Some observations and suspected bugs
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Hello!
First off - what an amazing product you have created, I'm really enjoying the RJ!
There are a few bugs and observations though. (most are very nitpicky)
Brake Fans
These do not seem to work at all.
I noticed that the brakes were cooling very slowly and then I noticed that there was no brake fan sound.State saving
If I have the EXT AC connected to the aircraft, switch off the EXT AC switch and then restart the simulator, EXT AC is switched on even though I switched it off.
In other words, the aircraft is cold and dark before restarting MSFS and after the restart everything is the way I left it except that EXT AC has been switched on, which means that the state saving feature failed.EXT AC PWR AVAILABLE annunciator
This annunciator extinguishes if you switch of the batteries.
In the real aircraft, the annunciator will remain lit as long as there's EXT AC connected and the ground power monitor doesn't detect any problems with the external power.AC disconnect sound
If you switch off the batteries and then switch off what ever AC-source you have, you can hear a MWS chime at the end of the sound effect that is played when you switch off the AC-source.
This does not make sense to me because there's no power left in the aircraft to play any sounds.ENG VIBN
The ENG VIBN annunciator on the CWP does not trigger the attention getter (amber lights flashing and single chime)Altimeters
This problem is complicated to describe but it seems like the autopilot doesn't use the main altimeters for things like altitude hold. This results in altitude hold maintaining altitudes that do not match the selected altitude on the MCP.
I checked the variables in SPAD.next and when this occurs, I can see that while the altimeters (INDICATED ALTITUDE:1, INDICATED ALTITUDE:2 etc) in the aircraft may indicate 20200 ft, the parameter INDICATED ALTITUDE (the one without index) could show 20000 ft.
It seems like the autopilot uses the non-indexed altimeter.Ground service bus
- It seems like the cabin lights aren't correctly powered by the ground service bus.
- The entry lights should be powered by the ground service bus, however if I switch on the ground service bus the entry lights will not illuminate.
- The FCOM states that the NAV lights have two sets of lights at each location.
This does not seem to be the case in the JF RJ.
One of those sets are powered by the ground service bus, which means that if you switch on the ground service bus and switch on the NAV lights, they should be visible:
*Two high intensity navigation lights are fitted to each wing tip and the tail. A two-position navigation light switch is on the LIGHTS & NOTICES panel. The positions are ON and OFF. One light at each station is powered from the 28 volt AC ground service busbar; the other light of a pair is powered from ESS DC. A schematic of the navigation lights is shown in Figure 5.1.
Entry lights
I suspect that the entry light switches don't have fixed ON/OFF positions in the real aircraft since there is no ON/OFF label next to them.
My theory is that if you switch on the entry lights with either switch and the push the other switch, then the entry lights should switch off regardless of what position the other switch was in.
I seem to remember reading this somewhere but the FCOM only says:
There are two entry lights on the roof panel either side of the circuit breaker panel.
Two-way switching is provided for the lights. One switch is on the LIGHTS & NOTICES
panel. The LIGHTS & NOTICES panel is shown in Figure 2.5. The other switch is on the
right side of the flight deck entrance aisle; the switch is shown in Figure 2.7.EGPWS
The callouts use an older type of voice while the rest of the EGPWS callouts use the more common voice also found in the Boeing fleet. Is there a specific reason for choosing that voice over the more common one?Cabin call
On videos, it seems like if you push the cabin call button in the flight deck twice in a row, you get two double chimes.
In the JF RJ, you only get one double chime unless you cancel the first call and push the cabin call button again. -
In regards to state saving with this aircraft, if it is enabled and i end the game with the chalks in place and the auxilary GPU running, will it be on the next time load into the aircraft, if i for example exit the flight in a "turnaround" state with the GPU attached and on?
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@Sergekoko It seems like the state saving (which I have enabled) remembers everything except that the EXT AC switch was set to OFF, thus when I start MSFS again, the EXT AC switch is in the middle position instead of the OFF position and the aircraft thus has power.
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On my last flight the GS did not capture even though I engaged APP mode coming in below it. I had to turn AP off and on again and engage APP mode with it within one dot for it to work. I engaged LOC mode first and then APP mode when the purple rectangle appeared. Should I wait until it's less than one dot away before doing that?
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@OwlInFlight Did you get a green LOC mode on the PFD before you armed APP and when you armed APP, did you get a white GS mode?
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I've also had problems with VORLOC.
If I'm in LNAV mode and arm VORLOC, the aircraft won't capture the localizer, however, if I'm in HDG mode and arm VORLOC, it will capture the localizer.
In addition, it seems to struggle with large intercept angles as it will overshoot quite a bit if I come in at an intercept angle of 90 degrees.I've already sent in a ticket with all my findings but I sent in a ticket regarding the 146 over 1 month ago and still haven't gotten a reply in that ticket so I'm writing here too to cover all bases.
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@smashingjonor Thank you for the detailed feedback. I'll leave some comments below in response to the points you raise:
- Brake fans are simulated. I have just tested this in the simulator by moving the BRK FANS switch to ON (or AUTO) and the brake fans can be heard on the exterior of the aircraft.
- The brake cooling varies depending on the brake fans selection. We have based the cooling times on feedback from RJ pilots on our testing team.
- We have logged a bug on our internal tracker where exiting a flight with the GPU connected causes the EXT AC switch to connect external power at the start of the next session.
- We have logged a bug regarding the EXT AC PWR AVAILABLE annunciator extinguishing when the batteries are powered off.
- We have logged a bug regarding the MWS chime when disconnecting EXT AC with the batteries switched OFF.
-ENG VIB - As far as I'm aware, the autopilot uses whatever altitude is indicated by the main altimeter. So in order for the same altitude to be displayed across all altimeters (and Vars) all altimeters must be set to the same barometric pressure.
- The ground service logic is correctly simulated, however, we have just found a bug with the GND SERVICE switch in the galley that is preventing that from functioning as intended. Thank you for spotting that!
- The ENTRY/FWD GALLEY light logic has been adapted to work around some limitations within the simulator. The ENTRY/FWD GALLEY switches will only correctly control the respective lights when the cockpit door is open. When the cockpit door is closed, the forward galley lights are forced off to prevent the cabin lighting from bleeding through the cockpit door. The ENTRY light switch has also been simulated as a two-position switch as a spring-loaded switch wouldn't be user-friendly in a simulator (similarly to what we have done with the DC PUMP switch).
- The current EGPWS voice is used as that is what we have the reference material for. We do have the alternate set of EGPWS callouts logged on our internal feature request tracker as something to look into further.
- The logic we are currently using for the cabin calls is that the current call must be cancelled before a new call can be made. Therefore, only one double-chime can be heard. The FCOM isn't too specific on this point, so we'll make a note of this and ask for clarifications from the RJ pilots on our testing team.
Thanks again for the feedback.
Mark - Just Flight
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@smashingjonor I have just tested capturing a localiser with VORLOC mode armed after LNAV and the localiser has been captured as intended. Difficult one for us to comment on further though withour a video/screenshots of what was occurring in the simulator at that time.
The general localiser capture is an area we have identified as something we would like to improve in the future. However, I seem to recall the FCOM also recommends against capturing localisers from such large angles.
With regard to the support ticket, that is definitely not what we are expecting to hear, so we apologise that it has taken that long. Would you be so kind as to provide us with your ticket number so that we can investigate that, please?
Mark - Just Flight
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Mark also in the RJ when the external power is connected to the bus bars, EXT AC PWR AVAILABLE remains illuminated - I don't think this happens in the 146 and am not wholly sure it's correct. Can you investigate?
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@Mark The ticket number is #82222. You will find that most of the items in that ticket were the same as in this thread but for the 146 instead. Some of the items have been fixed in the RJ.
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@rondon9897 That should be correctly simulated in the RJ. The FCOM is fairly sparse on the exact logic, but from what we can gather the EXT AC PWR AVAILABLE annunciator will illuminate whenever external power is acceptable. The change will be carried across to the 146 in a future update.
Mark - Just Flight
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@smashingjonor Thank you. I have passed this onto our support team to investigate.
Mark - Just Flight
