
Keets.
5 Likes
Correct. Basically, the Flight Director commands can be flown manually, or (most commonly) slaved to the autopilot. Occasionally, sim instructors will fail the flight director so the approach becomes “raw data” where you are interpreting the instrumentation without the guidance of the Flight Director. You can actually still fly with the autopilot without Flight Director guidance in ROLL and PITCH modes…using the turn and pitch knobs (or wheels) on the autopilot control panel. And finally, you can also fail the Flight Director and the autopilot to give a “hand flown, raw data” approach.
SAVC Comodoro Rivadavia Airport, Argentina to SAME Mendoza Airport, Argentina
An early start, heading Northwest against a 30-knot headwind, found us flying over Lake Colhue Huapi and Lake Musters…
With no coastline to follow, we opted for Highway 40 and hugged the eastern edge of the Andean Mountains. Winds declined to 20 knots, but still worked against our progress…
Highways are not reliable guides, since X-Plane 10.51 has this quirk where roads tend to wink off and on for no apparent reason. I’ve seen this behavior before, but haven’t determined a cause or remedy. My current Rendering Options for roads is “tons”. Anyone else experience this?
Passed by SAVE…
With the wind reduced to 12 knots, we switched our path to follow Highway 234 North at El Maiten…
Near SAMM Comodoro D Ricardo Salomon at Malargue, young CoJo didn’t turn the tiller hard enough and we entered a valley that climbed too high. A hard left bank was in order and we got back on course.
SAMM…
The town of Mendoza, the capital of the province of Mendoza in Argentina…
We landed at SAME El Plumerilo, just North of Mendoza proper, for a stretch and fuel top-off…
The default scenery was fine, but Googling revealed an alternative to download should you pass this way.
Here was our approximate flight path for this leg…
SAME Mendoza Airport, Argentina to SLVR Viru Viru International Airport, Bolovia
Our next leg northward continued to take us along the east edge of the Andes and into Bolivia…
That’s the Aeroclub (SA40), San Juan (Argentina-type) and ol’ Highway 40 leading us on. The wind was light and the sky was bright…
Near SANI Tinogasta the clouds built up quickly and we briefly wondered if they would force us to abandon VFR. Highway 40 headed for high elevations, so we diverged to the Northeast.
Upon reaching SANT at San Miguel de Tucuman, we were back down to 5,000 feet ASL and following Highway 9 (when it was visible).
SA9P, SASJ, SASO, SLBJ, SLVM and a few others passed beneath our wings as the sun got ready to drop behind those mighty mountains to the West…
Arrived in the dark at SLVR Viru Viru at Santa Cruz de al Sierra…
2 Likes
I’ve still got to write up the previous leg - but on special invitation, I’m heading to Presidente Prudente airport (SBDN) in south-central Brazil (about 300 miles west of Sao Paulo…).
Did I say challenging weather?? oh deer…
traversing, traversing!?